Uh, you mean Obi Wan. Geez...this is Slashdot, for goodness sake--at least get your Star Wars facts right.;)
Actually, I was trying to say: RIAA : Vader:: [insert good guy here] : Obi Wan
But it didn't come out quite right. Actually, I had almost composed my message and was preparing another on-topic Frist Post (thanks to the magic of Slashdot Subscriptions), when someone came into my cube and asked me about something completely off topic. Work keeps getting in the way of my Slashdotting, darn it.
When the RIAA went after Napster, folks here and elsewhere predicted that RIAA was shooting itself in the foot. Instead of embracing the new medium, they tried to destroy it, despite warnings that something even "worse" would take Napster's place.
Looks like we've found "worse":
Meanwhile, he noted record stores report that blank recordable CDs are outselling recorded CDs, a trend that shows computer users are not only downloading songs, but copying and burning CDs.
Instead of an online, somewhat trackable, moderately controllable service, the RIAA is now faced with millions of teens (and pre-teens) with computers and CD burners. No single point of control, just my daughter's friend borrowing her CD so she can rip a copy.
The RIAA played the role of Darth Vader in their own little cyberspace opera. "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine..."
How someone can write all that tripe without reading the article is beyond me.
As I noted in my reply to the first well-deserved flame, I did read the article... just not very well.
But don't blame me if the moderators don't RTFA either! It looks like they're fighting it out... the comment keeps getting +1, Insightful followed by -1, Overrated. Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows...
The company, with $6 billion in annual revenue, isn't part of Vivendi's entertainment assets that are slated to be merged with General Electric Co.'s ( GE) NBC.
Well, I did read the article... just not carefully enough. I guess that explains why my comment didn't get modded up to +5 right away.:p
On the other hand, the two events may still be related. The music unit isn't going to want to scotch the deal by making the price announcement before the deal announcement -- too many people would make the connection I did, and say the merger was bad news. As it is, I heard that both companies' stock went *up* on the merger news yesterday -- merger talks often push stock down on the day of the announcement.
And who's to say that, behind closed doors, NBC doesn't have its eye on Universal, too?
* Vivendi is looking to spoil the deal with a profit-killing "poison pill". This would be the strategy of former Vivendi chairman Jean-Marie Messier -- but it's also part of why he's the former chairman.
* GE has already given Universal marching orders -- this was planned months ago. According to this morning's NPR report, Vivendi has been shopping for a buyer for its entertainment units for months, but all previous deals have fallen through. They're likely to do whatever GE says at this point (unless we're back to the first option).
General Electric isn't in the business of filing baseless lawsuits -- they're in the business of making money. Maybe they'll be the ones to blow the lid off the CD price scam once and for all.
If this were legal they will need to provide paperwork that makes a tax audit seem like a day at the peach.
A day at the peach? That struck me as a strange metaphor, since his eBay auction says he lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan -- a long way from Atlanta.
But a quick Google found this: Michigan Peaches. The harvest peaked just last month, so "a day at the peach" may indeed be a good metaphor for "a day of sweet delights".
Darned if I don't learn something new every day on this site.
Je parle francais, but I wasn't able (ok, I wasn't willing) to get past the Flash opening at the link listed in the Register article:
Also in the Nanterre dock was Auchon, the giant department store chain, which sold the offending (and to non-French ears, offensive) CD. It escaped punishment for its offence of failing to inform the Alain Souchon fan that the CD was copy protected.
What's the part that's "offending to non-French ears"? Since the Register is a.UK outfit, it can't be simple Bush-bashing. Or is it the annoying Flash itself that's offensive?
In the end, I got a look at Mars, it looked like this:
.
except it was pink.
I'm happy to report that I was able to run your image through a high-tech image-enhancement system. To further aid in visualization, the edge definition has been increased as well.
This story was almost duplicated today (9/2), but Slashdot Subscribers saved the day. Here's what you missed:
Science: Asteroid Headed for Earth in 2014
Posted by michael in The Mysterious Future! from the send-in-liv-tyler dept.
FooAtWFU writes "Fresh off of Discovery Channel News (and others), it appears that the Near Earth Objects center thinks a giant asteroid *might* hit Earth around March 2014 (though the odds are slim). Duck and cover, break out the duct tape, and start renting Armageddon, Deep Impact, and other end-of-the-world movies." Chances of losing the rock-might-hit-Earth lottery: 1 in 909,000. Chance of winning the Powerball lottery: 1 in 120,000,000.
Man, this is so far off-topic now, but I'm originally from Tulsa, so I'll throw in my 2c.
Tulsa is a piss poor laid out city. 99% of shopping is off 71st and Memorial (congestion is worse than at Sam Moon in Dallas).
What a sad situation! My family moved to Tulsa (Owasso, actually) in the late '70s, just before Woodland Hills Mall came in at the aforementioned corner. Up until I left (mid-80s), the city's layout was nearly ideal... the entire city is laid out on a 1-mile grid, so you can get anywhere from anywhere else without getting lost.
But as I was leaving, the new mall at 31st and way-past-Mingo was going in, and from your posting, it sounds like things have only gotten worse from there. The one-mile grid was perfect when all your needs could be met within two miles (I lived a mile from Utica Square). Now that mall culture has hit, the same urban sprawl that has choked Dallas appears to have afflicted Tulsa. Pretty sad.
Speaking of Dallas (where I live [outside of] now), what the Sam Hill is "Sam Moon"?
What makes you think that the slashdot effect changes the content of the music?
I guess it would depend on how they've configured their systems. If they have one box processing the incoming signals, and another box uploading the result to their Windows Media Server, then we might overload the second box but the sound would be unchanged.
But if the box that does the processing is the same as the one that's attempting to service all the requests from Slashdotters, it seems like it would eat up CPU cycles. That would make it more difficult to do the real-time synthesis of 20 incoming signals. I suspect that's the cause of the toneless drone I was hearing.
Add to that the bandwidth -- do they have one pipe that's receiving 20 signals, outputting (however many) Eigenradio streams, *and* serving up the strangely-formatted web page?
Isn't there a minimum amount of copyrighted material that has to be sampled before it requires compensating the artist? So far, I haven't heard more than a ~2sec snippet of recognizable voice, so maybe it falls below the threshhold.
Not that that would keep the RIAA's goons from filing suit. But that's alright... if they try to listen now, they'll hear a metallic buzz (if they can connect at all).
I quickly checked out the site and hit the #1 "Listen" link. At first, it was an interesting mix... in fact, it sounded very much like tuning an AM radio between stations, except that the overlapping songs were in clearly-defined hi-fi.
It was jarring at first, but then I got into a groove. They're right, the beat and the ambient voices have a strange but familiar variance.
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to keep up the experience. After about a minute, the rhythms stopped, replaced by a metallic, toneless hum.
Cool... I've seen the Slashdot effect before, but now I'm getting to hear it!
Footnote: the rhythm has returned, but there's a lot more buzz than before. Will be interesting to hear what happens when the non-subscriber flood hits.
I think the thing that worries me most is this: does accepting government money compromise Anonymizer's integrity?
A poster on the previous article on this subject (surely it's not just a dupe...) pointed out that Anonymizer is, in a way, a single-point-of-failure for the something-to-hide community. Without the Anonymizer, one out of a bazillion ISP's might have information about your surfing habits. With Anonymizer, all the "potentially hazardous" surfing is right there in one place.
I've never heard anything but good about Lance Cottrell, and I'd happily trust his service if I don't want my ISP to track me should I decide to visit autopr0n.com some lonely night. But even he must have limits -- would he shut down Anonymizer before allowing the FBI to put a sniffer on it? Would he even be able to do so if he wanted to?
One paranoid view (the one I put in the "gotcha" subject line) would be that Cottrell trades "protection" from the Feds for a direct line from Iran to the CIA. Like Lando Calrissian, Lance Cottrell could have found a way to take care of "imperial entanglements" once and for all.
Lando Calrissian: You said they'd be left at the city under my supervision. Darth Vader: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
The reply to the first reply to my message (whew!) includes a couple of links. Just to round things out, here's another reference I was able to find (on Sun's site, how ironic).
This one is the closest to what I remember agreeing to. It's actually the license to use ODBC, which was a virtual requirement for accessing databases from Visual Basic in our environment at the time (apparently '96-'97).
Here's the salient paragraph (emphasis and examples mine):
(ii) The following additional restrictions apply if you use the SOFTWARE other than solely for internal business purposes. (For applicable licensing terms for all such uses of the SOFTWARE, please contact Microsoft Corporation at (206) 703-4515.) (1) You may commercially distribute the SOFTWARE only in conjunction with and as part of your software product to which you have added significant and primary functionality and value. (2) Unless your software product requires your customer to license Microsoft Office for Windows, or a component of it, in order to operate, you may not reproduce or use the SOFTWARE for commercial distribution in conjunction with a
general purpose word processing [no competing with Word], spreadsheet [or Excel], or database software product [Access, ditto], or an integrated work or product suite [like Office] whose components include a general purpose word processing, spreadsheet, or database management software product except for the exclusive purpose of importing or exporting data to the various formats supported by the SOFTWARE and included in your application (e.g., reading data from and writing data to a single data source at one time). Note: a product which includes limited word processing, spreadsheet, or database components along with other components that provide significant and primary value, such as an accounting product with limited spreadsheet capability, is not considered to be a "general purpose" product.
I found a number of references to the.NET benchmarking restriction on a Google search, if you're interested.
Here's the article text, because cypherpunks.ca does indeed seem to have found out the hard way that a Slashdot front-page feature is Considered Harmful. Not posting AC 'cause of problems with troll text mods.
Kat and I just received the Dell Inspiron 5100 notebook we ordered from Dell Canada. We quickly ran across problems.
I pushed the power button to turn on computer. I got the Dell POST screen, then a screen from Dell (Photo):
SOFTWARE LICENSES - Before using your computer, read all of the software license
agreements that came with each program that you ordered.
There may be several agreements to examine. To comply with
the terms and conditions of the software license agreements,
you must consider any CD or diskette set of Dell-installed software
as BACKUP copies of the software installed on your computer's
hard-disk drive. - If you did not order Dell-installed software for this computer,
or if you do not accept all the terms of the licenses, please call
the customer assistance telephone number listed in your system
documentation.
Press any key on the keyboard to indicate that you have
read all of the software licenses and agree to their terms.
Be Direct TM
Dell TM
www.dell.com
But there are no license agreements in the box that the computer came in. [There are some shrinkwrapped CD containers, but the "Terms and Conditions of Sale (CANADA)" that came with the invoice says:
"7. Software. All software is provided subject to the license
agreement that is part of the package. Customer agrees that
it will be bound by the license agreement once the package is
opened or its seal is broken. Dell does not warrant any software
under this Agreement. Warranties, if any, for the software are
contained in the license agreement that governs its purchase
and use."
I've never agreed to those Terms and Conditions, to my knowledge, but I assume they think they're enforceable, so I can't open up the shrinkwrap to see if the license agreements are in there, without automatically agreeing to them.]
So I called the only Dell number I could find on my documentation (1-800-847-4096) and spoke to a customer support representative. I told her what was on the screen, and told her I couldn't find the license agreements I'm required to read and agree to before pressing any key.
She put me on hold while she looked into where the license agreements might be, and eventually transferred me to technical support. The tech support agent told me her database was down, so she couldn't look up anything at all (I hadn't even told her what the problem was yet), and I'd have to call back in an hour.
I call back, and speak to a tech support woman. She says: "press Tab." I explain that I can't without saying I've read and agreed to documents I don't have. She says "press page down". Same problem. She says "scroll down". I explain it's not a Windows screen. She says "insert any Dell-shipped CD". I exlpain the problem of opening the CD packaging.
She insists I have to press a key. I ask her if she really means that I have to agree to the licenses before it's at all possible that i've read them. She says "yes". I explain that that's not acceptable, and ask for her supervisor.
Her supervisor insists it's a Customer Care issue, and not tech support, and that there's nothing he can do. He can't explain why they sent me to him. He enters my info into the call log databse, and I go to call back Customer Care.
So back into the hold queue I go.
I'm finally connected to a Customer Care representative. [Pretty much each sentence in the following was interspersed with long, long times on hold.]
I'm a coder in a company that is fully compliant with all licensing agreements -- word is that someone let things slip before I was hired on, and the company paid a buttload of cash after getting audited.
So you'd think that before we install a Visual Studio upgrade, we'd all get together in a meeting room and go over the EULA we will all be required to agree to.
(Ok, have you finished laughing yet? Good, I'll go on.)
As you already guessed, nobody reads the damned EULA... except me. I no longer read it from top to bottom, but I skim it for the latest additions. This earns me some good-natured razzing from my co-workers, but I've discovered some doozies.
Remember those "required patches"? When I installed them, there was a EULA. This one said, "You are not allowed to publish the results of benchmark testing of the.NET Framework." What the f*** does that have to do with installing a required security patch? It's like the sign at Wal-Mart saying employees of competitors are not allowed to compare prices. Maybe they can get away with it, but that doesn't make it right.
Another memorable EULA quote: I'm forbidden to use Visual Studio tools to make any word processing or spreadsheet application, unless it's a small part of a larger application. Unlike Open Source, if a Microsoft-enchained programmer (like me) invents a better mousetrap, they're verboten to release it.
If end-users actually read the EULAs (like our heroes in the article), there'd be riots in the virtual streets. As it is, nobody reads the EULA, and ignorance is bliss.
Why FP with a link that bypasses Slashdot's BN link? Whether you're a fan of the editorial staff or not (and since you're here, they must be doing something right), you've got to agree that they've got certain non-zero expenses to cover, such as massive bandwidth. Otherwise, Slashdot would Slashdot Slashdot (/././.)!
If you're going to post an alternative purchase link, at least make it benefit someone we know -- even if it's you. I make it a point to click.sigs with affiliate links, just to keep Amazon thinking it's a good idea.
Besides, it's hardly accurate to say that ISBN.nu is an "affiliate-free link". It's informative, but each of the links given appears to be an affiliate link. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not "affiliate-free" -- it's just funneling the money to someone other than CmdrTaco.
This is one of the best troll replies I've ever received! I'm honored. Too bad you posted AC... you'll probably never even get to read these kudos.
Awwww... someone got moderated up and you don't like it. Don't like it? I *love* it! It's funny as heck. That's the only reason I watch the comments when a story's first posted -- what are the mods going to do next?
Does it make you feel like a man when you advise the moderators to enforce groupthink by modding down "a troll"? I bet it does. What groupthink? Adding "cock" to a story is silly. It brings back fond memories of 6th grade. Harmless fun. But it's hardly a deep thought.
Most imporant of all, you little editor appeasing f***-o, how does it feel to be a part of the slashdot/bot groupthink? It makes me feel April Fresh!
You really think that/. is about "serious discussion and news for nerds"? Well, wakey-wakey my sweetie-pie with a virgin anus. Ouch, ouch, ouch!! You must be the famous giver.jpg! GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!
Just wait until the modbombing editors mod you down for not toeing the party-line and you'll join the trolls too. I keep trying for Troll, but the bozo moderators keep modding me up. What can I do?
We are what makes/. worth reading. Try reading at -1 sometime. Dude, how do you think I found your message?
So when do we get to launch our DDoS against the spammers again?
As soon as they can do something to get themselves featured in a Slashdot front-page story, they'll feel our bandwidth! All servers tremble in ph33r of the Slashdot Effect.
But they could always counterattack with a redirect to a certain "hello.jpg". The horror!
Slashdot Mirror
Uh, you mean Obi Wan. Geez...this is Slashdot, for goodness sake--at least get your Star Wars facts right. ;)
:: [insert good guy here] : Obi Wan
Actually, I was trying to say:
RIAA : Vader
But it didn't come out quite right. Actually, I had almost composed my message and was preparing another on-topic Frist Post (thanks to the magic of Slashdot Subscriptions), when someone came into my cube and asked me about something completely off topic. Work keeps getting in the way of my Slashdotting, darn it.
When the RIAA went after Napster, folks here and elsewhere predicted that RIAA was shooting itself in the foot. Instead of embracing the new medium, they tried to destroy it, despite warnings that something even "worse" would take Napster's place.
Looks like we've found "worse":
Meanwhile, he noted record stores report that blank recordable CDs are outselling recorded CDs, a trend that shows computer users are not only downloading songs, but copying and burning CDs.
Instead of an online, somewhat trackable, moderately controllable service, the RIAA is now faced with millions of teens (and pre-teens) with computers and CD burners. No single point of control, just my daughter's friend borrowing her CD so she can rip a copy.
The RIAA played the role of Darth Vader in their own little cyberspace opera. "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine..."
How someone can write all that tripe without reading the article is beyond me.
As I noted in my reply to the first well-deserved flame, I did read the article... just not very well.
But don't blame me if the moderators don't RTFA either! It looks like they're fighting it out... the comment keeps getting +1, Insightful followed by -1, Overrated. Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows...
The company, with $6 billion in annual revenue, isn't part of Vivendi's entertainment assets that are slated to be merged with General Electric Co.'s ( GE) NBC.
:p
Well, I did read the article... just not carefully enough. I guess that explains why my comment didn't get modded up to +5 right away.
On the other hand, the two events may still be related. The music unit isn't going to want to scotch the deal by making the price announcement before the deal announcement -- too many people would make the connection I did, and say the merger was bad news. As it is, I heard that both companies' stock went *up* on the merger news yesterday -- merger talks often push stock down on the day of the announcement.
And who's to say that, behind closed doors, NBC doesn't have its eye on Universal, too?
You probably can't convince me that the move by Universal -- a unit of hard-luck French water utility Vivendi -- doesn't have anything to do with Universal's pending aquisition by GE's NBC unit.
I figure it's one of two things:
* Vivendi is looking to spoil the deal with a profit-killing "poison pill". This would be the strategy of former Vivendi chairman Jean-Marie Messier -- but it's also part of why he's the former chairman.
* GE has already given Universal marching orders -- this was planned months ago. According to this morning's NPR report, Vivendi has been shopping for a buyer for its entertainment units for months, but all previous deals have fallen through. They're likely to do whatever GE says at this point (unless we're back to the first option).
General Electric isn't in the business of filing baseless lawsuits -- they're in the business of making money. Maybe they'll be the ones to blow the lid off the CD price scam once and for all.
If this were legal they will need to provide paperwork that makes a tax audit seem like a day at the peach.
A day at the peach? That struck me as a strange metaphor, since his eBay auction says he lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan -- a long way from Atlanta.
But a quick Google found this: Michigan Peaches. The harvest peaked just last month, so "a day at the peach" may indeed be a good metaphor for "a day of sweet delights".
Darned if I don't learn something new every day on this site.
Je parle francais, but I wasn't able (ok, I wasn't willing) to get past the Flash opening at the link listed in the Register article:
.UK outfit, it can't be simple Bush-bashing. Or is it the annoying Flash itself that's offensive?
Also in the Nanterre dock was Auchon, the giant department store chain, which sold the offending (and to non-French ears, offensive) CD. It escaped punishment for its offence of failing to inform the Alain Souchon fan that the CD was copy protected.
What's the part that's "offending to non-French ears"? Since the Register is a
In the end, I got a look at Mars, it looked like this:
.
except it was pink.
I'm happy to report that I was able to run your image through a high-tech image-enhancement system. To further aid in visualization, the edge definition has been increased as well.
Here is the new image:
o
Hope this helps!
Man, this is so far off-topic now, but I'm originally from Tulsa, so I'll throw in my 2c.
Tulsa is a piss poor laid out city. 99% of shopping is off 71st and Memorial (congestion is worse than at Sam Moon in Dallas).
What a sad situation! My family moved to Tulsa (Owasso, actually) in the late '70s, just before Woodland Hills Mall came in at the aforementioned corner. Up until I left (mid-80s), the city's layout was nearly ideal... the entire city is laid out on a 1-mile grid, so you can get anywhere from anywhere else without getting lost.
But as I was leaving, the new mall at 31st and way-past-Mingo was going in, and from your posting, it sounds like things have only gotten worse from there. The one-mile grid was perfect when all your needs could be met within two miles (I lived a mile from Utica Square). Now that mall culture has hit, the same urban sprawl that has choked Dallas appears to have afflicted Tulsa. Pretty sad.
Speaking of Dallas (where I live [outside of] now), what the Sam Hill is "Sam Moon"?
Just for reference, for those who don't have time to R the FA, here are the ten items listed in the Bill of Rights, without the explanation.
(Note, this does not excuse you from reading the FA, there will be a test.)
Software Customer Bill of Rights
1. Let the customer see the contract before the sale.
2. Disclose known defects.
3. The product (or information service) must live up to the manufacturer's and seller's claims.
4. User has right to see and approve all transfers of information from her computer.
5. A software vendor may not block customer from accessing his own data without court approval.
6. A software vendor may not prematurely terminate a license without court approval.
7. Mass-market customers may criticize products, publish benchmark study results, and make fair use of a product.
8. The user may reverse engineer the software.
9. Mass-market software should be transferrable.
10. When software is embedded in a product, the law governing the product should govern the software.
Bonus points if you can figure out which of the above *didn't* have a detailed explanation in the original!
I detected a checksum error in your stream. I think this is the last sequence of bits sent by the server:
01101111 01101000 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110011 01101000 01100100 01101111 01110100 00100001
This link may be helpful.
What makes you think that the slashdot effect changes the content of the music?
I guess it would depend on how they've configured their systems. If they have one box processing the incoming signals, and another box uploading the result to their Windows Media Server, then we might overload the second box but the sound would be unchanged.
But if the box that does the processing is the same as the one that's attempting to service all the requests from Slashdotters, it seems like it would eat up CPU cycles. That would make it more difficult to do the real-time synthesis of 20 incoming signals. I suspect that's the cause of the toneless drone I was hearing.
Add to that the bandwidth -- do they have one pipe that's receiving 20 signals, outputting (however many) Eigenradio streams, *and* serving up the strangely-formatted web page?
Isn't there a minimum amount of copyrighted material that has to be sampled before it requires compensating the artist? So far, I haven't heard more than a ~2sec snippet of recognizable voice, so maybe it falls below the threshhold.
Not that that would keep the RIAA's goons from filing suit. But that's alright... if they try to listen now, they'll hear a metallic buzz (if they can connect at all).
I quickly checked out the site and hit the #1 "Listen" link. At first, it was an interesting mix... in fact, it sounded very much like tuning an AM radio between stations, except that the overlapping songs were in clearly-defined hi-fi.
It was jarring at first, but then I got into a groove. They're right, the beat and the ambient voices have a strange but familiar variance.
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to keep up the experience. After about a minute, the rhythms stopped, replaced by a metallic, toneless hum.
Cool... I've seen the Slashdot effect before, but now I'm getting to hear it!
Footnote: the rhythm has returned, but there's a lot more buzz than before. Will be interesting to hear what happens when the non-subscriber flood hits.
I think the thing that worries me most is this: does accepting government money compromise Anonymizer's integrity?
A poster on the previous article on this subject (surely it's not just a dupe...) pointed out that Anonymizer is, in a way, a single-point-of-failure for the something-to-hide community. Without the Anonymizer, one out of a bazillion ISP's might have information about your surfing habits. With Anonymizer, all the "potentially hazardous" surfing is right there in one place.
I've never heard anything but good about Lance Cottrell, and I'd happily trust his service if I don't want my ISP to track me should I decide to visit autopr0n.com some lonely night. But even he must have limits -- would he shut down Anonymizer before allowing the FBI to put a sniffer on it? Would he even be able to do so if he wanted to?
One paranoid view (the one I put in the "gotcha" subject line) would be that Cottrell trades "protection" from the Feds for a direct line from Iran to the CIA. Like Lando Calrissian, Lance Cottrell could have found a way to take care of "imperial entanglements" once and for all.
Lando Calrissian: You said they'd be left at the city under my supervision.
Darth Vader: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
My feeling is that it might make a bit of difference if more people did what RobertB did...
"Did what I did?" I mirrored an article on Slashdot, that's all I did. What difference would that make?
(I know, honest mistake. In fact, the parent did RTFA -- they just missed the part where it's a copy of the article. Still funny, though.)
This one is the closest to what I remember agreeing to. It's actually the license to use ODBC, which was a virtual requirement for accessing databases from Visual Basic in our environment at the time (apparently '96-'97).
Here's the salient paragraph (emphasis and examples mine):I found a number of references to the
Here's the article text, because cypherpunks.ca does indeed seem to have found out the hard way that a Slashdot front-page feature is Considered Harmful. Not posting AC 'cause of problems with troll text mods.
- - - - -
Dell's Software License Policy
Dude, you're getting screwed.
28 Aug 2003
Kat and I just received the Dell Inspiron 5100 notebook we ordered from Dell Canada. We quickly ran across problems.
I pushed the power button to turn on computer. I got the Dell POST screen, then a screen from Dell (Photo):
SOFTWARE LICENSES
- Before using your computer, read all of the software license
agreements that came with each program that you ordered.
There may be several agreements to examine. To comply with
the terms and conditions of the software license agreements,
you must consider any CD or diskette set of Dell-installed software
as BACKUP copies of the software installed on your computer's
hard-disk drive.
- If you did not order Dell-installed software for this computer,
or if you do not accept all the terms of the licenses, please call
the customer assistance telephone number listed in your system
documentation.
Press any key on the keyboard to indicate that you have
read all of the software licenses and agree to their terms.
Be Direct TM
Dell TM
www.dell.com
But there are no license agreements in the box that the computer came in. [There are some shrinkwrapped CD containers, but the "Terms and Conditions of Sale (CANADA)" that came with the invoice says:
"7. Software. All software is provided subject to the license
agreement that is part of the package. Customer agrees that
it will be bound by the license agreement once the package is
opened or its seal is broken. Dell does not warrant any software
under this Agreement. Warranties, if any, for the software are
contained in the license agreement that governs its purchase
and use."
I've never agreed to those Terms and Conditions, to my knowledge, but I assume they think they're enforceable, so I can't open up the shrinkwrap to see if the license agreements are in there, without automatically agreeing to them.]
So I called the only Dell number I could find on my documentation (1-800-847-4096) and spoke to a customer support representative. I told her what was on the screen, and told her I couldn't find the license agreements I'm required to read and agree to before pressing any key.
She put me on hold while she looked into where the license agreements might be, and eventually transferred me to technical support. The tech support agent told me her database was down, so she couldn't look up anything at all (I hadn't even told her what the problem was yet), and I'd have to call back in an hour.
I call back, and speak to a tech support woman. She says: "press Tab." I explain that I can't without saying I've read and agreed to documents I don't have. She says "press page down". Same problem. She says "scroll down". I explain it's not a Windows screen. She says "insert any Dell-shipped CD". I exlpain the problem of opening the CD packaging.
She insists I have to press a key. I ask her if she really means that I have to agree to the licenses before it's at all possible that i've read them. She says "yes". I explain that that's not acceptable, and ask for her supervisor.
Her supervisor insists it's a Customer Care issue, and not tech support, and that there's nothing he can do. He can't explain why they sent me to him. He enters my info into the call log databse, and I go to call back Customer Care.
So back into the hold queue I go.
I'm finally connected to a Customer Care representative. [Pretty much each sentence in the following was interspersed with long, long times on hold.]
She lo
I'm a coder in a company that is fully compliant with all licensing agreements -- word is that someone let things slip before I was hired on, and the company paid a buttload of cash after getting audited.
.NET Framework." What the f*** does that have to do with installing a required security patch? It's like the sign at Wal-Mart saying employees of competitors are not allowed to compare prices. Maybe they can get away with it, but that doesn't make it right.
So you'd think that before we install a Visual Studio upgrade, we'd all get together in a meeting room and go over the EULA we will all be required to agree to.
(Ok, have you finished laughing yet? Good, I'll go on.)
As you already guessed, nobody reads the damned EULA... except me. I no longer read it from top to bottom, but I skim it for the latest additions. This earns me some good-natured razzing from my co-workers, but I've discovered some doozies.
Remember those "required patches"? When I installed them, there was a EULA. This one said, "You are not allowed to publish the results of benchmark testing of the
Another memorable EULA quote: I'm forbidden to use Visual Studio tools to make any word processing or spreadsheet application, unless it's a small part of a larger application. Unlike Open Source, if a Microsoft-enchained programmer (like me) invents a better mousetrap, they're verboten to release it.
If end-users actually read the EULAs (like our heroes in the article), there'd be riots in the virtual streets. As it is, nobody reads the EULA, and ignorance is bliss.
Affiliate-free link for price searches
.sigs with affiliate links, just to keep Amazon thinking it's a good idea.
Why FP with a link that bypasses Slashdot's BN link? Whether you're a fan of the editorial staff or not (and since you're here, they must be doing something right), you've got to agree that they've got certain non-zero expenses to cover, such as massive bandwidth. Otherwise, Slashdot would Slashdot Slashdot (/././.)!
If you're going to post an alternative purchase link, at least make it benefit someone we know -- even if it's you. I make it a point to click
Besides, it's hardly accurate to say that ISBN.nu is an "affiliate-free link". It's informative, but each of the links given appears to be an affiliate link. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not "affiliate-free" -- it's just funneling the money to someone other than CmdrTaco.
I can't find the troll text. Am I just missing it?
This is one of the best troll replies I've ever received! I'm honored. Too bad you posted AC... you'll probably never even get to read these kudos.
/. is about "serious discussion and news for nerds"? Well, wakey-wakey my sweetie-pie with a virgin anus.
/. worth reading. Try reading at -1 sometime.
Awwww... someone got moderated up and you don't like it.
Don't like it? I *love* it! It's funny as heck. That's the only reason I watch the comments when a story's first posted -- what are the mods going to do next?
Does it make you feel like a man when you advise the moderators to enforce groupthink by modding down "a troll"? I bet it does.
What groupthink? Adding "cock" to a story is silly. It brings back fond memories of 6th grade. Harmless fun. But it's hardly a deep thought.
Most imporant of all, you little editor appeasing f***-o, how does it feel to be a part of the slashdot/bot groupthink?
It makes me feel April Fresh!
You really think that
Ouch, ouch, ouch! ! You must be the famous giver.jpg! GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!
Just wait until the modbombing editors mod you down for not toeing the party-line and you'll join the trolls too.
I keep trying for Troll, but the bozo moderators keep modding me up. What can I do?
We are what makes
Dude, how do you think I found your message?
So when do we get to launch our DDoS against the spammers again?
As soon as they can do something to get themselves featured in a Slashdot front-page story, they'll feel our bandwidth! All servers tremble in ph33r of the Slashdot Effect.
But they could always counterattack with a redirect to a certain "hello.jpg". The horror!
It's Mutually Assured Destruction all over again. Where's Reagan when we need him?
Moderators, please watch for these signs:
* Claims that a server like abcnews.com, cnn.com, microsoft.com, etc is "slowing down"
* Anonymous Coward posts with no reference to the poster's true identity
* Lines like so he can cart around cocket parts