You are sadly misinformed, and attribute malice where none exists.
You are correct in that Forgent bought Compression Labs. They did so, when Forgent was a company called V-Tel. You may remember them as a designer and manufacturer of video conferencing hardware. Compression Labs was a sensible purchase for a company in the video conferencing business.
V-Tel over-extended itself attempting to introduce a new line of video conferencing hardware/software. Instead of going out of business, management decided to re-invent the company. The video conferencing hardware business was sold off, and current staff levels were cut to a bare minimum. Development and support organizations were laid off. The company was re-named Forgent, and they attempted to enter a new business only peripherally related to Video Conferencing. The business was scheduling software. They didn't do too good there either.
There are no former Compression Labs employees at Forgent. Most of them were gone by the end of the 90s when the company was still V-Tel. No one mentioned or wrote about the JPEG patent at that time.
The reason the JPEG patent was pursued was the idea of a former member of Forgent's board (who is now deceased -- he died of a stroke in 2002). In 2001, while looking for ways for Forgent to make money to support it's fledgling software business, the board of directors decided to pursue patent litigation as additional revenue stream. The rationale was simple, they had a bunch of patents from when they were V-Tel. Those should be mined to see if any of them were worthwhile. The records of the JPEG patent were found in pursuit of this directive.
So you are wrong. Forgent did not "sit" on the patent. They didn't even know they had it. They're lucky to have found it at all.
The idea of advertising in some games just doesn't really bother me. If you want to change all those soda machines in Doom 3 to Coke machines, I have no problem with that. As long as the ads don't affect gameplay, what's the problem?
Windows Server 2003 vs. Redhat Advanced Server 2.1
on
What's Microsoft Up To?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
After a quick read of the study, I have the following question(s):
Isn't this more of a test of Samba on RedHat, than RedHat itself? When you talk filesharing on a Windows network, that's pretty much what you're limited to, isn't it?
I mean, if you want a good comparison test, why don't you see how Windows Server 2003 does as an NFS file server? (I know, NFS isn't the best, but I think you get my drift).
Never mind the fact that Microsoft doesn't exactly share their network file sharing protocol with the Samba guys who, if I recall correctly, have mostly reverse engineered things. What's to stop Microsoft from tweaking the protocol to their advantage in a new release, then quickly testing it against a version of Samba uses an older non-optimal protocol?
Onkyo is the way to go. I have an almost 10 yr old 919 THX Rec/Amp of theirs that works like a champ. I've even purchased it's worthy successor, the Integra 9.1.U2 (Integra is their higher end line). Solid. Heavy. Upgradable.
The simple answer to the problems here is that if you want something to last, you're going to have to pay for it.
Interesting side note on the music downloads of Loreena McKennitt's site. In addition to not including the entire song, the MP3s (can't speak to the other formats) have an ugly hiss throughout. Speaking as someone who's spent lots of money on loudspeakers, I would find this intolerable. If I had to guess, I'd say the hiss was intentional.
Thoughts?
I don't understand where my ability to make backups for myself has gone. That's part of my right as an OWNER of a piece of software. I am ALLOWED to make a backup for myself.
From the article:
You can copy the CD, but without the card the software won't run.
You can make backup copies. You can burn these CDs to your heart's content. You could probably also make a backup copy of the smartcard (if they designed it right). You just can't use software/media/whatever in a manner that would violate its license.
I have your show TiVo'd and quite enjoy it. I also enjoyed the spot you did on NPR.
My question concerns your scientific approach to cooking and deriving recipes. I've noticed it's similar to the approach taken by the folks at Cooks Illustrated (on the web here and here).
The process the Chris Kimball and the CI folks take is to start with the known recipes for a dish, and distill them into a master recipe using a mix of food science and empirical cooking. How would you describe your approach to science in your cooking? Do you start with what you know about ingredients and build the recipe from the ground up, or do you start with known recipes and tear them down and rebuild as necessary?
Babylon 5 fans who watched the original run of the series had the same problem. US markets would see the beginning of a season, but since PTEN (original broadcaster) would only air new episodes during sweeps, the UK fans would finish the season before the US fans did.
If Morpheus had been around then, I would have been happy with being able to watch digital episode copies. As it was, I was able to watch the final four episodes of a season as taped in the UK via a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend connection.
From the article:
"What difference does it make how I do it?" Wood said. "The dilemma is, the technology is turning the business model upside down. But that doesn't mean it's copyright infringement."
The media companies only care about forcing you to watch what they want, when they want, how they want. Just as with aural media companies and MP3s, the visual media companies are missing the boat. They're too locked into the current business model to want to change.
The record companies blew it with MP3s. Most people I know used Napster/Morpheus/Bear Share to find music that they either couldn't get in their own contry, or were previously unaware of (found through a keyword search). This, in turn, would lead to more music sales. The record companies panicked. They got scared and attempted to close off what could have been a promising new business channel.
Now it's the turn of the tv/film studios to resist change. I have a TiVo. I love my TiVo. When a friend sees a cool show, he tells me about it, and I tell my TiVo to look for the repeat. This is convenient for me, and what the studios are missing is that I JUST WATCHED MORE TV THAN I NORMALLY WOULD HAVE. Isn't that what they want as an end result? You'd think so.
There is no such thing as new media, only new ways to consume it. Apparently, we're not allowed to choose how we do it...
The insurance adjuster idea is a good one, but I don't agree with the patch policy limitation. Instead, give the policy a rate structure that makes it *very* appealing for an organization to have a dedicated security person/department on hand (and not just a part time guy in IT).
As for the law and patching, you need to realize that for many Fortune 1000 organizations, patching is a bad thing. They want stable systems and have a rigorous change control process to guard against problems. Throwing many MS OS/App patches into the mix without testing the effects of the patch on your systems environment is just as foolish as not installing the patch. For some, applying a patch to server software is a several day process!
This is a good idea, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes modifying the "shared" art can be cheating. Case in point. In the online game Tribes (the first one, not the second), a cheat appeared that let you know where the flag carrier was anywhere on the map. What'd they do? They changed the flag artwork to make the flag 6 stories tall...
And keeping the two separate is completly OK to me.
I very much doubt that NPR has been "bought" by the Ford Foundation or ADM. They have done several critical pieces focusing on ADM on several programs (ATS, ME, and Living On Earth). Additionally, if you think NPR ignores the Ford Motor Company when they do something wrong just because of their funding from the Ford Foundation, you've got another think coming...
I dunno. I thought Dream Park (Barnes collaboration) rocked. Too bad it's out of print.
Then there's The Mote In God's Eye (Pournelle collaboration). It's one of the best books I've ever read. Sure, the start is a little slow, but it sets up the characters and their motivations later in the book.
So if a pyramid represents a social/governmental dictatorship, oligarchy, etc, and a diamond represents a free democracy, what shape represents Marxism? A flat line? A sqaure? Socialist Russia was never any of these. Why? They preached social equality, but there were always people "more equal" than you...
What side of the diamond do you want to be on and why?
There is a larger problem in the advertising industry. Look at advertisements for other products. There is a large amount of sexism throughout the advertising industry.
On the subtle side, let's look at car ads. When's the last time you saw a woman in the driver's seat when a male and female couple are portrayed in the ad?
On the overt side, let's look at beer ads. How many times does beer ad content concern objectified women, or the pursuit of such women? (Thankfully, they've been getting better about this one).
I'd like to posit that the gaming industry's ads will only improve when ads for other products do.
Slashdot Mirror
Bah. Wake me up when they have a maneuverable superluminal cruise missile.
Do 100MW shipborne lasers count?
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/technology_news/4321422.html?nav=RSS20
You should check out Revision3's Scam School. You can learn some basic social engineering skills, all while earning free beer!
You are sadly misinformed, and attribute malice where none exists.
You are correct in that Forgent bought Compression Labs. They did so, when Forgent was a company called V-Tel. You may remember them as a designer and manufacturer of video conferencing hardware. Compression Labs was a sensible purchase for a company in the video conferencing business.
V-Tel over-extended itself attempting to introduce a new line of video conferencing hardware/software. Instead of going out of business, management decided to re-invent the company. The video conferencing hardware business was sold off, and current staff levels were cut to a bare minimum. Development and support organizations were laid off. The company was re-named Forgent, and they attempted to enter a new business only peripherally related to Video Conferencing. The business was scheduling software. They didn't do too good there either.
There are no former Compression Labs employees at Forgent. Most of them were gone by the end of the 90s when the company was still V-Tel. No one mentioned or wrote about the JPEG patent at that time.
The reason the JPEG patent was pursued was the idea of a former member of Forgent's board (who is now deceased -- he died of a stroke in 2002). In 2001, while looking for ways for Forgent to make money to support it's fledgling software business, the board of directors decided to pursue patent litigation as additional revenue stream. The rationale was simple, they had a bunch of patents from when they were V-Tel. Those should be mined to see if any of them were worthwhile. The records of the JPEG patent were found in pursuit of this directive.
So you are wrong. Forgent did not "sit" on the patent. They didn't even know they had it. They're lucky to have found it at all.
The idea of advertising in some games just doesn't really bother me. If you want to change all those soda machines in Doom 3 to Coke machines, I have no problem with that. As long as the ads don't affect gameplay, what's the problem?
After a quick read of the study, I have the following question(s):
Isn't this more of a test of Samba on RedHat, than RedHat itself? When you talk filesharing on a Windows network, that's pretty much what you're limited to, isn't it?
I mean, if you want a good comparison test, why don't you see how Windows Server 2003 does as an NFS file server? (I know, NFS isn't the best, but I think you get my drift).
Never mind the fact that Microsoft doesn't exactly share their network file sharing protocol with the Samba guys who, if I recall correctly, have mostly reverse engineered things. What's to stop Microsoft from tweaking the protocol to their advantage in a new release, then quickly testing it against a version of Samba uses an older non-optimal protocol?
I concur. I'm one of those people you always hear quoting the movie.
"Young man, why are you wearing that silly toy on your head?"
"Because if I wear it anywhere else, it chafes."
I'm crazy enough to actually own the Laser Disc version (only because it only just came out on DVD).
Onkyo is the way to go. I have an almost 10 yr old 919 THX Rec/Amp of theirs that works like a champ. I've even purchased it's worthy successor, the Integra 9.1.U2 (Integra is their higher end line). Solid. Heavy. Upgradable.
The simple answer to the problems here is that if you want something to last, you're going to have to pay for it.
Interesting side note on the music downloads of Loreena McKennitt's site. In addition to not including the entire song, the MP3s (can't speak to the other formats) have an ugly hiss throughout. Speaking as someone who's spent lots of money on loudspeakers, I would find this intolerable. If I had to guess, I'd say the hiss was intentional. Thoughts?
I don't understand where my ability to make backups for myself has gone. That's part of my right as an OWNER of a piece of software. I am ALLOWED to make a backup for myself.
From the article:
You can make backup copies. You can burn these CDs to your heart's content. You could probably also make a backup copy of the smartcard (if they designed it right). You just can't use software/media/whatever in a manner that would violate its license.
I have your show TiVo'd and quite enjoy it. I also enjoyed the spot you did on NPR.
My question concerns your scientific approach to cooking and deriving recipes. I've noticed it's similar to the approach taken by the folks at Cooks Illustrated (on the web here and here).
The process the Chris Kimball and the CI folks take is to start with the known recipes for a dish, and distill them into a master recipe using a mix of food science and empirical cooking. How would you describe your approach to science in your cooking? Do you start with what you know about ingredients and build the recipe from the ground up, or do you start with known recipes and tear them down and rebuild as necessary?
Wow! I knew it has always been Dexter's dream to work for NASA... Let's just hope he can keep Dee Dee out of the robotics lab!
Babylon 5 fans who watched the original run of the series had the same problem. US markets would see the beginning of a season, but since PTEN (original broadcaster) would only air new episodes during sweeps, the UK fans would finish the season before the US fans did.
If Morpheus had been around then, I would have been happy with being able to watch digital episode copies. As it was, I was able to watch the final four episodes of a season as taped in the UK via a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend connection.
"What difference does it make how I do it?" Wood said. "The dilemma is, the technology is turning the business model upside down. But that doesn't mean it's copyright infringement."
The media companies only care about forcing you to watch what they want, when they want, how they want. Just as with aural media companies and MP3s, the visual media companies are missing the boat. They're too locked into the current business model to want to change.
The record companies blew it with MP3s. Most people I know used Napster/Morpheus/Bear Share to find music that they either couldn't get in their own contry, or were previously unaware of (found through a keyword search). This, in turn, would lead to more music sales. The record companies panicked. They got scared and attempted to close off what could have been a promising new business channel.
Now it's the turn of the tv/film studios to resist change. I have a TiVo. I love my TiVo. When a friend sees a cool show, he tells me about it, and I tell my TiVo to look for the repeat. This is convenient for me, and what the studios are missing is that I JUST WATCHED MORE TV THAN I NORMALLY WOULD HAVE. Isn't that what they want as an end result? You'd think so.
There is no such thing as new media, only new ways to consume it. Apparently, we're not allowed to choose how we do it...
The insurance adjuster idea is a good one, but I don't agree with the patch policy limitation. Instead, give the policy a rate structure that makes it *very* appealing for an organization to have a dedicated security person/department on hand (and not just a part time guy in IT).
As for the law and patching, you need to realize that for many Fortune 1000 organizations, patching is a bad thing. They want stable systems and have a rigorous change control process to guard against problems. Throwing many MS OS/App patches into the mix without testing the effects of the patch on your systems environment is just as foolish as not installing the patch. For some, applying a patch to server software is a several day process!
This is a good idea, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes modifying the "shared" art can be cheating. Case in point. In the online game Tribes (the first one, not the second), a cheat appeared that let you know where the flag carrier was anywhere on the map. What'd they do? They changed the flag artwork to make the flag 6 stories tall...
And keeping the two separate is completly OK to me.
I very much doubt that NPR has been "bought" by the Ford Foundation or ADM. They have done several critical pieces focusing on ADM on several programs (ATS, ME, and Living On Earth). Additionally, if you think NPR ignores the Ford Motor Company when they do something wrong just because of their funding from the Ford Foundation, you've got another think coming...
You could just listen to NPR... It's non-profit news and does a good job. Morning Edition and All Things Considered are good shows.
Check out the Frontline (excellent PBS news magazine) episode The Merchants of Cool
It's not only the radio stations...
Cool. Bob Edwards could replace MC Overlord...
...Traffic, didn't you?
It's all a game and the gov't is losing.
Personally I think we should be treating addicts, not locking them up.
Ringworld already has a nasty monster that runs around eating and dismembering people... Speaker-To-Animals.
Just think of the fight for the shadow-square wire...
I dunno. I thought Dream Park (Barnes collaboration) rocked. Too bad it's out of print.
Then there's The Mote In God's Eye (Pournelle collaboration). It's one of the best books I've ever read. Sure, the start is a little slow, but it sets up the characters and their motivations later in the book.
So if a pyramid represents a social/governmental dictatorship, oligarchy, etc, and a diamond represents a free democracy, what shape represents Marxism? A flat line? A sqaure? Socialist Russia was never any of these. Why? They preached social equality, but there were always people "more equal" than you...
What side of the diamond do you want to be on and why?
There is a larger problem in the advertising industry. Look at advertisements for other products. There is a large amount of sexism throughout the advertising industry.
On the subtle side, let's look at car ads. When's the last time you saw a woman in the driver's seat when a male and female couple are portrayed in the ad?
On the overt side, let's look at beer ads. How many times does beer ad content concern objectified women, or the pursuit of such women? (Thankfully, they've been getting better about this one).
I'd like to posit that the gaming industry's ads will only improve when ads for other products do.
Thoughts?