It's an allusion to a
recent thread on LKML, where Jasper Spaans offered a controversial patch to change the European spelling "flavour" to the American spelling "flavor." Only on Slashdot could this get a +2 Funny.
I think it's more likely that grandparent's hack would work than that Microsoft's patch would. The former depends on non-failsafe code from the virus author (likely), the latter depends on correct code from Microsoft (less likely). We're lucky the virus author wasn't clever enough to use the equivalent of mktemp instead of a hard-coded location. Hopefully he was also stupid enough to send headers making it easy for Microsoft to lessen the effects of the comming DDoS.
Obviously the patch should be installed eventually, though, because the hack only fixes the symptom, while the patch hopefully fixes the cause.
Someone should circulate a link that uses the old rcp: hole to create that directory.
It's the clueless home users and the lazy ISPs. I know a few people who were getting "Messenger Service" spam. The scary part is that this didn't scare the crap out of them, they just assumed it was a normal part of broadband. Yes, I fixed it, but the whole time, I'm thinking, "What fucktard set this up?" It was the Insight, our cable provider. It's not like it's difficult, it's one single checkbox two clicks away from where they have to go anyway.
That isn't what I meant; sorry if I said it. I'm saying that the people who adore Microsoft, Microsofties, are the ones who jump at the opportunity to assert that the GPL hasn't been tested in court, as though that makes it unenforcable. They seem to say this because they don't like the GPL, and want to disuade it's use. Which is just fine, but I don't think their assertion is truthful. Whether they'd violate the GPL is another matter, though after SCO, nothing surprises me anymore. They don't mind funding GPL-violating companies, though.
If that were truly the case, there would never be any innovation. But some consumers (me) demand (and rip) to new formats before they're completely useful, and some companies create products before there's a huge demand.
When I chose Vorbis, the things that mattered to me were that Linux could play it, it had good quality, and it was open. I didn't need portable support. Now, I'd kinda like a portable, but I won't buy one that doesn't support Ogg. A demand was created. When Neuros, Rio, PhatNoise, et al chose to add Vorbis support to their players, it wasn't because of a huge demand. But there was enough demand, and it wasn't being satisfied, and it wasn't that expensive to add support (thanks to Tremor). But having a few portables enables the format to become more widespread, and a more widespread format creates more demand for portables that support it, which enables still more Vorbis users, and so on.
You're making it too complicated. What you seem to be asking is, "Is it OK to make a non-GPL patch against a GPL program?" I think this boils down to a question of who made a derivative work, the patch author or the patch applier (in your case, the user). This isn't really a GPL issue, it's a question about what constitutes creating a derivative work, which is currently ill-defined for software.
I would argue that if you create a patch against a program, you have derived from it. If you have a GPL program A, and you make a derivative A+B, and you then seperate B and distribute it, and expect users to recreate A+B, then for all intents and purposes, you've distributed A+B.
I don't think it's a grey area at all. The SCO case is almost exactly the kind of thing the GPL is supposed to prevent. (The difference is that SCO is trying to close the code "legally," not by embracing and extending.) It's crystal clear that SCO is attempting to infringe the copyright of thousands of developers. I'm glad that the test case is so clear-cut.
It's important to remember that while this may become the first test in court (except the MySQL case), both RedHat's and IBM's lawyers are comfortable with it. And the other companies that have faced GPL issues have respected it; they didn't think they could fight it. SCO's leaders, a few armchair lawyers, and Microsofties are the only ones I've heard who don't think it'll be enforceable.
The Karma is very cool, and reading about it made my day.
It's showing that Vorbis is gaining support. I guess this is another portable Vorbis player to add to the
list.
Your computer (except at work) is your
property, and you get to decide what runs on it.
If someone does something bad on your property,
and you didn't give them permission to do so,
it's their fault. Storing kiddie porn on an
infected computer isn't different from storing it
in someone's garage: it's still your fault, even
if they didn't lock their garage or secure their
computer. So if this guy's telling the truth,
he's innocent.
The reason so many computers are so insecure is
that most computer users are completely
unqualified. But the solution isn't to legislate
them off the net. I think computer vendors
should administer a test, and if you pass, you
get a discount.
When you get auto insurance, they offer to give
you a video and CD-ROM (Windows, ugh) training
course, and if you pass it, you get lower
premiums. Dell could do this: after all,
competent users cost them less in tech support
time. So all of us nerds would get cheaper
hardware, and everyone else would have an
incentive to learn the basics of computer use
and security.
Interesting take, sortof a Fahrenheit 451 thing. Save the books on a USB keychain, encase it in hot glue, and implant it in your appendix. Then (SPOILER!) escape the BPAA's DRM hounds and go live in the wild with a bunch of RMS-y book nerds. After the nuclear war, wait until mankind reinvents the USB Mass Storage spec, and restore to them the works of Darwin, Tolkien, Torvalds, Bradbury, etc.
I have read The Lord of the Rings from start to finish on my computer, and I liked it. (Yes, I also own it on paperback.) Why? For starters, dead trees are unwieldy, and the paperback's binding is too easy to break. Reading on my bed isn't comfortable, and the only chair is in front of the computer.
It doesn't take any cutting edge LCD monitor; I prefer a white-on-black 80x25 terminal, on a 19 inch screen. The font is thick, bright, and big. You can see how far you are with the status line. Especially with a book like LotR, it's great to be able to grep it, even from within less.
OCR crrors are annoying, but that wouldn't be a problem with official books. Less needs support for bookmarking a line, so when I reopen a file, I can return there. (It probably already has this, but I'm to lazy to read the manpage.) And of course, DRM will be a big problem.
And of course somebody took the time to scan it, so the demand must be there. I'm now taking the same stance as I take on music: offer me reasonably cheap DRM-free ebooks, and I'll buy them.
"While I cannot take the time to specify my claim, I have here in my
hand a list of two hundred and five lines of code that were known to Linus
Torvalds as belonging to SCO, and which, nevertheless, are still transforming
Linux from a bicycle to a luxury car."
Yeah, you can see that in the convolutedness of the macro. Of course, it never matters, because it's trivial to optimize when it doesn't matter, and sometimes even when it does.
No, seriously, that'll work. The media is just a bunch of karma whores, and every time McBride lays a turd, they write an essay about it. If the media would get it through their heads that this is just an scam, and quit publishing whatever Darl says whenever he says it, his stock manipulations would be less effective.
Slashdot Mirror
NO CARRIER
There are several webmail to POP gateways that work just as well. For example, YahooPOPS.
It's an allusion to a recent thread on LKML, where Jasper Spaans offered a controversial patch to change the European spelling "flavour" to the American spelling "flavor." Only on Slashdot could this get a +2 Funny.
Sorry, but the author is obviously not a Linux user. If he were, the virus would also DDoS sco.com.
Another candidate was UranusHertz. (Sorry, Dilbert.com archives don't go back to August 1, 1994)
Obviously the patch should be installed eventually, though, because the hack only fixes the symptom, while the patch hopefully fixes the cause.
Someone should circulate a link that uses the old rcp: hole to create that directory.
Does the worm work with Wine?
It's the clueless home users and the lazy ISPs. I know a few people who were getting "Messenger Service" spam. The scary part is that this didn't scare the crap out of them, they just assumed it was a normal part of broadband. Yes, I fixed it, but the whole time, I'm thinking, "What fucktard set this up?" It was the Insight, our cable provider. It's not like it's difficult, it's one single checkbox two clicks away from where they have to go anyway.
That isn't what I meant; sorry if I said it. I'm saying that the people who adore Microsoft, Microsofties, are the ones who jump at the opportunity to assert that the GPL hasn't been tested in court, as though that makes it unenforcable. They seem to say this because they don't like the GPL, and want to disuade it's use. Which is just fine, but I don't think their assertion is truthful. Whether they'd violate the GPL is another matter, though after SCO, nothing surprises me anymore. They don't mind funding GPL-violating companies, though.
- Moderate computer player support
- Moderate portable player support
- Default format for some rippers
- Offered by online music store
- Complete portable player support
- Default format for most rippers
- Offered by all non-DRM online music stores
- World domination
MustWhen I chose Vorbis, the things that mattered to me were that Linux could play it, it had good quality, and it was open. I didn't need portable support. Now, I'd kinda like a portable, but I won't buy one that doesn't support Ogg. A demand was created. When Neuros, Rio, PhatNoise, et al chose to add Vorbis support to their players, it wasn't because of a huge demand. But there was enough demand, and it wasn't being satisfied, and it wasn't that expensive to add support (thanks to Tremor). But having a few portables enables the format to become more widespread, and a more widespread format creates more demand for portables that support it, which enables still more Vorbis users, and so on.
I would argue that if you create a patch against a program, you have derived from it. If you have a GPL program A, and you make a derivative A+B, and you then seperate B and distribute it, and expect users to recreate A+B, then for all intents and purposes, you've distributed A+B.
It's important to remember that while this may become the first test in court (except the MySQL case), both RedHat's and IBM's lawyers are comfortable with it. And the other companies that have faced GPL issues have respected it; they didn't think they could fight it. SCO's leaders, a few armchair lawyers, and Microsofties are the only ones I've heard who don't think it'll be enforceable.
The Karma is very cool, and reading about it made my day. It's showing that Vorbis is gaining support. I guess this is another portable Vorbis player to add to the list.
The reason so many computers are so insecure is that most computer users are completely unqualified. But the solution isn't to legislate them off the net. I think computer vendors should administer a test, and if you pass, you get a discount.
When you get auto insurance, they offer to give you a video and CD-ROM (Windows, ugh) training course, and if you pass it, you get lower premiums. Dell could do this: after all, competent users cost them less in tech support time. So all of us nerds would get cheaper hardware, and everyone else would have an incentive to learn the basics of computer use and security.
Just because you're not religious doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't help people.
Interesting take, sortof a Fahrenheit 451 thing. Save the books on a USB keychain, encase it in hot glue, and implant it in your appendix. Then (SPOILER!) escape the BPAA's DRM hounds and go live in the wild with a bunch of RMS-y book nerds. After the nuclear war, wait until mankind reinvents the USB Mass Storage spec, and restore to them the works of Darwin, Tolkien, Torvalds, Bradbury, etc.
It doesn't take any cutting edge LCD monitor; I prefer a white-on-black 80x25 terminal, on a 19 inch screen. The font is thick, bright, and big. You can see how far you are with the status line. Especially with a book like LotR, it's great to be able to grep it, even from within less.
OCR crrors are annoying, but that wouldn't be a problem with official books. Less needs support for bookmarking a line, so when I reopen a file, I can return there. (It probably already has this, but I'm to lazy to read the manpage.) And of course, DRM will be a big problem.
And of course somebody took the time to scan it, so the demand must be there. I'm now taking the same stance as I take on music: offer me reasonably cheap DRM-free ebooks, and I'll buy them.
"While I cannot take the time to specify my claim, I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five lines of code that were known to Linus Torvalds as belonging to SCO, and which, nevertheless, are still transforming Linux from a bicycle to a luxury car."
Yeah, you can see that in the convolutedness of the macro. Of course, it never matters, because it's trivial to optimize when it doesn't matter, and sometimes even when it does.
I'm not worried:
That's too complicated. Can someone please write an ebuild? "emerge sco-sources"
It's better to choose the Next Big Thing(tm). I plan to invent a profession that leeches off lawyers!
IBM: *evil grin*
No, seriously, that'll work. The media is just a bunch of karma whores, and every time McBride lays a turd, they write an essay about it. If the media would get it through their heads that this is just an scam, and quit publishing whatever Darl says whenever he says it, his stock manipulations would be less effective.