Basic business theory... In order for a product to be successful against an "incumbent," it must have some new feature that makes it a little better, right? That's why we don't carry cash around with us.. We whip out a credit card;-) Just kidding. The reason 8" reel-to-reel isnt around is because it wasn't very portable. People like the idea of buying music and being able to take it places... Records were better than reel-to-reel, cassettes better than records, and CD's better than cassetttes and sound better/last longer to boot. Anyone who's lugged around one of the original "portable" computers from the 80's knows what I am talking about here. You simply can not deny that todays "notebook" computers have something over their "laptop" parents (10 years ago) and "portable" grandparents (20 years ago).
The music industry is still struggling to gain control in the consumer market regarding recordings. They have a great new Law they'd like to use for prosecution purposes (DMCA), but no technology upon which to build a case. They already know that fair-use prevents a lot of lawsuits with respect to CD's and records (making those cassette copies for your Walkman or Car stereo;-). IMHO, MiniDiscs are great.. Really compact, excellent sound (the "lossy" angle is BS) and fairly cheap (not the recorders but the media). Keep in mind, Sony intended MD's to replace cassettes, not CD's.. CD's were only ever mentioned as to compare sound quality and such. But even then, MD's did not have anything over CD's when it came right down to it. So people kept buying "tried and true." CD's have always been good to you.
Now the RIAA wants to bend you over a table and sell you these quarter-size discs, which won't provide any opportunity for fair-use. None of _us_ will buy them because we know better. Most other consumers won't buy them because they simply do not have anything over CD's.. So their a tad smaller than MD's... Remember most people didn't go for MD's and minidiscs didn't prevent fair-use. Now when Joe Blow finds he can't make cassette copies for the car he's going to be pissed. He'll prolly find the quater-disc player/recorder too expensive and that will just shut the case all together... Wave good-bye to demand.. Sorry RIAA!! Anyway, there's my 0.02
Do you recall the 18th amendment? Regarding prohibition, liquor manufacture and sale is outlawed. Subsequently repealed with the 21st amendment. For 14 years drinking was illegal by virtue of an _AMENDMENT_ to the _CONSTITUTION_ (i.e. a federal crime!!). That's pretty steep. IMHO, the 18th amendment represents poor judgment on behalf of congress (and those states that ratified it) in that they chose to make alcohol consumption a _federal_ crime. I could understand if a city or state wanted to be dry; they could enact _LOCAL_ laws, like a few cities/counties in this country do, to outlaw sale of alcohol. So my point is that some amendments can be unconstitutional, and thusly need to be repealed.
Anyhow, I'd hate to see the Postal Service disbanded by any act of this or a future congress by Constitutional amendment. I'm not sure it could happen anyway. How in the world would the IRS get my tax payments? Keep in mind, amendments are intended to be additions to the Constitution. However, when ignorant or illegal changes are made, only by subsequent amendment may they be removed. I don't trust most of our congressmen to have the scruples to properly change the Constitution and that is the only way the USPS could be disbanded. I hope that congress sticks to US Code where they are intellectually capable of making changes. To be honest though folks, we shouldn't even be thinking this way. Everyone is having reactionary feelings and concerns about the attacks. It really is to be expected, however our representatives in Washington have a responsibility to us (civilians, citizens) and to the future of these Great United States. Devaluing the power of the _Constitution_ with ridiculous changes will only do harm to our freedoms. Changing the Constitution during this time of great distress would be a crime against all Americans, past, present and future.
No changes to the Constitution will change the fact that Al-Qaida and Bin Laden want to kill every American, and more correctly, every non-Muslim. This war _he_ has started against us is because we are the most free peoples on the planet. He has called for Jihad and yet we are called the Crusaders... I have great difficulty dealing with this kind of logic. He is unhappy that Muslims, Christians, Jews and atheists can and do live relatively peacefully in this country. In no other country in the world can this be claimed; certainly not in the Middle East. It is because of this that we must respect and uphold our freedoms, even in this time of terror as proof to the world that we can remain free. -Bob
Keep in mind folks, the USPS is chartered in the United State Constitution. See Article 1, section 8, "The Congress shall have the power to:... establish post offices and post roads." Check out usconstituion.net. Now I wouldn't be surprised if the USPS ends up having to purchase fancy devices to look for questionable substances being shipped in letters and packages. Of course any changes made to their business will impact our service. Most obvious being an increase in the price of stamps;-) I don't think the Supreme Court would find an amendment putting the USPS to sleep being Constitutional. That would be like Congress passing an Amendment that the office of the President of the United States be removed... Just look on the bright side; the USPS is going to _HAVE_ to do _SOMETHING_ to deal with this threat. Hopefully in the near future you won't have to be concerned about being infected with Anthrax through the Postal service. Now ensuring your drinking water is safe is another story;-) -Bob
All right man, I agree with you that Americans should be reading from diverse news-media outlets. However, I read the article you referenced and I wonder how you figure opinions coming from mindless masses can mean a thing. It's understood that nations in the Rogue list (*ahem, including Syria*) don't treat their own people well nor do they provide anything other that pro-government (dictatorship, whatever) propaganda for news. These people simply believe or agree with whatever is printed in the "Daily Worker" (or whatever you want to call it, state-run mag or newspaper), because if they _don't_ believe or agree, they'll be taken out back and shot. It goes without saying that a quote in such a paper would be in support of that government's current mindset.
Americans don't have that threat to daily life. They _can_ (and should) read many _DIVERSE_ viewpoints to ensure they are well informed. If I don't believe what CNN, NBC, ABC, The NY Times are telling me, I can come up with my own conclusions, contrary to popular opinion and spout that myself, on my own website;-) or if I was really rich, print my own newsletter or newspaper. That's the beauty of a free press; even with all its flaws, at least its not state-run. -Bob
They must think we are stupid. Give the FEDERAL Government the evidence they _NEED_ to try AMERICAN CITIZENS as TERRORISTS?? Remember that post from Monday? It's not legal to allow a Government agency the right to do one thing when Citizens are liable under another law. Or did I miss something?
Perhaps you've not watched the news or read anything online... Have you not heard the DoJ would like to have easier access to online communication? Did you not see the posting here (on Slashdot) that, sometime between last Tuesday and Friday (can't remember the day) Congress had already discussed the backdoors in crypto nonsense again?? d00d, I wish an extra hour in the airport was all they were thinking about doing, but it's not. We must be vigilent if we intend for this government NOT to become "Big Brother." But, it's always been that way. Remember, our votes are perhaps the most powerful thing in our arsenal. Threaten (nicely) your congressmen/women with votes and they begin to listen. BTW, not only is the Gov't going to use the "terrorism" blank-check, big business is going to get it too. Do you really think GW is going to be able to get out of sending the airlines a 17+Billion check?? Not with their (campaign) financial backing... Do you really think AMRCorp is going to put their portion into the right places?? I don't see Don Carty or the other chairmen taking paycuts.. I _DO_ see them cutting thousands of jobs. Things are going to get nasty, and your ignorance to what _ELSE_ is being affected is going to get the rest of us in trouble. But I suppose that's why you posted anonymous. -Bob
I saw someone quoted Ben Franklin somewhere, might have been here, but one line summarizes my feelings:
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
This is America. Our nation was creating holding "(many) truths to be self-evident." These notions are intended to transcend time, most importantly that every man be free (of religous persecution, to have viewpoints not necessarily in line with the current gov't trends, etc.) to be free enough to pursue what he desires (make money, run his own church, whatever). When we enact LAWS _restricting_ these freedoms, we are IMHO throwing 300+ years of fighting. My fellow Americans need to learn there are things more valuable to _Humankind_ than life. The freedom to choose. People in many other nations don't get _choice_. Choice comes with responsibilty and perhaps we've been irresponsible (for the past 50-100 years!) but we should really do something to change. We have a unique opportunity here, amidst this travesty... One of the things we must keep focused on, however, is that which allowed us to get this far. We must observe and protect the Constitution of the United States. Keep in mind, the President (and pretty much anyone else who serves the Fed Gov't) _swears_ to do so on Inauguration day.
You must be one of the toked-up, uneducated pre-teen, under-21 folks driving around cities holding American Flags out of your car in front of Mosques. Have you no compassion? Have you ever wondered why Chinese, Cuban, and other foreigners flee here?
News flash!! Not all Muslims are 'evil.' I agree that the ones who beleive Jihad should be taken to _this_ level need to be dealt with; but they should be dealt with in a civilized way. We have a responsility as the greatest nation to punish those responsible in a civilized, American manner. If we were, I hate to say, dealing with 'murders,' the state (*NY, for example*) would not be legally allowed to indict a person on said charges without proof. Now while we, Americans watching CNN and Fox News, _beleive_ we all kinds of proof that points at Osama bin Laden and/or Afghanistan, we must make _CERTAIN_ that they are truly responsible. Americans are very impatient; we _want_ everything (answers, products, laws, etc) NOW. It appears to me that many Americans would prefer to have a person wrongfully imprisoned,etc rather than _KNOW_ the persons charged are actually responsible.
If we find that these acts were not perpetrated by an individual or individuals but were planned/financed/supported by a nation or nations, then these acts should be interpreted as acts of war and we (and our Allies) should respond accordingly. Don't get me wrong. I have yet to see any proof (which of course is only being provided by the media, and thus not complete) that would lead me to beleive anyone _other_ than bin Laden was responsible; but we must be certain... before we declare war.
You'll soon be receiving phone calls from Gartner group and other pollers asking "Were you touched by the terrorist activity in NYC on Sept. 11, 2001?" "Yes," you'd answer. Then they will ask "Would you support mandatory backdoors in crypto software?" and you'd say "Hell no!!" They'd then ask if you were always insensitive or just un-American.
On CNBC I saw a list of passengers (age, where their from, and for whom they worked) from the many flights and noticed a Sun Microsystem employee... Any better information?? They, of course, didn't say what the person did for the company, but only that they worked for Sun... -Bob
Well, AC, absurd has stumbled onto a very poorly-understood English rule. While absurd may not know all the rules for writing in Enlish, he has certainly tripped up on something that is a problem for many Americans. Let's look at that statement again. Keep in mind that English majors/professors explain that parentheses are to be used sparingly, as they merely _aid_ you in providing extra information (which can be cut out). Like my previous statement says, you can cut out the piece that is in the parentheses without losing any important structure. However, the statement in question does not follow the normal parentheses rule:
ORIG
"They're against undoing the definition of temporary RAM buffer copies as possibly infringing (which Jessica Litman in Digital Copyright pegged as perhaps the central dirty trick in the DMCA as it opens the door to technical access control by publishers) is turned down, so is a first sale doctrine for digitally distributed works, and the DMCA's effect on fair use is called out of scope for the report."
MOD'D
"They're against undoing the definition of temporary RAM buffer copies as possibly infringing... is turned down, so is a first sale doctrine for digitally distributed works, and the DMCA's effect on fair use is called out of scope for the report."
The dots indicate what I have deleted; the sentence is now confusing. Come on now, the sentence is a total run-on!! Damn near the whole post! So I have to agree with absurd_spork... the sentence makes no sense. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some anal retentive English-major. I just figured that you, AC, did not understand absurd's problem with the sentence. I'm just posting to clear things up for you:-) BTW, the info in the post is quite important to us here at Slashdot. I just wanted to address this AC's concern with the level of English compentence in Slash's readership. Bring on more, hopefully uplifting, DMCA posts.
I suppose this is good, but it seems to me that as long as I don't say anything libelous, I sould be able to say anything I want about a company, my congressman, president etc, _AND_ attach my name to the comment. Does not the right to free speech protect me still if I use my real name? -Bob
Strong passwords like all other secure-business practice, if for no other reason, provide a legal basis to fire someone. If an employee writes down their password, neglects to lock or logout of their workstation, or tells other folks their password(s), they are in violation of company policy and it possibly is putting the companies clients at risk. Every person who reads this site knows damned well that a lot of users don't give two shits about IT policy, at least until they lose their job because of it. If you as a user have a problem with strong-password policies, you need to find a job that doesn't tax your brain so much.
So you purchase nothing? I kind of find that hard to beleive. d00d, my angle is based in which part of the _economy_ _most_ Americans contribute. That statement stems from the fact that most people are consumers, not _producers_. In Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs and countless other CEOs cases, their jobs as producers come first. To accurately understand my statement you need to quote the line preceeding as well:
While the federal government recognizes the role of the consumer, we are not the first group they think of when it comes to economics
Most folks on Capitol Hill are in the same boat as us; most are consumers. There may be a few that own companies (and lord knows with some of their non-Gov't incomes, its obvious where their priorities lay). The point, however, you hit on the head. The one basic tie each of us has to the other (outside of being human/omnivore/mammal) is that we are American. My connection to John McCain, Judge P Jackson, you, and the homeless folks in Detroit getting offered cigarettes to vote for a specific party in an election;-), is that we are all Americans. Why would Dubbya, McCain, Lieberman or Lott value Bills needs _OVER_ mine and yours... It all comes down to our position in the food chain- Er economy. Bill/M$ contributes millions of dollars to (prolly both) political parties, and you or I contribute nothing or at least very little. Our votes don't speak for us my friend, just our dollars.
-Bob
P.S. This is what happens when folks rely to heavily on the _Federal_ government.
I hate to burst everyones bubble here but the only thing that (most) folks care about anymore is how stuff affects the bottom line, with perhaps the exception of those of us who enjoy the free software movement and all it offers. Because businesses have a more observable impact on the economy, the federal government will do anything to make them happy. I submit the DMCA as evidence.
While the federal government recognizes the role of the consumer, we are not the first group they think of when it comes to economics. It's a shame, because if nothing else, every American is a consumer first. Bill Gates has one of the largest companies in the history of the US. Due to his marketing department, and perhaps a few sales, M$ appears to have a great impact on the nations economy. One must keep in mind the lobbying power that Bill has in Washington (DC that is;-) You'd better beleive that just as sure as he read that article (and perhaps our comments;-) Hi Bill!!), he's got his lobby-drones buzzing the members on capital hill to look into this and if they decide on specifics, that the BSD license be the one of choice.
Keep in mind Microsoft gives the appearance to economists that it is key, or at least very important, to the US economy. And those economists are advisors to various of your elected officials. As such, they'll make suggestions to said officials that if a decision need be made on which license(s) to use for "government code" it be one that benefits equally businesses and individuals. The BSD license would be fantastic for the very reason mentioned in this article; Bill's already stolen/used (your choice) BSD code. Our only hope is that the (19) states sue the Fed for its assistence in building the worlds largest monopoly of all time. Yeah right, like that'll happen...
Where the hell does a company with this pisspoor outlook come up with money to start filing lawsuits? Maybe their legal department should start communicating with their sales or finance departments. Oh thats right... It's because of napster that they are doing so shoddy in the market. What a pile of crap. -Bob
It's not that they aren't capable connecting homes via fiber. It's capitalism at its (worst?) Keep in mind, I am connected to the net at darn near T1 speed and pay not even close to what a business would pay. That's why some DSL providers have a special "fee" for businesses. It has to do with the absurd markup they have on businesses. If the phone co charges a business 1k+ a month for a fiber t1+, how can they sell fiber access to a home? Theres no way in hell any homeowner would pay that kind of money for "internet" access. And it's not as if a fiber line is that tough to administer. When a business pays for fiber service, they are paying a premium because they are financiall capable. The major cost in fiber is the installation. Once the run is complete (and if you were running fiber to the door, it could be put into the cost of building a home *development or such*), there is almost no upkeep, if you do it right. Heaven forbid the once in a million occurs and a fiber breaks. Yeah it'll cost some money and effort, but prolly no more than a key copper peice. My point is that phone companies are keeping certain doors closed becuase of the impact it would have on their financial situation. Other nations around the world are taking the intelligent choice and building the infrastructure to allow their citizens to be able to interface with the citizens of the world. Our phone companies (like the capatalists we are) are only concerned with the "now," and its only going to hurt us at the expense of our global future. -Bob
I know that some time in the 70's or 80's the NSA tapped a huge copper cable in (I want to say) the Okhotsk Sea. Basically, they took a specially modified, highly-classified, sub down there and clamped a HUGE device that detected and recorded both audio and data transmissions through microwave or RFI. The device _never_ penetrated the cable because there was a possibility of damage and/or detection. The irony is that eventually the device was found. As far as fiber tapping is concerning, thinking back to my fiber-certification class, I don't think its possible. In order to adequately tap a fiber, you'd have to cleave it in half and put on all the tap connections by hand. You're going to be noticed for this, especially if its a bandwidth-saturated line. The NSA are very careful in choosing which cables to monitor. Also consider that an underwater "fiber" cable is actually going to be a huge cable filled with several (possibly hundreds) of actual single fiber cables. It would be rather stupid to attempt tap one of those. Remember, the NSA is a spy group; they _try_ to be rather clandestine in their operations and of course requires the ability to keep from being noticed. IMHO, tapping a fiber cable would be the _best_ way to let someone know they're being watched.
-Bob
BTW, if you're intereseted in these and more spy-sub stories, I read a fantastic book, "Blind Man's Bluff : The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
", see Amazon.com for info;-)
I'll agree with you about your CDDB example, but thats it. Let me point out where you're wrong. Yes, Slashdot users, and opensource users in general, (perhaps some FSF folks might clarify/correct this viewpoint) want things to be free. Who in their right mind _wouldnt_ want a free choice in what they do with their computer? We use Linux, PostresSQL, the Gimp, Apache because those folks were kind enough to include the source and they're stable, decent products.
The big thing here, my anonymous friend, is that we are not what is called in the industry as "vendor-locked in." If a better product comes from a different vendor, we have the choice and possibilty of porting to the new platform. We've been given all the old source, so we can see what and how certain functions were performed on our data so that we may be able to migrate better. Of course the security factor is great too. You won't see Microsoft release a migration path _FROM_ SQL server to Oracle. You have to rely on Oracle to that for you, and they don't know SQL inside and out (like they do for the DB product for which they _DO_ have the source.) You'll most likely lose some data too. But don't fret, Oracle will prolly gladly help you in a conversion (at one hell of a cost).
Free (speech) software is about enabling the user. By using free software you can spend your money on different things, things that may actually be better for your business. You can spend that 10k+ that you _would_ have spend on M$ BackOffice licenses instead on a graphic artist to make your web-presence a little more professional.
And that makes their vote more important than yours or mine? Yes, that is a correct assertion; however the spirit of the Constitution comes up, which our Supreme court Justices are supposed to protect. That's why I'm not sure if I like Justice Antonin Scalia (check out this this little gem which I found at poliglut.com to see more. To quote: "My Constitution is a very flexible document,' he told an audience Friday night at a conference on James Madison at Princeton University. `You want a right to abortion? Pass a law. That's flexibility.`"
He makes it sound easy that you and I (as citizens) are able to have laws passed at the drop of a hat. Not Joe Average Citizen. But your favorite megacorp can buy a new law (ahem, Disney, ahem RIAA/MPAA, ahem Citigroup *can you say Banking Reform Act of 1999?*). Thats bullshit. When the Constitution was written, remember that the men who wrote it became outlaws of the British, they wrote it to protect all (American) people. Supposedly, the Constitution serves us all, rich and poor, black and white, young and old, ALL alike. Anyways, thats my 0.02. -Bob
You Shouldn't have to make a choice between those two extremes. The purpose of our government is to do as we (voters) ask. That's the point of self-government. The only way megacorp's are allowed to flourish is when someone in our government gets kickbacks to look the other way. There's no way that Megacorp or Ultra-rich are the norm (*th e majority*) in our country. It's time for Americans to wake up and hold their congress members (and others) responsible for allowing our American democracy* to erode.
-Bob
*see websters dict. for the correct defn.
What we all should do is offer to email the cops who screwed this poor college kid with descriptions and links to the thousands of other quake/starcraft/UT clan websites explaining that the point of the site is a "meeting place" of sorts for folks that play games. It's the same concept as poeple who go out on camping trips and play paintball over a weekend. It may at least serve as an enlightening point for those _un_enlightened cops who don't know about or understand "quake clans." Just a thought.
I can just see State legislatures approving this system just because it's accociated with M$. Keep in mind the separation of power, just because 20 some states have a anti-trust suit outstanding doesnt mean the legislature will think before acting. Hmm, Makes me wonder... how about anyone else?!
Bob
It seems to me you have a pretty simple and clear case to keep the system you already have. It's obvious that the only reason anyone in
your company wants to have an Exchange Server on the network is "ease of management." I'll bet dollars to donuts that your "polical
movement" is primarily comprised of users or unknowledged, dare I say "techninal," advisors/systems analysts. Your company already has a _Huge_ investment in the Solaris-base mail system. Excluding Sun contracts, the money has already (and in my opinion) been well spent.
Let me recount my personal experience with M$ Exchange..
I worked for 2 years for Citicorp Insurance Group, now obliterated, due to the Citi-Travelers merger. During my time there I was an
adminstrator of a heterogenous computing environment, including Sun E4000's with Solaris and Oracle, and an assorment of Compaq
hardware running M$ and Novell. Our M$ server worked well enough but often times were a bitch to deal with, considering all the changes that were going on with the company, ie moving users around and deleting/adding new users. NT _can_ be stable given extremely expensive hardware and _NO_CHANGE_. Don't mess around with a server when you get it running. As part of our closing, my
counterpart took it upon herself to "migrate," if you will, our exchange server from one working machine to a different one so that the
original could be sent away. Sounds simple enough, except that Echange doesn't like to have any of its services restarted (unless its a full
NT/server restart). All in all, she lost all the mailboxes and was unable to retreive them even with "backups." But thats another story. I
wouldn't bet my Disaster/Recovery strategy on any M$-based products due to my own experiences.
Also keep in mind that with M$ comes the ever popular licensing agreements. When you purchase your server, you will buy NT Server and the necessary components (Exchange, et al). You will need BackOffice clients for _every_machine_ that connects to it, including those non-M$ desktops that use the SMTP or HTTP connectivity. When you start adding it up, it can be _QUITE_ expensive. Once again I remind you, you've already made an investment in a great and well-functioning mail system. You know the saying, "if it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it."
These are just my experiences and opinions, but I beleive that after you have reviewed all the posts here today, you'll have one hell of an arguement for
keeping your system the way it is. It's my opinion that the only reason that companies choose M$ products over other, better-qualified products is based entirely on ease-of-use/managemtn. As such, they can hire less-competant "administrator and analysts" at less pay to work with the stuff. If you still have a problem, let your managers and CxO's know that I am available for a fee to conduct an independant technival review of your entire computing environment!
mrBoB
Slashdot Mirror
The music industry is still struggling to gain control in the consumer market regarding recordings. They have a great new Law they'd like to use for prosecution purposes (DMCA), but no technology upon which to build a case. They already know that fair-use prevents a lot of lawsuits with respect to CD's and records (making those cassette copies for your Walkman or Car stereo ;-). IMHO, MiniDiscs are great.. Really compact, excellent sound (the "lossy" angle is BS) and fairly cheap (not the recorders but the media). Keep in mind, Sony intended MD's to replace cassettes, not CD's.. CD's were only ever mentioned as to compare sound quality and such. But even then, MD's did not have anything over CD's when it came right down to it. So people kept buying "tried and true." CD's have always been good to you.
Now the RIAA wants to bend you over a table and sell you these quarter-size discs, which won't provide any opportunity for fair-use. None of _us_ will buy them because we know better. Most other consumers won't buy them because they simply do not have anything over CD's.. So their a tad smaller than MD's... Remember most people didn't go for MD's and minidiscs didn't prevent fair-use. Now when Joe Blow finds he can't make cassette copies for the car he's going to be pissed. He'll prolly find the quater-disc player/recorder too expensive and that will just shut the case all together... Wave good-bye to demand.. Sorry RIAA!! Anyway, there's my 0.02
-Bob
Anyhow, I'd hate to see the Postal Service disbanded by any act of this or a future congress by Constitutional amendment. I'm not sure it could happen anyway. How in the world would the IRS get my tax payments? Keep in mind, amendments are intended to be additions to the Constitution. However, when ignorant or illegal changes are made, only by subsequent amendment may they be removed. I don't trust most of our congressmen to have the scruples to properly change the Constitution and that is the only way the USPS could be disbanded. I hope that congress sticks to US Code where they are intellectually capable of making changes. To be honest though folks, we shouldn't even be thinking this way. Everyone is having reactionary feelings and concerns about the attacks. It really is to be expected, however our representatives in Washington have a responsibility to us (civilians, citizens) and to the future of these Great United States. Devaluing the power of the _Constitution_ with ridiculous changes will only do harm to our freedoms. Changing the Constitution during this time of great distress would be a crime against all Americans, past, present and future.
No changes to the Constitution will change the fact that Al-Qaida and Bin Laden want to kill every American, and more correctly, every non-Muslim. This war _he_ has started against us is because we are the most free peoples on the planet. He has called for Jihad and yet we are called the Crusaders... I have great difficulty dealing with this kind of logic. He is unhappy that Muslims, Christians, Jews and atheists can and do live relatively peacefully in this country. In no other country in the world can this be claimed; certainly not in the Middle East. It is because of this that we must respect and uphold our freedoms, even in this time of terror as proof to the world that we can remain free. -Bob
Keep in mind folks, the USPS is chartered in the United State Constitution. See Article 1, section 8, "The Congress shall have the power to: ... establish post offices and post roads." Check out usconstituion.net. Now I wouldn't be surprised if the USPS ends up having to purchase fancy devices to look for questionable substances being shipped in letters and packages. Of course any changes made to their business will impact our service. Most obvious being an increase in the price of stamps ;-) I don't think the Supreme Court would find an amendment putting the USPS to sleep being Constitutional. That would be like Congress passing an Amendment that the office of the President of the United States be removed... Just look on the bright side; the USPS is going to _HAVE_ to do _SOMETHING_ to deal with this threat. Hopefully in the near future you won't have to be concerned about being infected with Anthrax through the Postal service. Now ensuring your drinking water is safe is another story ;-) -Bob
Americans don't have that threat to daily life. They _can_ (and should) read many _DIVERSE_ viewpoints to ensure they are well informed. If I don't believe what CNN, NBC, ABC, The NY Times are telling me, I can come up with my own conclusions, contrary to popular opinion and spout that myself, on my own website ;-) or if I was really rich, print my own newsletter or newspaper. That's the beauty of a free press; even with all its flaws, at least its not state-run. -Bob
-Bob
Perhaps you've not watched the news or read anything online... Have you not heard the DoJ would like to have easier access to online communication? Did you not see the posting here (on Slashdot) that, sometime between last Tuesday and Friday (can't remember the day) Congress had already discussed the backdoors in crypto nonsense again?? d00d, I wish an extra hour in the airport was all they were thinking about doing, but it's not. We must be vigilent if we intend for this government NOT to become "Big Brother." But, it's always been that way. Remember, our votes are perhaps the most powerful thing in our arsenal. Threaten (nicely) your congressmen/women with votes and they begin to listen. BTW, not only is the Gov't going to use the "terrorism" blank-check, big business is going to get it too. Do you really think GW is going to be able to get out of sending the airlines a 17+Billion check?? Not with their (campaign) financial backing... Do you really think AMRCorp is going to put their portion into the right places?? I don't see Don Carty or the other chairmen taking paycuts.. I _DO_ see them cutting thousands of jobs. Things are going to get nasty, and your ignorance to what _ELSE_ is being affected is going to get the rest of us in trouble. But I suppose that's why you posted anonymous.
-Bob
This is America. Our nation was creating holding "(many) truths to be self-evident." These notions are intended to transcend time, most importantly that every man be free (of religous persecution, to have viewpoints not necessarily in line with the current gov't trends, etc.) to be free enough to pursue what he desires (make money, run his own church, whatever). When we enact LAWS _restricting_ these freedoms, we are IMHO throwing 300+ years of fighting. My fellow Americans need to learn there are things more valuable to _Humankind_ than life. The freedom to choose. People in many other nations don't get _choice_. Choice comes with responsibilty and perhaps we've been irresponsible (for the past 50-100 years!) but we should really do something to change. We have a unique opportunity here, amidst this travesty... One of the things we must keep focused on, however, is that which allowed us to get this far. We must observe and protect the Constitution of the United States. Keep in mind, the President (and pretty much anyone else who serves the Fed Gov't) _swears_ to do so on Inauguration day.
just my 0.02
-Bob
News flash!! Not all Muslims are 'evil.' I agree that the ones who beleive Jihad should be taken to _this_ level need to be dealt with; but they should be dealt with in a civilized way. We have a responsility as the greatest nation to punish those responsible in a civilized, American manner. If we were, I hate to say, dealing with 'murders,' the state (*NY, for example*) would not be legally allowed to indict a person on said charges without proof. Now while we, Americans watching CNN and Fox News, _beleive_ we all kinds of proof that points at Osama bin Laden and/or Afghanistan, we must make _CERTAIN_ that they are truly responsible. Americans are very impatient; we _want_ everything (answers, products, laws, etc) NOW. It appears to me that many Americans would prefer to have a person wrongfully imprisoned,etc rather than _KNOW_ the persons charged are actually responsible.
If we find that these acts were not perpetrated by an individual or individuals but were planned/financed/supported by a nation or nations, then these acts should be interpreted as acts of war and we (and our Allies) should respond accordingly. Don't get me wrong. I have yet to see any proof (which of course is only being provided by the media, and thus not complete) that would lead me to beleive anyone _other_ than bin Laden was responsible; but we must be certain... before we declare war.
-Bob
"You _like_ children, don't you?"
-Bob
On CNBC I saw a list of passengers (age, where their from, and for whom they worked) from the many flights and noticed a Sun Microsystem employee... Any better information?? They, of course, didn't say what the person did for the company, but only that they worked for Sun... -Bob
ORIG
"They're against undoing the definition of temporary RAM buffer copies as possibly infringing (which Jessica Litman in Digital Copyright pegged as perhaps the central dirty trick in the DMCA as it opens the door to technical access control by publishers) is turned down, so is a first sale doctrine for digitally distributed works, and the DMCA's effect on fair use is called out of scope for the report."
MOD'D
"They're against undoing the definition of temporary RAM buffer copies as possibly infringing ... is turned down, so is a first sale doctrine for digitally distributed works, and the DMCA's effect on fair use is called out of scope for the report."
The dots indicate what I have deleted; the sentence is now confusing. Come on now, the sentence is a total run-on!! Damn near the whole post! So I have to agree with absurd_spork... the sentence makes no sense. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some anal retentive English-major. I just figured that you, AC, did not understand absurd's problem with the sentence. I'm just posting to clear things up for you :-) BTW, the info in the post is quite important to us here at Slashdot. I just wanted to address this AC's concern with the level of English compentence in Slash's readership. Bring on more, hopefully uplifting, DMCA posts.
-Bob
I suppose this is good, but it seems to me that as long as I don't say anything libelous, I sould be able to say anything I want about a company, my congressman, president etc, _AND_ attach my name to the comment. Does not the right to free speech protect me still if I use my real name? -Bob
Strong passwords like all other secure-business practice, if for no other reason, provide a legal basis to fire someone. If an employee writes down their password, neglects to lock or logout of their workstation, or tells other folks their password(s), they are in violation of company policy and it possibly is putting the companies clients at risk. Every person who reads this site knows damned well that a lot of users don't give two shits about IT policy, at least until they lose their job because of it. If you as a user have a problem with strong-password policies, you need to find a job that doesn't tax your brain so much.
So you purchase nothing? I kind of find that hard to beleive. d00d, my angle is based in which part of the _economy_ _most_ Americans contribute. That statement stems from the fact that most people are consumers, not _producers_. In Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs and countless other CEOs cases, their jobs as producers come first. To accurately understand my statement you need to quote the line preceeding as well:
;-), is that we are all Americans. Why would Dubbya, McCain, Lieberman or Lott value Bills needs _OVER_ mine and yours... It all comes down to our position in the food chain- Er economy. Bill/M$ contributes millions of dollars to (prolly both) political parties, and you or I contribute nothing or at least very little. Our votes don't speak for us my friend, just our dollars.
While the federal government recognizes the role of the consumer, we are not the first group they think of when it comes to economics
Most folks on Capitol Hill are in the same boat as us; most are consumers. There may be a few that own companies (and lord knows with some of their non-Gov't incomes, its obvious where their priorities lay). The point, however, you hit on the head. The one basic tie each of us has to the other (outside of being human/omnivore/mammal) is that we are American. My connection to John McCain, Judge P Jackson, you, and the homeless folks in Detroit getting offered cigarettes to vote for a specific party in an election
-Bob
P.S. This is what happens when folks rely to heavily on the _Federal_ government.
I hate to burst everyones bubble here but the only thing that (most) folks care about anymore is how stuff affects the bottom line, with perhaps the exception of those of us who enjoy the free software movement and all it offers. Because businesses have a more observable impact on the economy, the federal government will do anything to make them happy. I submit the DMCA as evidence.
;-) You'd better beleive that just as sure as he read that article (and perhaps our comments ;-) Hi Bill!!), he's got his lobby-drones buzzing the members on capital hill to look into this and if they decide on specifics, that the BSD license be the one of choice.
While the federal government recognizes the role of the consumer, we are not the first group they think of when it comes to economics. It's a shame, because if nothing else, every American is a consumer first. Bill Gates has one of the largest companies in the history of the US. Due to his marketing department, and perhaps a few sales, M$ appears to have a great impact on the nations economy. One must keep in mind the lobbying power that Bill has in Washington (DC that is
Keep in mind Microsoft gives the appearance to economists that it is key, or at least very important, to the US economy. And those economists are advisors to various of your elected officials. As such, they'll make suggestions to said officials that if a decision need be made on which license(s) to use for "government code" it be one that benefits equally businesses and individuals. The BSD license would be fantastic for the very reason mentioned in this article; Bill's already stolen/used (your choice) BSD code. Our only hope is that the (19) states sue the Fed for its assistence in building the worlds largest monopoly of all time. Yeah right, like that'll happen...
Bob
Where the hell does a company with this pisspoor outlook come up with money to start filing lawsuits? Maybe their legal department should start communicating with their sales or finance departments. Oh thats right... It's because of napster that they are doing so shoddy in the market. What a pile of crap. -Bob
It's not that they aren't capable connecting homes via fiber. It's capitalism at its (worst?) Keep in mind, I am connected to the net at darn near T1 speed and pay not even close to what a business would pay. That's why some DSL providers have a special "fee" for businesses. It has to do with the absurd markup they have on businesses. If the phone co charges a business 1k+ a month for a fiber t1+, how can they sell fiber access to a home? Theres no way in hell any homeowner would pay that kind of money for "internet" access. And it's not as if a fiber line is that tough to administer. When a business pays for fiber service, they are paying a premium because they are financiall capable. The major cost in fiber is the installation. Once the run is complete (and if you were running fiber to the door, it could be put into the cost of building a home *development or such*), there is almost no upkeep, if you do it right. Heaven forbid the once in a million occurs and a fiber breaks. Yeah it'll cost some money and effort, but prolly no more than a key copper peice. My point is that phone companies are keeping certain doors closed becuase of the impact it would have on their financial situation. Other nations around the world are taking the intelligent choice and building the infrastructure to allow their citizens to be able to interface with the citizens of the world. Our phone companies (like the capatalists we are) are only concerned with the "now," and its only going to hurt us at the expense of our global future. -Bob
I know that some time in the 70's or 80's the NSA tapped a huge copper cable in (I want to say) the Okhotsk Sea. Basically, they took a specially modified, highly-classified, sub down there and clamped a HUGE device that detected and recorded both audio and data transmissions through microwave or RFI. The device _never_ penetrated the cable because there was a possibility of damage and/or detection. The irony is that eventually the device was found. As far as fiber tapping is concerning, thinking back to my fiber-certification class, I don't think its possible. In order to adequately tap a fiber, you'd have to cleave it in half and put on all the tap connections by hand. You're going to be noticed for this, especially if its a bandwidth-saturated line. The NSA are very careful in choosing which cables to monitor. Also consider that an underwater "fiber" cable is actually going to be a huge cable filled with several (possibly hundreds) of actual single fiber cables. It would be rather stupid to attempt tap one of those. Remember, the NSA is a spy group; they _try_ to be rather clandestine in their operations and of course requires the ability to keep from being noticed. IMHO, tapping a fiber cable would be the _best_ way to let someone know they're being watched. -Bob BTW, if you're intereseted in these and more spy-sub stories, I read a fantastic book, "Blind Man's Bluff : The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage ", see Amazon.com for info ;-)
I'll agree with you about your CDDB example, but thats it. Let me point out where you're wrong. Yes, Slashdot users, and opensource users in general, (perhaps some FSF folks might clarify/correct this viewpoint) want things to be free. Who in their right mind _wouldnt_ want a free choice in what they do with their computer? We use Linux, PostresSQL, the Gimp, Apache because those folks were kind enough to include the source and they're stable, decent products.
The big thing here, my anonymous friend, is that we are not what is called in the industry as "vendor-locked in." If a better product comes from a different vendor, we have the choice and possibilty of porting to the new platform. We've been given all the old source, so we can see what and how certain functions were performed on our data so that we may be able to migrate better. Of course the security factor is great too. You won't see Microsoft release a migration path _FROM_ SQL server to Oracle. You have to rely on Oracle to that for you, and they don't know SQL inside and out (like they do for the DB product for which they _DO_ have the source.) You'll most likely lose some data too. But don't fret, Oracle will prolly gladly help you in a conversion (at one hell of a cost).
Free (speech) software is about enabling the user. By using free software you can spend your money on different things, things that may actually be better for your business. You can spend that 10k+ that you _would_ have spend on M$ BackOffice licenses instead on a graphic artist to make your web-presence a little more professional.
Bob
Ingenious!
And that makes their vote more important than yours or mine? Yes, that is a correct assertion; however the spirit of the Constitution comes up, which our Supreme court Justices are supposed to protect. That's why I'm not sure if I like Justice Antonin Scalia (check out this this little gem which I found at poliglut.com to see more. To quote: "My Constitution is a very flexible document,' he told an audience Friday night at a conference on James Madison at Princeton University. `You want a right to abortion? Pass a law. That's flexibility.`"
He makes it sound easy that you and I (as citizens) are able to have laws passed at the drop of a hat. Not Joe Average Citizen. But your favorite megacorp can buy a new law (ahem, Disney, ahem RIAA/MPAA, ahem Citigroup *can you say Banking Reform Act of 1999?*). Thats bullshit. When the Constitution was written, remember that the men who wrote it became outlaws of the British, they wrote it to protect all (American) people. Supposedly, the Constitution serves us all, rich and poor, black and white, young and old, ALL alike. Anyways, thats my 0.02. -Bob
You Shouldn't have to make a choice between those two extremes. The purpose of our government is to do as we (voters) ask. That's the point of self-government. The only way megacorp's are allowed to flourish is when someone in our government gets kickbacks to look the other way. There's no way that Megacorp or Ultra-rich are the norm (*th e majority*) in our country. It's time for Americans to wake up and hold their congress members (and others) responsible for allowing our American democracy* to erode. -Bob *see websters dict. for the correct defn.
What we all should do is offer to email the cops who screwed this poor college kid with descriptions and links to the thousands of other quake/starcraft/UT clan websites explaining that the point of the site is a "meeting place" of sorts for folks that play games. It's the same concept as poeple who go out on camping trips and play paintball over a weekend. It may at least serve as an enlightening point for those _un_enlightened cops who don't know about or understand "quake clans." Just a thought.
mrBob
I can just see State legislatures approving this system just because it's accociated with M$. Keep in mind the separation of power, just because 20 some states have a anti-trust suit outstanding doesnt mean the legislature will think before acting. Hmm, Makes me wonder... how about anyone else?!
Bob
It seems to me you have a pretty simple and clear case to keep the system you already have. It's obvious that the only reason anyone in
your company wants to have an Exchange Server on the network is "ease of management." I'll bet dollars to donuts that your "polical
movement" is primarily comprised of users or unknowledged, dare I say "techninal," advisors/systems analysts. Your company already has a _Huge_ investment in the Solaris-base mail system. Excluding Sun contracts, the money has already (and in my opinion) been well spent.
Let me recount my personal experience with M$ Exchange..
I worked for 2 years for Citicorp Insurance Group, now obliterated, due to the Citi-Travelers merger. During my time there I was an
adminstrator of a heterogenous computing environment, including Sun E4000's with Solaris and Oracle, and an assorment of Compaq
hardware running M$ and Novell. Our M$ server worked well enough but often times were a bitch to deal with, considering all the changes that were going on with the company, ie moving users around and deleting/adding new users. NT _can_ be stable given extremely expensive hardware and _NO_CHANGE_. Don't mess around with a server when you get it running. As part of our closing, my
counterpart took it upon herself to "migrate," if you will, our exchange server from one working machine to a different one so that the
original could be sent away. Sounds simple enough, except that Echange doesn't like to have any of its services restarted (unless its a full
NT/server restart). All in all, she lost all the mailboxes and was unable to retreive them even with "backups." But thats another story. I
wouldn't bet my Disaster/Recovery strategy on any M$-based products due to my own experiences.
Also keep in mind that with M$ comes the ever popular licensing agreements. When you purchase your server, you will buy NT Server and the necessary components (Exchange, et al). You will need BackOffice clients for _every_machine_ that connects to it, including those non-M$ desktops that use the SMTP or HTTP connectivity. When you start adding it up, it can be _QUITE_ expensive. Once again I remind you, you've already made an investment in a great and well-functioning mail system. You know the saying, "if it ain't broke, don't 'fix' it."
These are just my experiences and opinions, but I beleive that after you have reviewed all the posts here today, you'll have one hell of an arguement for
keeping your system the way it is. It's my opinion that the only reason that companies choose M$ products over other, better-qualified products is based entirely on ease-of-use/managemtn. As such, they can hire less-competant "administrator and analysts" at less pay to work with the stuff. If you still have a problem, let your managers and CxO's know that I am available for a fee to conduct an independant technival review of your entire computing environment!
mrBoB