I don't understand why everyone seems so surprised at Microsoft's comments. Did you expect them to come out and say "Yeah, we know our product is bug-ridden filth, use Firefox!!"?
At the end of the day, when it comes down to the bottom line, these people are marketing droids. And they are doing what marketing droids do best...pushing their product. And marketing droids are not known for objective honesty.
And for the millionth time, I know that. And it is also totally irrelevant to my argument.
The GPL is a license that describes your rights to use and copy the material it is on.
A copyright also is a license that describes your rights to use and copy the material it is on.
If we want others to respect the GPL, then we must also respect their copyrights...even if we don't agree with them. The laws that we use to argue that the GPL is valid are the very same laws that make copyright valid. If copyright is invalid, then the GPL is equally invalid.
If we don't like current copyright law, then we need to work to change it. But at no time do we have the right to ignore it because we don't like it. And the fact that copyright and GPL are 180 degrees opposed does ot change that.
How are they any more hypocritical than the average slashdotter who wants to see anyone who violates the GPL with their head on a pike, yet sees nothing wrong with someone violating the copyright on music or movies?
I was wondering about this myself, since finding key generators and such is so trivial my 70 year old mother could probably do it. Thanks for posting your info.
I'm still watching, but I have a feeling that my days of viwership are severely numbered. And this saddens me deeply, because I have been watching TSS quite literally since episode 1. When I purchased my PVR a year ago, an entry for TSS was the very first recording I scheduled.
The triggering event is one of this week's episodes where they rated TV dinners. If I want to see stories about food, I'll watch the fschking Food Network. I don't see Emeril doing stories on how to wire your kitchen with 802.11, therefore I don't see the need for G4TechTV to rate caffinated drinks and TV dinners.
Since Congress and the President can so easily pull out a hundred billion dollars to bomb the hell out of another country, I see no reason we can't come up with a whimpy $260 million for something as worthwhile as this.
While this is certainly something that lock manufacturers need to deal with, everyone needs to also keep one simple idea in mind.
The purpose of a lock is to keep honest and semi-honest people from taking your stuff. If someone is damned and determined to take your bike, he's going to get it, regardless of what lock you use.
I also have to nod in agreement with an earlier poster who pointed out that for the price of a fancy lock, you can get a bike that no one wants to steal. This is a perfect example of why my everyday driver car is an old beater that no one in their right mind would want to steal. If you're going to drive fancy stuff, then you have to accept that you are going to be a target.
Even if you built me a house under those circumstances, I am aware of no law or court ruling that would give a crook the right to enter my house and take things or damage my property without my permission.
A person blaming you for "allowing" a crook to enter my house and proclaiming your oversight makes the crook less guilty is using as big a copout as anyone who says this guy should get off easy because its Microsoft's fault for having bad security. Should you be required to build houses more securely, or at least offer an optional door? Of course. Should the crook be given a minimal sentence because you didn't? Hell no.
While I can't point you to a specific post, I have made comments every bit as harsh, if not worse, about the scum sucking bottom feeders at the spyware capital of the world otherwise known as Gator. They should be squashed like the parasites they are.
If I had children and one of them came to me and said "daddy, I want to be a prostitute", I wouldn't be happy but I'd learn to live with it and they would still have my love. But if they came to me and said "Daddy, I want to work for Gator", I'd throw them out of the house.
Unlike the powers that be at Slashdot, who continually slant stories like this in such a way as to try to make us feel sympathy for the little turds ("only 18", "only claiming $158,000 worth of damages"), I hope they staple his nuts to the wall with dull rusty 5-inch staples. Like I said the last time Slashdot tried to defend actions like these, lax security in Windows is not the issue, nor is Microsoft in *ANY* way to blame here. If I leave the front door of my house wide open and put up a billboard that says "my door is not locked" that does not give you the right to come inside and damage my property. Likewise, poor OS security does not give you permission to screw up my machine.
Well, we're going to find out for sure here shortly. My two-year contract comes to an end in November. And while I've been a happy Verizon Wireless customer for the last 6 years, I have decided that having *full* bluetooth functionality between a phone and my PDA, including being able to sync contacts, is going to be a "make or break" point on whether I renew with Verizon or go to another carrier.
If Verizon is indeed purposely crippling bluetooth, and has no plans to "fix" it, then they need to be looked at for false advertising. From their own website I quote:
"And with Bluetooth wireless technology, you can make hands-free, eyes-free calls, and connect to your PC or PDA whenever and wherever you want."
Maybe one of these days Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc, will figure out that its not the space, its the search and organization facilities.
I own a server. My server has dual 120 gig hard drives. I can have dozens of times more space than Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc, offers by using a server I already own. But I still use Gmail because I can't duplicate their searching and cataloging abilities. And until Gmail's [laughter]competitors[/laughter] can offer that same capability, I'm not even the slightest bit interested in their offers at any price, even free.
The problem with that suggestion is that SP2 has been out for at least a week. The only thing that has been delayed is its appearance on the Windows Update site for Joe Average User. You can in fact get the full service pack at this Microsoft link.
I'm sick of convergence. Any device that does several functions usually only does them "okay". It does not of them "excellent".
I'm tired of manufacturers shoving convergence down my throat. For example, I want a cellphone that does one thing...gives me excellent performance as a phone. I don't give a damn about it being a camera, I have cameras for that. I don't give a rat's ass if it can function as a PDA, I have a PDA for that. I just want it to be a phone, and be a damned good one. Not a piss-poor phone/PDA/camera/kitchen sink.
It never ceases to make me wonder when Slashdot tries to support and garner sympathy for jackasses like this guy. I think he got off light.
Yes, Windows is insecure and it made it easy for this script kiddie to do his deeds. But that is totally irrelevant here.
I've also read comments here about how this guy was just "tinkering" and "fooling around with code" like we all supposedly do. Bullshit.
If I use a known-faulty lock on my front door, that does not give you any rights to enter my house or damage my property just to "tinker around" or see if you can do it, no matter how easy it was for you to enter. Likewise, if I build my house out of straw or something else equally flammable, that does not give you the right to set it on fire just because I'm stupid.
The little prick is a criminal, and he deserves to be treated as such. And so does anyone else who writes or intentionally releases viruses or worms. I hope the other criminals have their Vaseline ready.
While this may be a good start, I won't be impressed until I can walk in to my local Best Buy or Circuit City and buy one. Then, and only then, will Linux have "arrived".
If employees had some balls and stood up to this kind of crap a few years ago when it could have made a difference, "every employer" wouldn't be doing this now. I'm sorry that people sometimes have to live in a van down by the river, but there comes a time when you either take a stand or tuck your tail between your legs and kiss the employer's ass. And the last dozen years there's obviously been a whole lot of kissing going on. You can't have it both ways.
This Judge is senile, stupid, or on the take.
No, this judge is upholding a clause in a contract that the guy signed and agreed to. He should have read the contract, and not signed it if he didn't like it.
I realize I am probably going against the flow of most of Slashdot here, but I just can't get worked up and sympathetic about this.
It all boils down to the signing of a "all your thoughts are belong to us" clause in an employment contract. Don't like the clause? Then don't sign it and take their money, and then get mad when they use it.
And how many times before has McBride said "we're not going to do [insert action]", and then a few weeks later SCO did just that. He has no honor, and is about as trustworthy and reliable as a politician.
I should have said so in my original post, but I actually knew NASA's policy because I've worked for a couple of companies that were using NASA photos. That's what prompted me to post in the first place.
I should have also been a bit more specific and said "federal government". Local and state government, as well as "publically funded institions" may be different, and I've never had much dealings with them to know. But on the federal government level, its damned hard for them to copyright anything produced in-house and most such work is considered to be in the public domain. In fact, I can't think of a single example of something that isn't...feel free to point me to an example of copyrighted federal government material produced in-house if you are aware of a specific example.
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I don't understand why everyone seems so surprised at Microsoft's comments. Did you expect them to come out and say "Yeah, we know our product is bug-ridden filth, use Firefox!!"?
At the end of the day, when it comes down to the bottom line, these people are marketing droids. And they are doing what marketing droids do best...pushing their product. And marketing droids are not known for objective honesty.
And for the millionth time, I know that. And it is also totally irrelevant to my argument.
The GPL is a license that describes your rights to use and copy the material it is on.
A copyright also is a license that describes your rights to use and copy the material it is on.
If we want others to respect the GPL, then we must also respect their copyrights...even if we don't agree with them. The laws that we use to argue that the GPL is valid are the very same laws that make copyright valid. If copyright is invalid, then the GPL is equally invalid.
If we don't like current copyright law, then we need to work to change it. But at no time do we have the right to ignore it because we don't like it. And the fact that copyright and GPL are 180 degrees opposed does ot change that.
How are they any more hypocritical than the average slashdotter who wants to see anyone who violates the GPL with their head on a pike, yet sees nothing wrong with someone violating the copyright on music or movies?
No, it wasn't only you. But I'm a dyslexic pervert, so I have an excuse :-)
I was wondering about this myself, since finding key generators and such is so trivial my 70 year old mother could probably do it. Thanks for posting your info.
And next week we'll see Saddam Hussein proclaiming that he is in favor of democracy.
I trust Hilary Rosen to really support Creative Commons about as much as I expect Bill Gates to support Linux.
I'm still watching, but I have a feeling that my days of viwership are severely numbered. And this saddens me deeply, because I have been watching TSS quite literally since episode 1. When I purchased my PVR a year ago, an entry for TSS was the very first recording I scheduled.
The triggering event is one of this week's episodes where they rated TV dinners. If I want to see stories about food, I'll watch the fschking Food Network. I don't see Emeril doing stories on how to wire your kitchen with 802.11, therefore I don't see the need for G4TechTV to rate caffinated drinks and TV dinners.
Since Congress and the President can so easily pull out a hundred billion dollars to bomb the hell out of another country, I see no reason we can't come up with a whimpy $260 million for something as worthwhile as this.
But this year's Presidential election will be one of the easiest ever to monitor. Because no matter how people vote, an idiot will be the winner.
While this is certainly something that lock manufacturers need to deal with, everyone needs to also keep one simple idea in mind.
The purpose of a lock is to keep honest and semi-honest people from taking your stuff. If someone is damned and determined to take your bike, he's going to get it, regardless of what lock you use.
I also have to nod in agreement with an earlier poster who pointed out that for the price of a fancy lock, you can get a bike that no one wants to steal. This is a perfect example of why my everyday driver car is an old beater that no one in their right mind would want to steal. If you're going to drive fancy stuff, then you have to accept that you are going to be a target.
Even if you built me a house under those circumstances, I am aware of no law or court ruling that would give a crook the right to enter my house and take things or damage my property without my permission.
A person blaming you for "allowing" a crook to enter my house and proclaiming your oversight makes the crook less guilty is using as big a copout as anyone who says this guy should get off easy because its Microsoft's fault for having bad security. Should you be required to build houses more securely, or at least offer an optional door? Of course. Should the crook be given a minimal sentence because you didn't? Hell no.
While I can't point you to a specific post, I have made comments every bit as harsh, if not worse, about the scum sucking bottom feeders at the spyware capital of the world otherwise known as Gator. They should be squashed like the parasites they are.
If I had children and one of them came to me and said "daddy, I want to be a prostitute", I wouldn't be happy but I'd learn to live with it and they would still have my love. But if they came to me and said "Daddy, I want to work for Gator", I'd throw them out of the house.
Unlike the powers that be at Slashdot, who continually slant stories like this in such a way as to try to make us feel sympathy for the little turds ("only 18", "only claiming $158,000 worth of damages"), I hope they staple his nuts to the wall with dull rusty 5-inch staples. Like I said the last time Slashdot tried to defend actions like these, lax security in Windows is not the issue, nor is Microsoft in *ANY* way to blame here. If I leave the front door of my house wide open and put up a billboard that says "my door is not locked" that does not give you the right to come inside and damage my property. Likewise, poor OS security does not give you permission to screw up my machine.
Well, we're going to find out for sure here shortly. My two-year contract comes to an end in November. And while I've been a happy Verizon Wireless customer for the last 6 years, I have decided that having *full* bluetooth functionality between a phone and my PDA, including being able to sync contacts, is going to be a "make or break" point on whether I renew with Verizon or go to another carrier.
If Verizon is indeed purposely crippling bluetooth, and has no plans to "fix" it, then they need to be looked at for false advertising. From their own website I quote:
"And with Bluetooth wireless technology, you can make hands-free, eyes-free calls, and connect to your PC or PDA whenever and wherever you want."
Maybe one of these days Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc, will figure out that its not the space, its the search and organization facilities.
I own a server. My server has dual 120 gig hard drives. I can have dozens of times more space than Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc, offers by using a server I already own. But I still use Gmail because I can't duplicate their searching and cataloging abilities. And until Gmail's [laughter]competitors[/laughter] can offer that same capability, I'm not even the slightest bit interested in their offers at any price, even free.
The problem with that suggestion is that SP2 has been out for at least a week. The only thing that has been delayed is its appearance on the Windows Update site for Joe Average User. You can in fact get the full service pack at this Microsoft link.
I'm sick of convergence. Any device that does several functions usually only does them "okay". It does not of them "excellent".
I'm tired of manufacturers shoving convergence down my throat. For example, I want a cellphone that does one thing...gives me excellent performance as a phone. I don't give a damn about it being a camera, I have cameras for that. I don't give a rat's ass if it can function as a PDA, I have a PDA for that. I just want it to be a phone, and be a damned good one. Not a piss-poor phone/PDA/camera/kitchen sink.
It never ceases to make me wonder when Slashdot tries to support and garner sympathy for jackasses like this guy. I think he got off light.
Yes, Windows is insecure and it made it easy for this script kiddie to do his deeds. But that is totally irrelevant here.
I've also read comments here about how this guy was just "tinkering" and "fooling around with code" like we all supposedly do. Bullshit.
If I use a known-faulty lock on my front door, that does not give you any rights to enter my house or damage my property just to "tinker around" or see if you can do it, no matter how easy it was for you to enter. Likewise, if I build my house out of straw or something else equally flammable, that does not give you the right to set it on fire just because I'm stupid.
The little prick is a criminal, and he deserves to be treated as such. And so does anyone else who writes or intentionally releases viruses or worms. I hope the other criminals have their Vaseline ready.
As ye shall sow, so shall ye reap.
While this may be a good start, I won't be impressed until I can walk in to my local Best Buy or Circuit City and buy one. Then, and only then, will Linux have "arrived".
If employees had some balls and stood up to this kind of crap a few years ago when it could have made a difference, "every employer" wouldn't be doing this now. I'm sorry that people sometimes have to live in a van down by the river, but there comes a time when you either take a stand or tuck your tail between your legs and kiss the employer's ass. And the last dozen years there's obviously been a whole lot of kissing going on. You can't have it both ways.
This Judge is senile, stupid, or on the take.
No, this judge is upholding a clause in a contract that the guy signed and agreed to. He should have read the contract, and not signed it if he didn't like it.
I realize I am probably going against the flow of most of Slashdot here, but I just can't get worked up and sympathetic about this.
It all boils down to the signing of a "all your thoughts are belong to us" clause in an employment contract. Don't like the clause? Then don't sign it and take their money, and then get mad when they use it.
And how many times before has McBride said "we're not going to do [insert action]", and then a few weeks later SCO did just that. He has no honor, and is about as trustworthy and reliable as a politician.
I should have said so in my original post, but I actually knew NASA's policy because I've worked for a couple of companies that were using NASA photos. That's what prompted me to post in the first place.
I should have also been a bit more specific and said "federal government". Local and state government, as well as "publically funded institions" may be different, and I've never had much dealings with them to know. But on the federal government level, its damned hard for them to copyright anything produced in-house and most such work is considered to be in the public domain. In fact, I can't think of a single example of something that isn't...feel free to point me to an example of copyrighted federal government material produced in-house if you are aware of a specific example.