Unless the guns become self-aware and decide to become mobile and walk the streets.. I don't see how this can go unchecked. Some dude set it up in his yard. I imagine that he will keep it in check.
Microsoft is huge. You people are acting like Microsoft is some singular, sentient being. It's just not the case. So some dude who worked at Microsoft used a cracked copy. I don't think you can blame that on the whole company.
Riiight.. because search engines are supposed to be birthed by God with a complete index already in place. None of that crawling business to make the index larger.
The Evil Bit rears its ugly head once again. At least we now know how to block all traffic from Windows; we know how to destroy it. Spread the word to other towns.
See/. discussion from a few days ago that touched on this. The president doesn't have any authority to make new legislation, but he can most certainly influence congessmen. For all practical purposes, he can introduce any bills he wants to, by endorsing existing bills, encouraging partisan committee votes, applying pressure during state-of-the-union addresses, raising public awareness, etc.
I predict that hollywood will become completely nomadic. It will move from unsuspecting town to unsuspecting town, leaving each one as soon as the locals catch on. I have seen these unscrupulous bastards already purchasing busses and vans! They are mobilizing.
That is a valid point, but we know for sure that Bush won't do anything about it as President. Kerry, we have reason to suspect that he may not do anything. But "may not" is better than "will not".
If you are locked in to a Microsoft non-standard, then you are locked in to Microsoft's product line. That means you have to pay the Upgrade Fee, and if you want to interoperate with another piece of software, you are forced to select Microsoft's offering, because it is the only one that is compatible.
Microsoft has a proven resistance to standards compliance, and until the recent surge in Firefox usage, it has left Internet Explorer out in the cold. IE hasn't seen any significant technical improvements in years.
The average user, as a result, is nowhere near as excited about the Internet as they were 10 years ago. Is there really less to be excited about? Less potential? No. Readers of slashdot are aware of the many promising technical improvements that are made on a daily basis.
For example, pop-up blocking. The web today is an advertiser's paradise; the average user is becoming more and more frustrated with their experience on the Internet. However, this is not because of some insurmountable problem, or some flaw in the concept of the Internet. It is because of one company's technical stagnation.
Internet Explorer is causing the slow death of the Internet, as far as the general public is concerned.
Also, it does affect Microsoft's pocket book, in a broad and nebulous way. If Internet Explorer loses dominance to Firefox, then Firefox gets to calls the shots on the web. Microsoft's de-jure standard dialect of HTML would become extinct, opening up opportunities for Microsoft's customers to migrate away. Another big battle coming up is the XUL versus XAML battle. When Longhorn is released, XAML's adoption rate will depend directly on Internet Explorer's dominance.
I hear you about having the courtesy to repay them for their sales investment. I honestly feel bad when I go somewhere else for the lower price.
But this is a dog-eat-dog world. Why should I buy it for anything but the lowest price? If it's a mom-and-pop store, I may think twice - but the cashier at Best Buy or Fry's doesn't care one bit. There is no point in showing that cashier or mega-corp any form of respect. They would screw you over just as quick if they thought they could get away with it.
I bought my most recent monitor online, paid around $800 for it. I went to Fry's to check it out first. They wanted $1100 for it. There is no way I would have bought it from Fry's. However, there is no way I would have bought it online had I not been able to see it in person somewhere.
Yes - Sony and Dell are doing fine, since they are the manufacturer.
Problem is, Fry's is being scewed. I go to Fry's to see the product in person. Fry's has to pay for that store to exist, to have the products on hand, to have enough staff to answer my questions, etc.
But since I don't buy it from Fry's, they lose all of that pre-sale investment. The online store gets all of that pre-sales investment for free.
I often shop for electronics online, but as part of the shopping process, I will go to a brick-and-mortar store to check it out in person. I still buy it online though.
The brick-and-mortar chain stores have to be losing money because of people doing this. I'm sure they will try to close that loophole somehow - maybe private branding, or membership-based stores.
As it becomes harder for the internet shopper to see products in person before ordering, the manufacturers will have to step in more and more, by opening their own retail outlets. Even if those retail outlets don't make a sale directly, the manufacturer still wins as long as you buy their product.
I predict it will turn into manufacturer-supported expo "stores". The primary purpose being that you can come and check out the product, with no pressure to buy, or maybe even no option to buy. Somehow, the cost structure has to get re-aligned so that the manufacturer foots the bill for demo-ing the products in person.
In production environments, I can understand people being a little anxious and putting pre-emptive stopgaps in place.
However, I don't think the practical concerns with running today's systems should influence our thinking about how to build systems in the future.
IMO, the "correct" way to solve this problem is with security settings on those filesystems, but if it's a mission-critical system and your anxiety outweighs your trust in the kernel's security, then I think you should take whatever steps are necessary.
Sooo.. I agree for today's systems, but I think we should not get too comfortable with this as a long-term solution.
That is a fringe example and doesn't have any effect on the main thrust of the argument. Making the boot media read-only in an effort to stop security holes is like cutting off your legs so that you won't accidentally stub your toe. You are right that Microsoft will never provide that as an option - because it doesn't make any sense for ordinary use.
The difference is that an a/v program requires a subscription to some sort of virus definition data. The software could very well be free, since it is a one-time effort (per version, of course). However, the work of creating the virus definitions is ongoing.
There are about 10 bajillion programs that we would all like it to work with.
Problem is, that means 10 bajillion integration efforts at Google. This needs to be handled by a data exchange standard. That way, applications can write to the spec, and Google can write to the spec, and it magically fits. Also, if some new application comes along, it doesn't require more integration effort. Another big 'also', if something better than this Google tool comes along, it doesn't require 10 more bajillion integration efforts.
I'm not sure what FOSS efforts there have been to head this direction - though I'm sure there are at least a few.
Microsoft's recently-trashed "WinFS" for Longhorn was supposed to provide this sort of magical integration.
Slashdot Mirror
This story tastes delicious.
Unless the guns become self-aware and decide to become mobile and walk the streets.. I don't see how this can go unchecked. Some dude set it up in his yard. I imagine that he will keep it in check.
Microsoft is huge. You people are acting like Microsoft is some singular, sentient being. It's just not the case. So some dude who worked at Microsoft used a cracked copy. I don't think you can blame that on the whole company.
Riiight.. because search engines are supposed to be birthed by God with a complete index already in place. None of that crawling business to make the index larger.
They also consider the text of links that point to a particular page. The search terms don't need to appear on the page.
The Evil Bit rears its ugly head once again. At least we now know how to block all traffic from Windows; we know how to destroy it. Spread the word to other towns.
...allow me to be the first to say: BWWAAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAHAHA!!!11one11eleven!!11
Are there any interactions with the nicotine patch and gum that I use?
Is it ok to smoke regular cigarettes and this at the same time?
See /. discussion from a few days ago that touched on this. The president doesn't have any authority to make new legislation, but he can most certainly influence congessmen. For all practical purposes, he can introduce any bills he wants to, by endorsing existing bills, encouraging partisan committee votes, applying pressure during state-of-the-union addresses, raising public awareness, etc.
I predict that hollywood will become completely nomadic. It will move from unsuspecting town to unsuspecting town, leaving each one as soon as the locals catch on. I have seen these unscrupulous bastards already purchasing busses and vans! They are mobilizing.
That is a valid point, but we know for sure that Bush won't do anything about it as President. Kerry, we have reason to suspect that he may not do anything. But "may not" is better than "will not".
If you are locked in to a Microsoft non-standard, then you are locked in to Microsoft's product line. That means you have to pay the Upgrade Fee, and if you want to interoperate with another piece of software, you are forced to select Microsoft's offering, because it is the only one that is compatible.
The average user, as a result, is nowhere near as excited about the Internet as they were 10 years ago. Is there really less to be excited about? Less potential? No. Readers of slashdot are aware of the many promising technical improvements that are made on a daily basis.
For example, pop-up blocking. The web today is an advertiser's paradise; the average user is becoming more and more frustrated with their experience on the Internet. However, this is not because of some insurmountable problem, or some flaw in the concept of the Internet. It is because of one company's technical stagnation.
Internet Explorer is causing the slow death of the Internet, as far as the general public is concerned.
Also, it does affect Microsoft's pocket book, in a broad and nebulous way. If Internet Explorer loses dominance to Firefox, then Firefox gets to calls the shots on the web. Microsoft's de-jure standard dialect of HTML would become extinct, opening up opportunities for Microsoft's customers to migrate away. Another big battle coming up is the XUL versus XAML battle. When Longhorn is released, XAML's adoption rate will depend directly on Internet Explorer's dominance.
But this is a dog-eat-dog world. Why should I buy it for anything but the lowest price? If it's a mom-and-pop store, I may think twice - but the cashier at Best Buy or Fry's doesn't care one bit. There is no point in showing that cashier or mega-corp any form of respect. They would screw you over just as quick if they thought they could get away with it.
I bought my most recent monitor online, paid around $800 for it. I went to Fry's to check it out first. They wanted $1100 for it. There is no way I would have bought it from Fry's. However, there is no way I would have bought it online had I not been able to see it in person somewhere.
Problem is, Fry's is being scewed. I go to Fry's to see the product in person. Fry's has to pay for that store to exist, to have the products on hand, to have enough staff to answer my questions, etc.
But since I don't buy it from Fry's, they lose all of that pre-sale investment. The online store gets all of that pre-sales investment for free.
The brick-and-mortar chain stores have to be losing money because of people doing this. I'm sure they will try to close that loophole somehow - maybe private branding, or membership-based stores.
As it becomes harder for the internet shopper to see products in person before ordering, the manufacturers will have to step in more and more, by opening their own retail outlets. Even if those retail outlets don't make a sale directly, the manufacturer still wins as long as you buy their product.
I predict it will turn into manufacturer-supported expo "stores". The primary purpose being that you can come and check out the product, with no pressure to buy, or maybe even no option to buy. Somehow, the cost structure has to get re-aligned so that the manufacturer foots the bill for demo-ing the products in person.
Proteome research is the new genome research.
In production environments, I can understand people being a little anxious and putting pre-emptive stopgaps in place. However, I don't think the practical concerns with running today's systems should influence our thinking about how to build systems in the future. IMO, the "correct" way to solve this problem is with security settings on those filesystems, but if it's a mission-critical system and your anxiety outweighs your trust in the kernel's security, then I think you should take whatever steps are necessary. Sooo.. I agree for today's systems, but I think we should not get too comfortable with this as a long-term solution.
That is a fringe example and doesn't have any effect on the main thrust of the argument. Making the boot media read-only in an effort to stop security holes is like cutting off your legs so that you won't accidentally stub your toe. You are right that Microsoft will never provide that as an option - because it doesn't make any sense for ordinary use.
The difference is that an a/v program requires a subscription to some sort of virus definition data. The software could very well be free, since it is a one-time effort (per version, of course). However, the work of creating the virus definitions is ongoing.
Problem is, that means 10 bajillion integration efforts at Google. This needs to be handled by a data exchange standard. That way, applications can write to the spec, and Google can write to the spec, and it magically fits. Also, if some new application comes along, it doesn't require more integration effort. Another big 'also', if something better than this Google tool comes along, it doesn't require 10 more bajillion integration efforts.
I'm not sure what FOSS efforts there have been to head this direction - though I'm sure there are at least a few.
Microsoft's recently-trashed "WinFS" for Longhorn was supposed to provide this sort of magical integration.
Sooo.. Linus is real-time, but Linux is not.
(yes, my jokes are that lame.)
Took me about 5 passes to read that correctly. I kept trying to figure out why you want there to be nuggets on someone's toes. (nuggets of what?!)
I'm going back to sleep.