Yah, where would TechTV be without slashdot? I have noticed that almost everything on almost every TechTV show is first reported on slashdot, then repeated on TechTV. Yah yah, I know, all of the news in slashdot is first reported elsewhere. However when the TechLive lineup is identical to the last 10 posts in slashdot, it is pretty obvious where their producers and reporters spend much of their time online.
Agreed. These kinds of law suits must be made in order to show how ridiculous the DMCA is. It is also good for getting those companies like AOL that originally lobbied for the DMCA to change their mind a start lobbying against it.
If this happens enough, either the US will fall into a dark age as the rest of the world surpasses us, or the companies responsible for the DMCA and our politicians will get a clue and fix the situation.
Personally I like to see this kind of stuff. It makes obvious the inadequacies of current IP patent law. I think that many more of these kinds of actions will turn the public against the law as it stands and force a change. It also puts pressure on companies (like Microsoft in this case) to start lobbying against current patent law. I just hope that it is not replaced with something worse, and I know that it is going to get worse before it gets better. In the mean time, I think that I will apply for a patent on using wood to build a home or something like that and try to get a slice of this corrupt pie.
Yah, I really had to resist hitting refresh a couple of times for the hell of it. Or even looking for the page that requires the most amount of dynamic creation and linking to that here... Nobody do this. (wink wink)
And the best part is that the same people that make the argument that eating meat is cruel are often the same people that believe that DNA research is immoral. If only we could create meat food without brains. Imagine, large warehouses of cows standing shoulder to shoulder layer upon layer stupidly waiting to be eaten. I wonder if that would satisfy them.
That may be true now, and for the short forseeable future. But when india runs out of good programers (did I say good programmers?), Companies will have to start offering more money to attract employees. Soon, companies may start a wage war over there and POOF it is cheaper to hire here again. I know it sucks now, but time and effort heal all. Just hang in there and we will get our jobs back.
Deryl, I'll buy your company from you. I have read all I can about your position and I evaluate your companies real value at -$50,000,000. This fits in nicely with your business model, so give me a nice big check and I will take your company from you. Thanks, GF
Well put. As I said, I am not a lawyer, and to be honest, I realize that I did not understand the DMCA as well as I tried to come off. I am spending time as we speak at eff.org to try to rectify that.
Still, I think that my point remains. The DMCA may not be the law to invoke, however I am certain that intentionally getting around the security measures on a system is illegal. I will probably spend some time reading what I can about the Patriot act and other post 9/11 or post Kevin laws that have been put in place. Then we can try to prosecute (i is jest a victem of pubelic edumicasion) them.
As for defining what a security measure is, how clear is the law about it? I'm sure that the first paragraph of each book in most security engineers/hackers libraries would most accurately define most computer security systems. I am interested in how broad the law defines it (i.e. anything that 2600 talks about getting around or anything the computer owner says is for security).
Hmm. This makes sense. Maybe we could use some of the new anti-hacking legislature. Maybe we could even start calling spammers terrorists and do it that way
Ok, I'm not a lawyer, and some of you may have heard me say this before. So, before you start blasting my idea (or praising it?), know that I dislike the DMCA as much as the next guy and that I am interested in feedback about the legal issues here.
As I understand it, the DMCA makes it illegal to even try to circumvent any security system on a digital device. I define digital security systems (and I don't think I am alone) as any hardware or software that keeps private information inside of a system and unwanted information and software (viruses, hackers, Trojan-horses and the like) outside of the system. In this case, my spam-blocking software can be considered a security measure. So then, any spammer that adds random characters, hides words in images or any other techniques to get through my blocking software is then intentionally circumventing my security software. If this is all true, then can't we persecute spammers on the bases of the DMCA. I think that this may lead to two benefits. First, we may be able to slow or stop spam in the US. Secondly, those that put the DMCA there in the first place (namely big businesses) would have a reason to fight the DMCA. So, where is the flaw in my logic here?
I used a Trojan horse once for legal use. My father, in another town, needed some computer help. I used Back Orifice (much like PC Anywhere only with tools that help in hacking and such) to gain control of his computer (with his consent of course) and fixed his problem. I used BO because it was free while most similar commercial tools were over $100. No way in hates that I was going to spend ANYTHING simply to help my dad out with this one time problem.
So, how do we know if software will be used legitimately or not? The DMCA is WRONG! The problem seems to me that record, software and movie companies are trying to use legislation to fix poor business models. (I know, old argument). Here is the point, if you build and sell hammers and sell them for $100 a pop. You will probably start to complain that your customers are gluing bricks to sticks in order to do the same thing as your hammer. So, what do you do? Go make bricks illegal for use as a tool of any kind, and enforce your copyright for making a heavy ended objects of course! Or... you could simply find a better way to make and distribute your hammers so that waiting an hour for the epoxy on your brick to dry simply is not a good choice. Give the public what they want, and they will want to pay for it!
I had a development effort halted by threats of the DMCA.
I had an idea for software that would allow users access to music that they paid for. It was a simple idea and is (according to a lawer I spoke with) legal under normal US copyright law. I began coding up the program and was maybe half way done when it came to my attention that it may be illegal under the DMCA. I do not have the resources to fight a possible let allown real legal dispute like this. As a result I stopped all work and have not continued.
It works like this (important information removed to keep THIS from being illegal through the DMCA, notice no code or details here). You hook up a computer to a digital video source like digital cable or sattelite dish. You tune the signal to your favorite music channel (you know those ones that play music constantly and show a simple text screen with the musician/cd/song name). The computer saves all of the streamed music and either using OCR on the video or by ripping the info out of the digital stream, attaches the info to the music file. Leave your computer, and come back in a day or two and have a 100GB music collection.
Under fair use laws, this should be a legal as using a PVR to record your favorite shows for later viewing. Under the DMCA.... I don't know what. By the way, I would love to use this, so if anyone wants to risk it, by all means go for it.
Can we use the DMCA on our side here? I hate that law too, but maybe we can try to kill 2 birds with one stone. I am expecting a little criticism here, as I am not a lawyer and I have not read the entire DMCA yet. However, I have heard about some of it's implications. One of those (as I understand it) is that anyone who tries to circumvent a security system is acting illegally. A security system is designed to keep information either in or out of a system (i.e. keep viruses, Trojan horses, etc. out and critical information from getting out). So, would a spam blocker be considered a security system? It keeps unwanted information out of a system. Can we throw the DMCA back at those who created it by suing spammers and businesses that have used techniques to circumvent spam blockers?
Can we do both?
I am expecting a little criticism here, as I am not a lawyer and I have not read the entire DMCA yet. However, I have heard about some of it's implications. One of those (as I understand it) is that anyone who tries to circumvent a security system is acting illegally. A security system is designed to keep information either in or out of a system (i.e. keep viruses, Trojan horses, etc. out and critical information from getting out). So, would a spam blocker be considered a security system? It keeps unwanted information out of a system. Can we throw the DMCA back at those who created it by suing spammers and businesses that have used techniques to circumvent spam blockers?
I had thought about that. I figured that it would be more difficult for the cable companies to render the app useless by changing the data stream. I also thought that an OCR method would make it easier to implement for all of the different music chanel providers. I don't know however if the data stream is standard across different providers. It may be, then it will be much easier to build this thing.
Ok, I have a task for you slashdotters with programming skilz. I need a simple OCR library, combined with a video and digital audio input program. I would connect my computer to my digital tv signal and tune it to my favorite music channel. As the screen changes, the OCR program ripps the artist/label/song name, and saves the following music as an encoded audio file for my later use. Then you can create a list of what you want, when the program catches a song in your list, it saves it. How about that? Would write it myself, but I really don't have the time. I am giving the idea away as I would have made it a GPL product anyway. By the way, before you lawyer wannabes start plummeting me with messages, I don't know how the law works around this (maybe some fair use protection), but I suspect the trick would be to not get caught using it.
"Under the theory articulated by the government, the transmission of any information that can be used by others to impair the integrity of a computer system (or cause loss of reputation) if done without authorization (and who would authorize it?) is a federal crime."
I have several college profs that taught me how a hash table works. I also have a couple of math teachers that taught me all about prime numbers. Then I read a book or two on how to build some basic encryption routines. Now, should these people go to jail because they have given me what I need (assuming I am smart enough to do something with it) to crack any security software? How about if I threaten to use this information to take advantage of some security hole? Where does it stop?
The point is not of course which is faster to set up. I certainly don't disagree that setting up Linux can be (when it has all been pre-scripted) much faster to install and configure than Windows (also running a pre-config install). The point is that it is much more difficult for the guy working in a Windows based company to set up a single machine. I have done this several times for different reasons (file server, web server and a source server) and each time took a considerable amount of time. It would not have been practicle to spend even more time to create and test a scripted intsall for these one time uses.
Ok, I'm not an economist or anything, but it seems to me that the lasting solution is to bring the exchange rates to something more real. That means one of two things, devaluate the dollar until it matches the rate of other countries, or increase the value of currencies in other countries.
The first obviously has some problems. As pointed out by someone else, the cost of living in Japan is something like 180% of what it is here. If the value of the dollar is devaluated to the point that a loaf of bread costs the same in India as it does here, then we will see something like the Germans did before the war. Still, if our interest rate goes negative, it could happen.
The second sounds impossible, but it may occur naturally. If 10 million programmer jobs get shipped to a country that has only 10million qualified programmers. Won't those companies have to start offering higher salaries and benefits to attract a shrinking worker pool? At the same time, all of those programmers are going to want nice houses with pools and cars and nice roads and a stable government so they can keep their jobs and and and.... The result is that the country will prosper until it's workers value is equal to that of an American worker.
In either case, the result will be that companies will have no reason to ship our jobs overseas. As well defined by other posts, there are no good reasons to hire overseas rather than allow telecommuting other than the cost of the worker.
Very good point. I tried for ages to set up a RedHat firewall for my home network of 5 computers. I was not familiar with iptables or ipchains, so I struggled for about a month until I got it working. Being the lazy guy I am, I did not back up my config files and it was only about a month before my cheap 2GB used HDD stopped spinning. I learned, and downloaded a copy of Smoothwall. It is a Linux distro specifically for use as a small firewall. Within about 1/2 hr, I had a strong firewall that has been a breeze to administer.
At risk of countering my own previous argument, as it goes with my personal system, I am a power hungry geek. If I have an option between a simple but limited piece of software and a high powered but difficult to use piece of software, I almost always choose the later. (note, I do not apply the same rules at work.) As a result, When I have the option of a windows style version of Linux and a highly configurable version of Linux, well, you know how it is. So... great advice, but call it self-destruction, I just can't do it.
Now, I do believe that Linux (in all of it's command line glory) will eventually become as simple or nearly as to configure as a windows machine. Just as GUI software goes, it seems logical that command line and text file config based programs will continue to evolve and become easier to configure and more intuitive. I realize that many standards exist for these config files, but maybe there are still too many. Maybe as more main stream applications such as Apache come out, they will gravitate toward some standards and improve upon them. Maybe then other developers in the community will follow the lead. This brings me to something mentioned in another/. post today. Tim O'Reilly from O'Reilly Publishing talks about watching the "alpha geeks" for direction in technology. Maybe some of you Linux developers know of the alpha geeks in your community. These people are the ones that will develop or improve these standards.
I love Linux! That said, I have always found the mentioned problem to be a major stumbling block. I admit that I am not a huge Linux guru, but I am a software engineer, and can figure out what I need most of the time. Still, it is never "seamless" to connect my Linux boxes to a windows network. Your solution of "getting rid of all of the Windows machines" is not very practical (and I suspect that you know it, but were being humorous). I have 1 Linux box at work on a huge (500+) machine network dominated by Windows. This is normal. Many companies that develop for Windows have employees that like Linux and try to get it shoved in the company structure once in a while. This is a big problem when I need to devote significant resources to getting the Linux box all set up. I can plug a Windows machine into a windows network and without hardly any effort, that machine is happily communicating with the rest of the network. To get a Linux box on that same network, I need to install SAMBA, configure the.conf file, run some command line utils to join the domain, configure PAM, get the init files working.... it goes on! I know that the real solution (and the beauty of Open Source) is for me to "use the force, read write some source". And for me and the rest of the community, the problem is fixed! The trouble is as always finding time to commit to such a large project.
You give one reason (besides many) to skip college. If you start working right out of High School (admittedly for about 10k/yr.), you will have the experience and likely knowledge in new technologies that you would not have had if you went to college.
My experience is that college tends to teach antiquated technologies and poor technique for "in the field" programming. I can't count how many times my boss has made a remark about how something that I did as a result from my teachings in college was bad for the product life-cycle.
Of course, you do learn some great theory, fast algorithms, assembly and such. However I have found that anytime that I need an advanced algorithm, I can figure it out or find some info on the net or a book. Even so, it is rare, since most of what I (and most programmers that I know) write is 3-tier business applications or other straight forward apps and not operating systems.
Usually this requires nothing more than a solid knowledge of the language, some experience with databases and some O'Reilly books.
I started college as a music major. A
After taking several cs classes I became disillusioned with college (about the same time that they kicked me out), I started working on web sites. Of course, this was during the.com era, but I asked for a whole lot more than 10k per year. As time went by, I worked my way up through the languages until I got where I am now. Now as my friends are just graduating, I have more than 5 years experience and have worked with many times the languages and technologies that they have.
Well, Metallica had it figured out... They just pissed off those of us that (somewhat) liked them. As a result, many of us just stopped listening to them all together. At least we are not copying their stuff! Of course I stopped buying any of their stuff as well.
As Maynard James Keenan (TOOL) said:
"Is this what you wanted?
Is this what you had in mind?
Is this what you wanted?
Cuz this this is what you're getting.
I hope, I hope, I hope you choke"
Ticks and Leaches from Lateralus
What about the DirectTV receiver itself? I could argue that anyone who bought anything that could receive their signal (including their equipment) is a pirate. After all, they cannot assume that I will always pay my subscription bill.
What is the difference (in terms of importance to receive a signal) between the card and receiver? Nothing! They should also sue ALL of their customers. Then everybody would drop their service and they would obediently file bankruptcy.
BTW, who owns the smart card technology? Why do they get exclusive use of it while the rest of us are pirates? Do I have to build and sell a new cell phone that uses smart cards to avoid persecution, or can I just think about building a new phone?
Slashdot Mirror
Yah, where would TechTV be without slashdot? I have noticed that almost everything on almost every TechTV show is first reported on slashdot, then repeated on TechTV. Yah yah, I know, all of the news in slashdot is first reported elsewhere. However when the TechLive lineup is identical to the last 10 posts in slashdot, it is pretty obvious where their producers and reporters spend much of their time online.
Agreed. These kinds of law suits must be made in order to show how ridiculous the DMCA is. It is also good for getting those companies like AOL that originally lobbied for the DMCA to change their mind a start lobbying against it. If this happens enough, either the US will fall into a dark age as the rest of the world surpasses us, or the companies responsible for the DMCA and our politicians will get a clue and fix the situation.
Personally I like to see this kind of stuff. It makes obvious the inadequacies of current IP patent law. I think that many more of these kinds of actions will turn the public against the law as it stands and force a change. It also puts pressure on companies (like Microsoft in this case) to start lobbying against current patent law. I just hope that it is not replaced with something worse, and I know that it is going to get worse before it gets better. In the mean time, I think that I will apply for a patent on using wood to build a home or something like that and try to get a slice of this corrupt pie.
Yah, I really had to resist hitting refresh a couple of times for the hell of it. Or even looking for the page that requires the most amount of dynamic creation and linking to that here... Nobody do this. (wink wink)
And the best part is that the same people that make the argument that eating meat is cruel are often the same people that believe that DNA research is immoral. If only we could create meat food without brains. Imagine, large warehouses of cows standing shoulder to shoulder layer upon layer stupidly waiting to be eaten. I wonder if that would satisfy them.
That may be true now, and for the short forseeable future. But when india runs out of good programers (did I say good programmers?), Companies will have to start offering more money to attract employees. Soon, companies may start a wage war over there and POOF it is cheaper to hire here again. I know it sucks now, but time and effort heal all. Just hang in there and we will get our jobs back.
Deryl,
I'll buy your company from you. I have read all I can about your position and I evaluate your companies real value at -$50,000,000. This fits in nicely with your business model, so give me a nice big check and I will take your company from you.
Thanks,
GF
Well put. As I said, I am not a lawyer, and to be honest, I realize that I did not understand the DMCA as well as I tried to come off. I am spending time as we speak at eff.org to try to rectify that.
Still, I think that my point remains. The DMCA may not be the law to invoke, however I am certain that intentionally getting around the security measures on a system is illegal. I will probably spend some time reading what I can about the Patriot act and other post 9/11 or post Kevin laws that have been put in place. Then we can try to prosecute (i is jest a victem of pubelic edumicasion) them.
As for defining what a security measure is, how clear is the law about it? I'm sure that the first paragraph of each book in most security engineers/hackers libraries would most accurately define most computer security systems. I am interested in how broad the law defines it (i.e. anything that 2600 talks about getting around or anything the computer owner says is for security).
Hmm. This makes sense. Maybe we could use some of the new anti-hacking legislature. Maybe we could even start calling spammers terrorists and do it that way
Ok... How does the DMCA define a security system?
Ok, I'm not a lawyer, and some of you may have heard me say this before. So, before you start blasting my idea (or praising it?), know that I dislike the DMCA as much as the next guy and that I am interested in feedback about the legal issues here.
As I understand it, the DMCA makes it illegal to even try to circumvent any security system on a digital device. I define digital security systems (and I don't think I am alone) as any hardware or software that keeps private information inside of a system and unwanted information and software (viruses, hackers, Trojan-horses and the like) outside of the system. In this case, my spam-blocking software can be considered a security measure. So then, any spammer that adds random characters, hides words in images or any other techniques to get through my blocking software is then intentionally circumventing my security software. If this is all true, then can't we persecute spammers on the bases of the DMCA. I think that this may lead to two benefits. First, we may be able to slow or stop spam in the US. Secondly, those that put the DMCA there in the first place (namely big businesses) would have a reason to fight the DMCA. So, where is the flaw in my logic here?
I used a Trojan horse once for legal use. My father, in another town, needed some computer help. I used Back Orifice (much like PC Anywhere only with tools that help in hacking and such) to gain control of his computer (with his consent of course) and fixed his problem. I used BO because it was free while most similar commercial tools were over $100. No way in hates that I was going to spend ANYTHING simply to help my dad out with this one time problem. So, how do we know if software will be used legitimately or not? The DMCA is WRONG! The problem seems to me that record, software and movie companies are trying to use legislation to fix poor business models. (I know, old argument). Here is the point, if you build and sell hammers and sell them for $100 a pop. You will probably start to complain that your customers are gluing bricks to sticks in order to do the same thing as your hammer. So, what do you do? Go make bricks illegal for use as a tool of any kind, and enforce your copyright for making a heavy ended objects of course! Or... you could simply find a better way to make and distribute your hammers so that waiting an hour for the epoxy on your brick to dry simply is not a good choice. Give the public what they want, and they will want to pay for it!
I had a development effort halted by threats of the DMCA. I had an idea for software that would allow users access to music that they paid for. It was a simple idea and is (according to a lawer I spoke with) legal under normal US copyright law. I began coding up the program and was maybe half way done when it came to my attention that it may be illegal under the DMCA. I do not have the resources to fight a possible let allown real legal dispute like this. As a result I stopped all work and have not continued. It works like this (important information removed to keep THIS from being illegal through the DMCA, notice no code or details here). You hook up a computer to a digital video source like digital cable or sattelite dish. You tune the signal to your favorite music channel (you know those ones that play music constantly and show a simple text screen with the musician/cd/song name). The computer saves all of the streamed music and either using OCR on the video or by ripping the info out of the digital stream, attaches the info to the music file. Leave your computer, and come back in a day or two and have a 100GB music collection. Under fair use laws, this should be a legal as using a PVR to record your favorite shows for later viewing. Under the DMCA.... I don't know what. By the way, I would love to use this, so if anyone wants to risk it, by all means go for it.
Can we use the DMCA on our side here? I hate that law too, but maybe we can try to kill 2 birds with one stone. I am expecting a little criticism here, as I am not a lawyer and I have not read the entire DMCA yet. However, I have heard about some of it's implications. One of those (as I understand it) is that anyone who tries to circumvent a security system is acting illegally. A security system is designed to keep information either in or out of a system (i.e. keep viruses, Trojan horses, etc. out and critical information from getting out). So, would a spam blocker be considered a security system? It keeps unwanted information out of a system. Can we throw the DMCA back at those who created it by suing spammers and businesses that have used techniques to circumvent spam blockers?
Can we do both? I am expecting a little criticism here, as I am not a lawyer and I have not read the entire DMCA yet. However, I have heard about some of it's implications. One of those (as I understand it) is that anyone who tries to circumvent a security system is acting illegally. A security system is designed to keep information either in or out of a system (i.e. keep viruses, Trojan horses, etc. out and critical information from getting out). So, would a spam blocker be considered a security system? It keeps unwanted information out of a system. Can we throw the DMCA back at those who created it by suing spammers and businesses that have used techniques to circumvent spam blockers?
I had thought about that. I figured that it would be more difficult for the cable companies to render the app useless by changing the data stream. I also thought that an OCR method would make it easier to implement for all of the different music chanel providers. I don't know however if the data stream is standard across different providers. It may be, then it will be much easier to build this thing.
Ok, I have a task for you slashdotters with programming skilz. I need a simple OCR library, combined with a video and digital audio input program. I would connect my computer to my digital tv signal and tune it to my favorite music channel. As the screen changes, the OCR program ripps the artist/label/song name, and saves the following music as an encoded audio file for my later use. Then you can create a list of what you want, when the program catches a song in your list, it saves it. How about that? Would write it myself, but I really don't have the time. I am giving the idea away as I would have made it a GPL product anyway. By the way, before you lawyer wannabes start plummeting me with messages, I don't know how the law works around this (maybe some fair use protection), but I suspect the trick would be to not get caught using it.
"Under the theory articulated by the government, the transmission of any information that can be used by others to impair the integrity of a computer system (or cause loss of reputation) if done without authorization (and who would authorize it?) is a federal crime."
I have several college profs that taught me how a hash table works. I also have a couple of math teachers that taught me all about prime numbers. Then I read a book or two on how to build some basic encryption routines. Now, should these people go to jail because they have given me what I need (assuming I am smart enough to do something with it) to crack any security software? How about if I threaten to use this information to take advantage of some security hole? Where does it stop?
The point is not of course which is faster to set up. I certainly don't disagree that setting up Linux can be (when it has all been pre-scripted) much faster to install and configure than Windows (also running a pre-config install). The point is that it is much more difficult for the guy working in a Windows based company to set up a single machine. I have done this several times for different reasons (file server, web server and a source server) and each time took a considerable amount of time. It would not have been practicle to spend even more time to create and test a scripted intsall for these one time uses.
Ok, I'm not an economist or anything, but it seems to me that the lasting solution is to bring the exchange rates to something more real. That means one of two things, devaluate the dollar until it matches the rate of other countries, or increase the value of currencies in other countries.
The first obviously has some problems. As pointed out by someone else, the cost of living in Japan is something like 180% of what it is here. If the value of the dollar is devaluated to the point that a loaf of bread costs the same in India as it does here, then we will see something like the Germans did before the war. Still, if our interest rate goes negative, it could happen.
The second sounds impossible, but it may occur naturally. If 10 million programmer jobs get shipped to a country that has only 10million qualified programmers. Won't those companies have to start offering higher salaries and benefits to attract a shrinking worker pool? At the same time, all of those programmers are going to want nice houses with pools and cars and nice roads and a stable government so they can keep their jobs and and and.... The result is that the country will prosper until it's workers value is equal to that of an American worker.
In either case, the result will be that companies will have no reason to ship our jobs overseas. As well defined by other posts, there are no good reasons to hire overseas rather than allow telecommuting other than the cost of the worker.
Very good point. I tried for ages to set up a RedHat firewall for my home network of 5 computers. I was not familiar with iptables or ipchains, so I struggled for about a month until I got it working. Being the lazy guy I am, I did not back up my config files and it was only about a month before my cheap 2GB used HDD stopped spinning. I learned, and downloaded a copy of Smoothwall. It is a Linux distro specifically for use as a small firewall. Within about 1/2 hr, I had a strong firewall that has been a breeze to administer.
/. post today. Tim O'Reilly from O'Reilly Publishing talks about watching the "alpha geeks" for direction in technology. Maybe some of you Linux developers know of the alpha geeks in your community. These people are the ones that will develop or improve these standards.
At risk of countering my own previous argument, as it goes with my personal system, I am a power hungry geek. If I have an option between a simple but limited piece of software and a high powered but difficult to use piece of software, I almost always choose the later. (note, I do not apply the same rules at work.)
As a result, When I have the option of a windows style version of Linux and a highly configurable version of Linux, well, you know how it is.
So... great advice, but call it self-destruction, I just can't do it.
Now, I do believe that Linux (in all of it's command line glory) will eventually become as simple or nearly as to configure as a windows machine. Just as GUI software goes, it seems logical that command line and text file config based programs will continue to evolve and become easier to configure and more intuitive. I realize that many standards exist for these config files, but maybe there are still too many. Maybe as more main stream applications such as Apache come out, they will gravitate toward some standards and improve upon them. Maybe then other developers in the community will follow the lead. This brings me to something mentioned in another
I love Linux! That said, I have always found the mentioned problem to be a major stumbling block. I admit that I am not a huge Linux guru, but I am a software engineer, and can figure out what I need most of the time. Still, it is never "seamless" to connect my Linux boxes to a windows network. Your solution of "getting rid of all of the Windows machines" is not very practical (and I suspect that you know it, but were being humorous). I have 1 Linux box at work on a huge (500+) machine network dominated by Windows. This is normal. Many companies that develop for Windows have employees that like Linux and try to get it shoved in the company structure once in a while. This is a big problem when I need to devote significant resources to getting the Linux box all set up. I can plug a Windows machine into a windows network and without hardly any effort, that machine is happily communicating with the rest of the network. To get a Linux box on that same network, I need to install SAMBA, configure the .conf file, run some command line utils to join the domain, configure PAM, get the init files working.... it goes on! I know that the real solution (and the beauty of Open Source) is for me to "use the force, read write some source". And for me and the rest of the community, the problem is fixed! The trouble is as always finding time to commit to such a large project.
You give one reason (besides many) to skip college. If you start working right out of High School (admittedly for about 10k/yr.), you will have the experience and likely knowledge in new technologies that you would not have had if you went to college. My experience is that college tends to teach antiquated technologies and poor technique for "in the field" programming. I can't count how many times my boss has made a remark about how something that I did as a result from my teachings in college was bad for the product life-cycle. Of course, you do learn some great theory, fast algorithms, assembly and such. However I have found that anytime that I need an advanced algorithm, I can figure it out or find some info on the net or a book. Even so, it is rare, since most of what I (and most programmers that I know) write is 3-tier business applications or other straight forward apps and not operating systems. Usually this requires nothing more than a solid knowledge of the language, some experience with databases and some O'Reilly books. I started college as a music major. A After taking several cs classes I became disillusioned with college (about the same time that they kicked me out), I started working on web sites. Of course, this was during the .com era, but I asked for a whole lot more than 10k per year. As time went by, I worked my way up through the languages until I got where I am now. Now as my friends are just graduating, I have more than 5 years experience and have worked with many times the languages and technologies that they have.
Well, Metallica had it figured out... They just pissed off those of us that (somewhat) liked them. As a result, many of us just stopped listening to them all together. At least we are not copying their stuff! Of course I stopped buying any of their stuff as well. As Maynard James Keenan (TOOL) said: "Is this what you wanted? Is this what you had in mind? Is this what you wanted? Cuz this this is what you're getting. I hope, I hope, I hope you choke" Ticks and Leaches from Lateralus
What about the DirectTV receiver itself? I could argue that anyone who bought anything that could receive their signal (including their equipment) is a pirate. After all, they cannot assume that I will always pay my subscription bill. What is the difference (in terms of importance to receive a signal) between the card and receiver? Nothing! They should also sue ALL of their customers. Then everybody would drop their service and they would obediently file bankruptcy. BTW, who owns the smart card technology? Why do they get exclusive use of it while the rest of us are pirates? Do I have to build and sell a new cell phone that uses smart cards to avoid persecution, or can I just think about building a new phone?