I'd end up being one of the geeks of course - and that has some inherent problems. I've ended up performing a service like this for many of my family and friends (helping to choose and set up computers, stereos, and home theatre systems, etc.) The problem is the fact that you now become the defacto tech support person for a group of people you basically like (friends and family). But being a tech support person makes you dread the ring of the phone and basically not want to talk to any of them any more.
Hopefully, the geek-eye guys have unlisted phone numbers...
... that the RIAA is looking to circumvent standard legal prodedure by being able to determine the identity of someone they're interesting in suing for copyright infringement before actually filing the lawsuit. This is a privelege typically enjoyed by District Attorneys and the like - certainly not by a private firm looking to file civil suits. If someone is breaking the law, the path should be simple for them: file a lawsuit against them. If the person turns out to be a 12 year old girl or a grandfather, it really shouldn't matter to them. Justice is blind remember?
What their tying to do is (a) use an aggressive interpretation of a new law to their advantage while (b) circumventing standard legal procedure for filing of civil suits.
Throw in the fact that there is a related article on cnet about how the RIAA is claiming that P2P networks are "rife with child porn" in order to make P2P seem like more of the devil's work.
The worst of it is when you've got an email address like "webmaster at goofball.com" and thousands of people have you in their address book and some of them get the virus that spoofs YOU as the return email address.
I'm still fielding like 400 auto-generated emails from various anti-virus software each day. The author's suggestion to simply stop the alerts is not that far fetched at all.
Obligatory bad analogy: it's like pelting someone with rocks in order to warn them they're about to be run over by a car (and then continuing to pelt them with rocks even after the car has passed and is way down the block).
There has always been a great deal of enthusiasm, wonder, and excitement for what the future of technology could bring us. Through the 50's through the 90's, people have thrived on sci-fi books and movies. As the internet hit, many advances came quickly. But as the bubble grew (and burst), it also became pretty clear just how far we have to go. As technology people, we are all too aware of what it takes to get things done. Sometimes it's hard to envision the kind of Jetsons-like future we've been given as a benchmark ever coming to fruition.
Knowledge of technology is kind of a double-edged sword. It's often useful to have, but can be a bit deflating when you think that we still don't have video on demand, reliable and long lasting batteries, or an effective way to truly stamp out spam - never mind cars that can fly...
I was in a pinch recently and had to buy a CD and have it in my hands the same day (for a gift for someone I was seeing that night). Working in midtown NYC and being pressed for time, I swung by the closest place to buy a CD from where I work - the Virgin Megastore in Times Square.
The new Steely Dan CD was $22 USD. That's right. Ok, they added another disk to it - a 20 minute DVD of Becker and Fagan taking a cab ride around Las Vegas - but $22?
Yes I know I picked the absolute worst place on the earth to get a decent deal on a CD, and I did pick one that forced me to pay for an additional 20 min. DVD that I didn't want/need, but $22 still seems a bit on the outrageous side, even still.
I used to work in a large record store back in the day. I know how much it costs to press a CD. Even if they were $5 - $10 USD, profits would still be made by all that need to and I bet people would be more opt to buy and not be worried about being burned once they hear the entire CD.
BTW - the new Steely Dan was not too bad. The first 2 songs are throw aways, but the rest of them are pretty decent (with the exception of the one where Becker sings) and will grow on you, if you're a fan...
Somebody call the whaaaaabulance for Darl already.
Make no mistake, this is not about who is right or wrong, although we all wish it was. This is about money. SCO is like a tick under the skin of Linux. They're going suck as much blood (money) out of the situation for as long as they can.
Despite his protests about the "attacks", McBride is clearly enjoying the fact that people actually know the name SCO. From the article:
McBride proudly dumped two phone-book-sized binders of press clippings on the stage during his SCO Forum keynote on Monday as proof that his company had become more relevant in the high technology industry.
"Relevant in the technology industry"? Come on now. The only reason they're "relevant" is that they're threatening the health of the technology industry. It's like saying gential warts is sexy.
... Windows XP with even more window dressing and bloat. Let's make all the edges rounder! Let's make all the icons bigger! Dumb it down for the common user.
It seems to me M$ is about making the PC more like a consumer electronics device (TV) which is fine for most people I guess. The problem is (like a new model car), if anything breaks down, you're in no position to fix it yourself. Old model cars and specific types of computer OS's are easier for the layman to learn what needs to be done I believe...
Oh, and I'll take my new Gnome UI any day thank you.
I have both a Bachelor's and Master's in Computer Science. I must say that the Master's degree was not entirely necessary for what I do in my day to day job(s).
I wasn't able to go full-time for my Master's, due to financial concerns (I had to work full time), so I couldn't enroll in the programs in any truly CS oriented schools. So I'm pretty sure it was that I simply didn't go to the correct school in order to truly "get something" out of the graduate courses I took, since they all amounted to extra (and rather uninteresting) work I had to do after doing my 9-5 job with 2+ hours of commuting.
I have learned over 90% of what I know from actually experiencing the learning and research processes in a self-taught fashion. Basically, obtaining the Master's degree (including writing and publishing a thesis) was largely an excercise in putting hard work towards obtaining a goal. I did learn a few interesting things, but with the pace of technology, much of it has been rendered obsolete.
I guess it is an advantage to have on a resume, but given my experience, I'm sometimes unsure if it was worthwhile.
So then the next step (after you cellophane your display for 3D effects) is to:
1) move your laptop into your bedroom
2) fire up some pr0n on the screen
3) fill a plastic baggie with some appropriate lube
4) shove the bag right underneath the matress of the bed
5) get some real work done for yourself
I certainly didn't invent the technique, but I am more than a little curious to try it.
Ok sorry. -1 off-topic mod down is in order if you have the points. My bad...
This just further proves that:
1) SCO was on a fishing expedition when they conjured up the lawsuit (why just go at IBM and not every single organization currently using Linux?)
2) they're only in it for the money (as opposed to justice/vindication on the subject of their code supposedly stolen)
3) that they know their case is weak and their stock is likely to drop (you don't sell when you're confident in your stock, you might set a stop limit, but selling is a sure sign of no confidence)
In trying to find a bright side (I know this behavior is to be expected on their part, but it is pretty sickening), perhaps this could signal the end of this frivilous case and any concerns about the future of Linux?
Maybe you want to simmer down a bit, since you clearly have no idea about the specifics of this case.
Of course he had access to an FTP server that his company never bothered to ask Acxiom to change the password on once he was no longer an employee.
The guy was *not* a DBA, he was a simple user who could access data when he had a job and his access rights were not taken away as they should have been (after he was no longer an employee). This has nothing to do with your three golden rules or the general incompetence of US techs as you allude to. It was a breakdown in corporate policy, not technical skills.
Human Resource departments in many companies are notorious for not taking all of the necessary steps before and after an individual is terminated, particularly when it comes to coordinating with IT.
Just a thought (which you'll likely toss in the recycling bin in your brain anyway): You might want to be a little more sensitive to people who just might be out of a job right now here in the US too...
What I'm saying is that people on the internet are not likely going to pay for *just* content, unless it is something extremely specialized that is not accessible in print. But for the most part, publishing companies only make articles from their publications available online either an issue behind or only publishing some (and not all) articles in the recent issue. They are way too concerned about canabilizing their print readership. And if I have to pay, I'd still prefer the print format over reading from a computer (or any devices screen). Until there's some form of electronic paper I can take to the bathroom, on the train, or to the beach to read, I can't see paying for electronic-only content. And suprisingly, the paying print subscribers of magazines today hold no special priveleges over those who are not paying susbcribers when it comes to viewing content on the correspinding website of a print publication. If you subscribe, you should get the content in any format you want.
If you're going to charge people for online only content, it's really got to be more that just what's available in print. Slashdot is not available in print and it is more than just news, it's an experience of discussion with a great deal of other like-minded people. I am part of a group that runs a successful non-porn (well maybe some) pay website. In talking to our members, the main reason people subscribe to our site and keep renewing their subscriptions is the experience, not just the content. The experience being the activity in the various message forms, the ability to rate and comment on every piece of content, the ability to parametrically search and access all content for the past 6 years (online publicaitons rarely offer that), the ability to see who's currently online, etc.
Sorry for the shameless plug, but it illustrates the point that you really can't charge for *just* content presented in the same way as print. I don't believe Salon executed successfully using this model, and I can't see how anyone else could either.
You couldn't be more correct on the fact that they'll say whatever they're paid to. God what a job they have - getting paid to prognosticate future trends and they don't have to be right. Kind of like being a weather man - when was the last time a weather man was fired for being wrong?
And what about M$ somehow being in bed with SCO and/or Gartner? Ok sorry, mod me down for being a conspiracy theorist / paranoid...
I am part of a group that actually runs a website that charges a subscription fee for the premium content on the site. We looked at (and tested) a number of payment models.
What worked best was simply putting an inexpensive yearly fee in place. People pay once and can forget about worrying about any recurring charges or running up some kind of tab that will only come back and surprise them later.
After a year, more than half of them renew their accounts too. And just so they can have access to a giant database of humorous, strange, and twisted photos and media files. Go figure...
I didn't mean "bespoke" instead of "proprietary". I meant proprietary.
Any chance of you commenting on the actual content of what I'm saying rather than picking actual words or phrases and commenting on them out of context?
And why the reference to "Hacker jargon" for Bubble Sort? It should be pretty clear why the the bubble sort reference is used in making my point about not writing software that exists. If not, how about this one, when was the last time you wrote your own search engine?
My issue with the concept of Amazon's solution being proprietary was not that proprietary = bad, but that they would be building something that has already been built (and successfully implemented) before. Sometimes you don't need to reinvent the wheel so to speak. When was the last time you wrote your own bubble sort algorithm.
Technical semantics aside, there very well might be some sound business reasons that Amazon would want their own software written from the ground up. But if it's basic search on a gigantic volume of text, licensing/partnering with Google might not be the worst thing...
... there was no mention of the actual search technology Amazon would be using to allow searching the text of such a large archive of books (why only non-fiction I wonder).
Looks like they'll be going with a proprietary solution. Even though the article seems to indicate that Amazon is launching this new service as a response to Google's "Froogle" shopping search product, wouldn't partnering with Google make more sense for them?
When it comes to these "State of the Onion" speeches Larry Wall gives, he always has a theme. And what he does is actually makes the theme of the talk more prominent than anything he is going to say about the Perl language. Note the first sentence of this year's speech - he says Perl is ok, and now that he's got that out of the way, onto his theme.
Larry Wall is clearly a genious, and actually has a huge range of interests aside from software. One year, he talked about chemistry. The last time I was at the Open Source conference, he talked about music (and demonstrated his abilities in playing about 30 different instruments). I can still remember the puzzled look on many people's faces and some even getting up and leaving. So this year, the theme is jokes...
For the harcore Perl person, I guess the key is to look carefully for anything related to the future of the language in between all the silliness. Maybe he's trying to tell everyone there are a great many things to life outside programming. More likely he's just got a twisted sense of humor. I found the best thing to do was to kick back and enjoy it for the entertainment value - a relatively tough concept when you're not seeing it in person and only looking at a printout though:-(
Slashdot Mirror
Hopefully, the geek-eye guys have unlisted phone numbers ...
What their tying to do is (a) use an aggressive interpretation of a new law to their advantage while (b) circumventing standard legal procedure for filing of civil suits.
Throw in the fact that there is a related article on cnet about how the RIAA is claiming that P2P networks are "rife with child porn" in order to make P2P seem like more of the devil's work.
thank you for correcting my analogy - it was a bit flawed
I'm still fielding like 400 auto-generated emails from various anti-virus software each day. The author's suggestion to simply stop the alerts is not that far fetched at all.
Obligatory bad analogy: it's like pelting someone with rocks in order to warn them they're about to be run over by a car (and then continuing to pelt them with rocks even after the car has passed and is way down the block).
Knowledge of technology is kind of a double-edged sword. It's often useful to have, but can be a bit deflating when you think that we still don't have video on demand, reliable and long lasting batteries, or an effective way to truly stamp out spam - never mind cars that can fly ...
The new Steely Dan CD was $22 USD. That's right. Ok, they added another disk to it - a 20 minute DVD of Becker and Fagan taking a cab ride around Las Vegas - but $22?
Yes I know I picked the absolute worst place on the earth to get a decent deal on a CD, and I did pick one that forced me to pay for an additional 20 min. DVD that I didn't want/need, but $22 still seems a bit on the outrageous side, even still.
I used to work in a large record store back in the day. I know how much it costs to press a CD. Even if they were $5 - $10 USD, profits would still be made by all that need to and I bet people would be more opt to buy and not be worried about being burned once they hear the entire CD.
BTW - the new Steely Dan was not too bad. The first 2 songs are throw aways, but the rest of them are pretty decent (with the exception of the one where Becker sings) and will grow on you, if you're a fan ...
Make no mistake, this is not about who is right or wrong, although we all wish it was. This is about money. SCO is like a tick under the skin of Linux. They're going suck as much blood (money) out of the situation for as long as they can.
Despite his protests about the "attacks", McBride is clearly enjoying the fact that people actually know the name SCO. From the article:
"Relevant in the technology industry"? Come on now. The only reason they're "relevant" is that they're threatening the health of the technology industry. It's like saying gential warts is sexy.It seems to me M$ is about making the PC more like a consumer electronics device (TV) which is fine for most people I guess. The problem is (like a new model car), if anything breaks down, you're in no position to fix it yourself. Old model cars and specific types of computer OS's are easier for the layman to learn what needs to be done I believe ...
Oh, and I'll take my new Gnome UI any day thank you.
I wasn't able to go full-time for my Master's, due to financial concerns (I had to work full time), so I couldn't enroll in the programs in any truly CS oriented schools. So I'm pretty sure it was that I simply didn't go to the correct school in order to truly "get something" out of the graduate courses I took, since they all amounted to extra (and rather uninteresting) work I had to do after doing my 9-5 job with 2+ hours of commuting.
I have learned over 90% of what I know from actually experiencing the learning and research processes in a self-taught fashion. Basically, obtaining the Master's degree (including writing and publishing a thesis) was largely an excercise in putting hard work towards obtaining a goal. I did learn a few interesting things, but with the pace of technology, much of it has been rendered obsolete.
I guess it is an advantage to have on a resume, but given my experience, I'm sometimes unsure if it was worthwhile.
All this scientific research just to make Bugs Bunny a reality?
Apologies to everyone for this. A coworker just had a little fun at my expense.
1) move your laptop into your bedroom
2) fire up some pr0n on the screen
3) fill a plastic baggie with some appropriate lube
4) shove the bag right underneath the matress of the bed
5) get some real work done for yourself
I certainly didn't invent the technique, but I am more than a little curious to try it.
Ok sorry. -1 off-topic mod down is in order if you have the points. My bad ...
1) SCO was on a fishing expedition when they conjured up the lawsuit (why just go at IBM and not every single organization currently using Linux?)
2) they're only in it for the money (as opposed to justice/vindication on the subject of their code supposedly stolen)
3) that they know their case is weak and their stock is likely to drop (you don't sell when you're confident in your stock, you might set a stop limit, but selling is a sure sign of no confidence)
In trying to find a bright side (I know this behavior is to be expected on their part, but it is pretty sickening), perhaps this could signal the end of this frivilous case and any concerns about the future of Linux?
Sounds like futuristic porno rather than Unix security.
Sorry. That was not funny and clearly off-topic. Mod me down :-(
Of course he had access to an FTP server that his company never bothered to ask Acxiom to change the password on once he was no longer an employee.
The guy was *not* a DBA, he was a simple user who could access data when he had a job and his access rights were not taken away as they should have been (after he was no longer an employee). This has nothing to do with your three golden rules or the general incompetence of US techs as you allude to. It was a breakdown in corporate policy, not technical skills.
Human Resource departments in many companies are notorious for not taking all of the necessary steps before and after an individual is terminated, particularly when it comes to coordinating with IT.
Just a thought (which you'll likely toss in the recycling bin in your brain anyway): You might want to be a little more sensitive to people who just might be out of a job right now here in the US too ...
Very well put. And thank you.
If you're going to charge people for online only content, it's really got to be more that just what's available in print. Slashdot is not available in print and it is more than just news, it's an experience of discussion with a great deal of other like-minded people. I am part of a group that runs a successful non-porn (well maybe some) pay website. In talking to our members, the main reason people subscribe to our site and keep renewing their subscriptions is the experience, not just the content. The experience being the activity in the various message forms, the ability to rate and comment on every piece of content, the ability to parametrically search and access all content for the past 6 years (online publicaitons rarely offer that), the ability to see who's currently online, etc.
Sorry for the shameless plug, but it illustrates the point that you really can't charge for *just* content presented in the same way as print. I don't believe Salon executed successfully using this model, and I can't see how anyone else could either.
Just my 2 cents ...
And what about M$ somehow being in bed with SCO and/or Gartner? Ok sorry, mod me down for being a conspiracy theorist / paranoid ...
What worked best was simply putting an inexpensive yearly fee in place. People pay once and can forget about worrying about any recurring charges or running up some kind of tab that will only come back and surprise them later.
After a year, more than half of them renew their accounts too. And just so they can have access to a giant database of humorous, strange, and twisted photos and media files. Go figure ...
I am comparing the development of a new product to partnering with a company that has an existing solution.
Yes, both solutions are proprietary. The point is build vs. buy/partner - which is what I stated in my last reply.
So I sound like an idiot to you? Whatever, you just keep picking out single words to focus on instead of using your mind to grasp the obvious point ...
Any chance of you commenting on the actual content of what I'm saying rather than picking actual words or phrases and commenting on them out of context?
And why the reference to "Hacker jargon" for Bubble Sort? It should be pretty clear why the the bubble sort reference is used in making my point about not writing software that exists. If not, how about this one, when was the last time you wrote your own search engine?
Technical semantics aside, there very well might be some sound business reasons that Amazon would want their own software written from the ground up. But if it's basic search on a gigantic volume of text, licensing/partnering with Google might not be the worst thing ...
Looks like they'll be going with a proprietary solution. Even though the article seems to indicate that Amazon is launching this new service as a response to Google's "Froogle" shopping search product, wouldn't partnering with Google make more sense for them?
I liked the slides too. I was just saying that seeing him in person is several orders of magnitude better ;-)
Larry Wall is clearly a genious, and actually has a huge range of interests aside from software. One year, he talked about chemistry. The last time I was at the Open Source conference, he talked about music (and demonstrated his abilities in playing about 30 different instruments). I can still remember the puzzled look on many people's faces and some even getting up and leaving. So this year, the theme is jokes ...
For the harcore Perl person, I guess the key is to look carefully for anything related to the future of the language in between all the silliness. Maybe he's trying to tell everyone there are a great many things to life outside programming. More likely he's just got a twisted sense of humor. I found the best thing to do was to kick back and enjoy it for the entertainment value - a relatively tough concept when you're not seeing it in person and only looking at a printout though :-(