Unfortunately, MSFT has enough vulnerabilities between the OS, IE, ActiveX, and Apps that even multiple biometric tests would not protect their OS (exception by being unplugged from the network and internet).
I understand that MSFT does have a solution to the rampant security holes in their product line, which is foolproof. MSFT can embrace/extend the Webster's Dictionary's definition of "security". The Dubya regime has used similar tactics in the definition of "crisis" and "WMD" and "freedom". This tactic does appear to work in certain parts of the world...
If EDS were to announce the weather (eg. "There will be sunny skies tomorrow", I would be sure to take along my umbrella in the morning.
EDS has (had?) a 5 year(?) US Marine Corp project to roll out nearly 10,000 MSFT Windows servers and clients -- they are reportedly 2 years behind schedule in this deployment. And it was our friends at EDS that crashed nearly 60,000 Windows computers at the British Health Ministry during an enterprise wide patch & service pack roll-out earlier this year.
EDS is not exactly the IT "trusted authority" for this sort of pronouncement. The other player in this organization with a dubious history of bending the truth like a pretzel is Microsoft. Every 3rd party TCO and security study that they have funded has (surprise!) always found linux severly disadvantaged. Sun has their own axe to grind -- they would much sooner push their big E-series solutions with Solaris than contend with a customer interested in clustering their 2-way or 4-way AMD based servers running linux.
As an organization with a lot to loose with the increasingly widespread adoption of linux world- wide, they cannot be trusted to furnish unbiased information to their prospective and current customers. YAFUDPC! (Yet Another FUD Propaganda Campaign)
Abandoning Mozilla Suite in favor of stand-alone applications will not inspire corporations to look favorably upon any F/OSS project that doesn't respect stability. The rapid-fire changes made to FF/TB, including mind-numbing UI changes can't instill confidence in the product, especially when bug-fixes are abandoned in favor of glitzy UI changes.
It would be very nice to have a browser suite that incorporated the following feature set:
(1) stability, including timely bug fixes (2) patches and/or module updates, rather
than full suite downloads. (3) use of a single memory footprint (as
apposed to the new FF/TB paradigm (4) UI changes as a "skin" module, rather
than complete N.1 version changes (5) modular design of a suite that allows
inclusion/exclusion of components as
desired (browser/mail/news/composer/im)
As it is, the FF/TB applications have experienced a rapid change in not only UI but also of under- lying code. Use of separate memory spaces for FF/TB is wasteful of resources. Elinimating suite functionality like Composer will drive many Mozilla users to other browser suites, regardless of core compatibilities (like use of the IE rendering engine).
I hope that Mozilla Suite does eventually reach release 1.8, or even 2.0. I have tried FF/TB, and the paradigm shift to separate applications that have dropped much of the usability of the Mozilla Suite is not acceptable. Separate memory footprints for FF/TB is a huge resource hog.
Does Mozilla Foundation have any plans for a re-evaluation of their decision to abandon Mozilla Suite, or do the millions of suite users need to look for either a stable fork under the control of another entity (or just abandon any/ all Mozilla products)?
This is the very same MSFT that has had a "divine" inspiration that the software patent system is broken? It would seem that MSFT PR needs to get their act together (maybe take a lesson from the Dubya regime regarding "speaking with one voice").
MSFT is still a member of the XML standards committee, AFAIK. It would appear that MSFT's "embrace & extend" has evolved into "ebrace & extend & patent". I don't trust MSFT to "do the right thing", ever. Their strategy seems to change according to which day of the week it is, and which hemisphere they're interested in.
Yes, I RTFA, and I have but one regret -- that the DoJ didn't slice and dice MSFT up into little "Baby Bell" pieces when they were convicted as monopolists. If the DoJ were still actually functioning as something other than cheerleaders for corporate malfeasance (thanks, Dubya), they would slap a C&D order on MSFT for this grab for patents, and bring them back into court for a review of their compliance with both the letter and the spirit of the law.
There really ought to be a law (oh, wait -- there is!) It just isn't being enforced (big surprise!) I hope Eolas sucks the life-blood out of the Beast -- the rest of the internet will just have to make it's peace with Eolas, or else some other work-around be adopted.
So both NetCraft and the Debian maintainer have confirmed that Debian is dying!
I use Debian on older Sparc and MIPS architecture, as well as x86. The benefit -- the same Debian distribution on all 3 platforms. Running an open source 32/64 bit OS on an inexpensive but truly server class platform has been great. Using the same distribution cross-platform was great -- emminent tweekability and no gotchas. (Except this one, which I didn't see coming... )
Considering some of the more insideous portions of the USA Patriot Act (I) are concealed under a veil of secrecy that even covers revelations by the victims, it is a small wonder that any evidence of abuse would see the light of day.
No doubt, the original/. post could be construed as a Bush administration canard designed to deflect criticism of this Act, in preparation for the upcoming battle in the Congress over the "sunsetting" of some of the more onerous portions of the USA Patriot Act (I).
Considering the shills and pundits already in the employ of the Bush administration for generating propaganda in their favor, this is not out of the question.
The real problem with Verizon's "push" for FTTP (Fiber To The Premesis) is that this will only be done in areas with very high density occupancy. Every other locality, including suburbs and more "rural" areas will suffer the same way that they have suffered since the breakup of Ma Bell. No modern day telcos have the financial incentive, or the government regulatory oversight, to furnish such services equitably.
I live in a metropolitan suburb where all wiring is underground, and has been for 35 years. 35- year old underground POTS wiring does not make for decent modem connections, analog OR digital. YMMV, but line quality and distance from the CO are paramount factors in decent internet access. In my area, 17000 feet from the CO, analog service is poor, and ADSL/DSL service is limited by the telco's infrastructure to about 80Kb/s down and 60Kb/s upstream -- hardly good enough to warrant a $30 - $40 per month Verison DSL bill. Sadly, a similar price could get me Wireless Business DSL with better bandwidth, if only my residence were a bonafide business.
The telcos are at a great advantage over their competitors with cable-based broadband access. They are regulated (badly) at the state and fed level, while the cable providers generally are granted fixed term monopolies regulated at the county level. If the cable companies don't offer digital service in a timely fashion dictated by the county, they risk losing their monopoly to another vendor. The telco end-run around metro WiFi service by paying off state legislatures is monopolisticly criminal -- they are reserving for future exploitation a captive market that they will not commit resources to serve.
Now we know the real truth -- Dubya's regime is planning the roll-out of a chain of Pizza Huts in Iraq! No doubt that Halliburton will bill the US government high enough delivery charges to make up for the occassional road-side IED (Improvised Explosive Device) and missed delivery deadlines (free pizza with your next order).
This does not bode well for a timely exit from Iraq (but of course we all suspected that anyway).
RM Nixon WAS a great American, at least to the mega-corporations. He opened up a 1-1/2 billion person commercial market (PRC) to USA's products. That was, what, thirty years ago? I fully expect that the PRC will OWN most of the American economy, lock-stock-and-barrel, within 10 years. Considering that our high technology, IP, and jobs are already mostly their's, all they will need to do is cash in all the balance of trade IOU's to make the deal complete. I plan on studying French history, Chinese language (Mandarin), and Spanish/Hispanic/Mexican culture, so I should fit right in.
MSFT has gotten it's hand caught in the proverbial "cookie jar" so many times in the past 15 years that the DoJ anti-monopoly "settlement" with MSFT was a travesty of justice -- damn good thing for MSFT that a more complacent regime took power just in the nick of time -- MSFT could have wound up looking like a cabbage that went through a "Cuisinard". MSFT's "adopt & extend" mantra has a new stanza -- "time & venue heal all lawsuits".
Sorry, but you sound vaguely like a Bush proponent. Let me beat you about the ears with the following mantra;
it's made of fine hickory, but was imported from
the Dominican Republic.
(1) US Department of State "VISA Express" program
put unvetted Saudi Arabians on the fast-track into the USA -- a Bush initiative.
(2) Relegated National Security Council Terrorism expert Richard Clark to dark closet, while hob- nobbing with Taliban representatives in Houston and Washington over gas pipeline contracts.
(3) Cobbled together the slimest threads of intel over al-Queda links to Saddam Hussein, and African uranium ore (yellow cake) for Saddam's mythical WMD as justification for an optional preemptive war in Iraq.
(4) Thwarted the intent of Congress in illegally redirecting monies alloted to the conflict in Afghanistan ($750 Million USD) in the run-up to the war in Iraq.
(5) Pissed away at least $250 Billion USD in a totally optional war in Iraq, with 1,500 dead US servicemen, 10,000+ wounded US servicemen, and at least 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians (more than the total Kurds Saddam gassed).
(6) Broke international treaties regarding the treatment of POWs, and of torturing prisoners, with absolutely zero accountability by the Bush administration.
(7) Abridged the US Bill of Rights in the pursuit of internal "terrorist" threats, all while leaving US borders and seaports and air cargo largely insecure. And then boasting about it with the upcoming "amnesty" program, and statements in the press about "...not IF, but WHEN another terror attack would occur...".
(8) Drunken-sailor level spending, including the war and tax cuts for those that least need it, in order to justify a neo-con priority -- cutting the legs out from Social Security and Medicare, while promoting constitutionally illegal "faith- based intiatives" as their replacements.
I could go on, in much finer detail, but it's unnecessary if you have been viewing any news besides Fox Network, or not listening only to Rush Limbaugh.
MD Senator (D) Barbara Mikulski to the rescue! She has been in the forefront of defending NASA from the pinhead bean-counters in the past. I sure hope she is successful once again.
Regarding the SSTs (Shuttle Space Transports): NASA changed the formulation of the insulation on the external tanks, which made the ablative foam insulation dangerous. The original formula was environmentally "unfriendly" since it used CFCs. Losing a shuttle and crew during reentry was also environmentally "unfriendly". NASA management (at some level) knew that the ablative foam insulation "might" pose some risks, long before Columbia's tragic reentry. They never spent the time and money necessary to confirm the level of risk before the accident. O'Keefe's mismanagement of NASA was merely highlighted by Columbia -- testing the foam was a matter of "due diligence" that the real engineers wanted.
The focus has subsequently been on a robotic servicing mission. All primary NASA contractors wanted a piece of that action, since it also leveraged their interests in military space contracts. Even a robotic mission has been deemed too expensive, with a much greater chance of its failure. Astronauts have been training for an HST servicing mission for years -- the mission isn't just about repairs, but about improvements. The money has already been spent on the upgrades, so why not sent the experts back up to HST?
The current political climate in Washington isn't only penny-wise and pound-foolish. It's also about the uses of space -- civilian vs military. How else to explain NASA's determination to drop support for the Voyager project, which would only cost $4 Milion USD per year, while NASA pisses away $11 Billion USD on a new internal accounting system?
If MSFT is truly concerned about the quality and quantity of software patents, they need look no further than their own software patent behavior. It IsNot in MSFT's best interests to eliminate software patents, but it is in their interests to raise the bar, price-wise, for a software patent. The Eolas software patent has bitten MSFT on the backside, and they now want to change the system that they have been most happy with.
MSFT has been in the forefront of those seeking software patents in the EU. But just as in the USA, they must have concerns about what other patents are out there that will haunt them in the future. Of course, having very deep pockets for the legal challenges puts MSFT at some advantage, which they will (no doubt) make use of.
What IsNot going to happen: MSFT will not give up on software patents altogether, nor will IBM for that matter. The very best outcome of the whole software patent mess is for Congress and the USPTO to get together and eliminate ALL software patents, including business process, before the EU makes the same/similar mistakes. The US govt. could easily refund the filing fees for each software patent applied for, or grant yet another one-time tax break to provide the refund. S/W patents are bogus -- virtually ALL software and business processes have been built upon some prior art, either in the computer realm or the real world.
With EU adoption of software patents, it is not difficult to forsee a time when most of the WTO's time and efforts will be to resolve software patent issues BEFORE an IP trade war breaks out.
New name for the USA could/should be: People's Democratic Republic of the United States of North America and the Middle East. Except for the fact that we have open borders, all the other pieces seem to be fitting together well: secret police that spy on everyone, need permission to travel (fly), and (coming soon) national identity card ("... your papers, please..."). The only problem with this whole scenario is the stalinist tilt -- because everyone not wearing blinders, or in a drug-induced trance should realize that the USA has become a Corporate National Socialist state. A government by and of the corporation, for the people.
When the US Attorney General and the DHS together claim that copyright infringement is very nearly a "terrorist" activity, and pursue webmasters for P2P filesharing using charges of "conspiracy", filesharing is no longer merely a civil matter.
For people with desktop systems blessed with huge amounts of RAM and with plenty of CPU idle cycles, no problem using the Firefox/Thunderbird combo. But for people with notebook systems with limited RAM & throttled-back CPU, loading two Gecko rendering engines into memory is not the answer.
That, and having the browser interface change w/ each N.1 release makes my head spin. Too bad the product fork didn't go the other way around, because it looks like my only upgrade path for the browser suite is Netscape (and I get tired of all the "AIM features" I have to contend with with that product).
It's a good thing Mozilla/Netscape is free, 'cause otherwise I would demand my money back -- being an orphaned 1.7.5 release and all.
This news would be great for Muni WiFi, except that all the telcos are already spending all their money buying states' legislators for their endrun around public access WiFi.
Don't suppose that the FCC might lend NASA some of the cash raised by the sale of radio spectrum to keep the Voyager team together for a few more years.
Oops! Dubya needs that money to fund his latest propaganda campaign for Social Security reform.
WTF do you expect from Dubya, anyway? He's an ex-corrousing, ex-drunkard, ex-cokehead father's
son who must have had a near-death experience and found God. He's a born-again Calvinist Corporate "Christian" who was annointed by God to put the USA (and the rest of the world) on a collision course with the Second Coming. No corporate- whoring neocon creationist could ever really support science -- science and the scientific process reinforces (to most) evolution, which is the "devil's work".
No doubt Dubya would like to roll back the clock/ calender to pre-Copernicus times, when the Earth was the center of the universe. Billions (USD) for the generational battle against the infidel, but not a plugged nickel (USD) more for pure science that might refute the "creationists".
Just because Dubya himself hasn't pulled the plug on NASA (or on the NSF), doesn't mean that it has not been his hand on the tiller -- that's what his political appointees are there for, the dirty work. That, and his buddies Tom DeLay & and the Swift Boat thugs can put whatever spin they want on their actions, with the willing assistance of the unified corporate media machine.
The problem is that ((PublishedTruth + 8 Years) != Libel). Any assignment of monetary damages in a case of "libel" is, in fact, a finding for the plaintiff, regardless of whether or not a judicial motion was "suspended". This judicial action is a serious blow to freedom of speech, and could be the death-nell to the internet as we know it. Imagine having an internet-accessable archive of criminal proceedings -- and anyone linking to that archive is now vulnerable to a lawsuit for "libel", and to monetary damages -- in some other country and jurisdiction, no less. Pretty serious stuff, really.
ChoicePoint did not "lose" the data. These corporate whore-mongers sold the information to whoever had the money to buy it, without checking whether
they were bona fide businesses.
These are the same corporate whore-mongers that have been selling Florida bogus "felon lists" to ban from voting in 2000 and 2004. And the very same corporate whore-mongers that are at the forefront of the DHS's MATRIX database of "persons of interest". Doesn't this info give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling of security (national security)?
Unfortunately, the parent's point about "wireless networks being best left to commercial entities" is really only applicable where competition exists! There is no (real) competition for the regional "baby bell" telcos, because they own the infrastructure, and are regulated (badly) by the various state corporation commissions. The local municipalities are at the mercy of whatever timeframe and limits the telcos place on upgrading that infrastructure. OTOH, most cable companies are regulated at the municipal or county level, where the local governments can use the "big stick" of not renewing the cable company contracts for service. The difference in improved broadband access (between the telco & the cable provider) is remarkable.
Fairfax County, VA has Verizon for their telco, and Cox Cable for their cable service. The county specified the percentage of broadband access provided, as well as the timeframe that it could happen in, under threat of replacing Cox with another provider. So far, Cox has been rolling out broadband cable access right on schedule. OTOH, Verizon has been very slow to upgrade their infrastructure (POTS) for DSL access. Verizon doesn't answer to the county, but to the state, so there is no possibility of overturning Verizon's monopoly "applecart" at the county or municipality level.
Competition is a fair means to bring broadband access to a county or a region, and anything that a municipality can do to help foster that competition is fair game (in my book). The telcos' rush to squash municipal competition in WiFi access by doing an end-run with state legislatures is an unmitigated grab for continued monopolistic power that does not bode well for the consumer.
The underlying question that the citizens need to be asking their state legislatures is "Does the state grant monopoly status to corporations for the benefit of its citizens, or for the benefit of its corporations?" Increasingly (at least in these United States of America), the answer is in favor of the corporate monopolists. And considering which political party is in control of most state legislatures these days, it is a foregone conclusion that the corporate monopolists will win. In the USA, at least, our neocon politicians do have an ethos (of sorts): they stay "bought" by their corporate masters.
Yes, we really do want to get rid of software patents. The parent/. post is IMHO absolutely correct. I would actually take it one step further, however.
A parallel can be drawn between software "patents" and "religion", in the following manner:
(1) PRO software patent ~~ "Creationism" Every business process ("click?") and every algorithm ("formula?") was created in a vacuum, by the inspired touch of the hand of God. And since God isn't in business, the programmer/corporation has every right to protect this "Inspired Property" from God, with a patent.
(2) CON software patent ~~ "Evolution" Every business process and every algorithm was created from 250,000 years worth of social and mental development, including spoken and written language. Collaboration and the inspiration to make incremental improvements, in life as well as business, has formed what and who we are today. This includes business processes, languages, algorithms and mathematical formulas, and our software. As such, any programmer/corporation cannot lay claim to any incrimental improvement without recognising, acknowledging, and assigning a portion of credit to every person who came before. Therefore, software patents are a mythical invention of those who would steal from society in order to unfairly profit, with the connivance of corrupt government. (Actually, this same argument can also be applied to most hardware patents as well...)
Of course, the USA has already fully embraced software patents, just as the regime in power has also been forcing "creationist" religion on its population. At the same time that this "creationist" pigopolist world view has taken hold in the USA, the individual rights of its citizens and the rights of that society as a democracy have fallen away in favor of "corporatism", aka Corporate National Socialism.
Do the MEPs of the EU truly believe that adopting "corporatism" themselves will somehow protect them from the tenticles of "corporatism" branching out across the Atlantic Ocean like a metastasizing cancer? Apparently, some do.
In one jurisdiction after another in the USA, victims of violent crimes have tried (and failed) to sue their local government & police department for failure to respond in time (if at all) to a 911 call in an emergency. The courts have decided that the local police departments are not under any obligation to protect its citizens -- which leaves it up to the citizens themselves.
During the last round of riots in LA, CA, the police were filmed by news organizations staying well away from those riots. And when the National Guard were called out into the streets, they set up checkpoints, but were not issued any ammunition, by order of the governor. CA had a 2 week "cooling off" period between a citizen purchasing a firearm to defend themselves, and actually taking possession of the weapon.
I don't think that particular law has changed in the mean time, so if an honest citizen doesn't already have a firearm to defend themselves, they will be SOL when the next riot (or whatever else) comes along. Societies that are permissive in regard to violent crime and its punishment have a tendency to have more crime. Personally, I would rather be tried by twelve (a jury) than be carried by six (pall-bearers), so I not only own a firearm, but have become quite proficient in its use. I will call 911 in an emergency, but I will not risk my life waiting for law enforcement to eventually show up.
It's pretty hard to equate 3,000 American lives lost, 2 skyscapers and 4 commercial aircraft at the hands of Wahabist terrorists (and a government or two on the sly) with a natural disaster that killed 150,000 people and destroyed the lives and livihoods of millions. (Unless, of course, you are one of these dipshits that thinks the USA somehow caused that earthquake and tsunami.)
I haven't seen anyone anywhere laughing about the massive loss of life from the tsunami -- but I have seen plenty of people laughing and cheering about 9-11-2001, and how America deserved it. Just like I saw thousands of Palestinians cheering over the invasion, pillaging, and destruction of Kuwait when Saddam Hussein invaded there.
No doubt you are one of those rabid anti-American bleeding heart "new world order" socialists that will look for anything to help them hate Americans. It was one of our presidents, with a lot of blood and treasure expended, that liberated Kuwait from Saddam's stormtroopers. And it was the USA that has been johnny-on-the-spot to help the victims of the tsunami. And with more aid pouring in over there every day from Americans who may not have their jobs in six months.
In case you don't "get it", Americans make jokes about some of the worst things that happen to us, including earthquakes, mudslides, massive forest fires, and even 9-11-2001. It is one of the ways that we help to deal with these problems. So a few jokes about a failed terrorist attack against some Indian IT call center isn't so far out of line, except to some cheeky bastard like you.
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Unfortunately, MSFT has enough vulnerabilities
between the OS, IE, ActiveX, and Apps that even
multiple biometric tests would not protect their
OS (exception by being unplugged from the network
and internet).
I understand that MSFT does have a solution to
the rampant security holes in their product line,
which is foolproof. MSFT can embrace/extend the
Webster's Dictionary's definition of "security".
The Dubya regime has used similar tactics in the
definition of "crisis" and "WMD" and "freedom".
This tactic does appear to work in certain parts
of the world...
Amen to that sentiment!
If EDS were to announce the weather (eg. "There
will be sunny skies tomorrow", I would be sure to
take along my umbrella in the morning.
EDS has (had?) a 5 year(?) US Marine Corp project
to roll out nearly 10,000 MSFT Windows servers
and clients -- they are reportedly 2 years behind
schedule in this deployment. And it was our
friends at EDS that crashed nearly 60,000 Windows
computers at the British Health Ministry during an
enterprise wide patch & service pack roll-out
earlier this year.
EDS is not exactly the IT "trusted authority" for
this sort of pronouncement. The other player in
this organization with a dubious history of
bending the truth like a pretzel is Microsoft.
Every 3rd party TCO and security study that they
have funded has (surprise!) always found linux
severly disadvantaged. Sun has their own axe to
grind -- they would much sooner push their big
E-series solutions with Solaris than contend with
a customer interested in clustering their 2-way
or 4-way AMD based servers running linux.
As an organization with a lot to loose with the
increasingly widespread adoption of linux world-
wide, they cannot be trusted to furnish unbiased
information to their prospective and current
customers. YAFUDPC! (Yet Another FUD
Propaganda Campaign)
Abandoning Mozilla Suite in favor of stand-alone
applications will not inspire corporations to
look favorably upon any F/OSS project that doesn't
respect stability. The rapid-fire changes made
to FF/TB, including mind-numbing UI changes can't
instill confidence in the product, especially
when bug-fixes are abandoned in favor of glitzy
UI changes.
It would be very nice to have a browser suite
that incorporated the following feature set:
(1) stability, including timely bug fixes
(2) patches and/or module updates, rather
than full suite downloads.
(3) use of a single memory footprint (as
apposed to the new FF/TB paradigm
(4) UI changes as a "skin" module, rather
than complete N.1 version changes
(5) modular design of a suite that allows
inclusion/exclusion of components as
desired (browser/mail/news/composer/im)
As it is, the FF/TB applications have experienced
a rapid change in not only UI but also of under-
lying code. Use of separate memory spaces for
FF/TB is wasteful of resources. Elinimating
suite functionality like Composer will drive
many Mozilla users to other browser suites,
regardless of core compatibilities (like use of
the IE rendering engine).
I hope that Mozilla Suite does eventually reach
release 1.8, or even 2.0. I have tried FF/TB,
and the paradigm shift to separate applications
that have dropped much of the usability of the
Mozilla Suite is not acceptable. Separate memory
footprints for FF/TB is a huge resource hog.
Does Mozilla Foundation have any plans for a
re-evaluation of their decision to abandon
Mozilla Suite, or do the millions of suite users
need to look for either a stable fork under the
control of another entity (or just abandon any/
all Mozilla products)?
This is the very same MSFT that has had a "divine"
inspiration that the software patent system is
broken? It would seem that MSFT PR needs to get
their act together (maybe take a lesson from the
Dubya regime regarding "speaking with one voice").
MSFT is still a member of the XML standards
committee, AFAIK. It would appear that MSFT's
"embrace & extend" has evolved into "ebrace &
extend & patent". I don't trust MSFT to "do
the right thing", ever. Their strategy seems
to change according to which day of the week it
is, and which hemisphere they're interested in.
Yes, I RTFA, and I have but one regret -- that
the DoJ didn't slice and dice MSFT up into little
"Baby Bell" pieces when they were convicted as
monopolists. If the DoJ were still actually
functioning as something other than cheerleaders
for corporate malfeasance (thanks, Dubya), they
would slap a C&D order on MSFT for this grab for
patents, and bring them back into court for a
review of their compliance with both the letter
and the spirit of the law.
There really ought to be a law (oh, wait -- there
is!) It just isn't being enforced (big surprise!)
I hope Eolas sucks the life-blood out of the
Beast -- the rest of the internet will just have
to make it's peace with Eolas, or else some other
work-around be adopted.
So both NetCraft and the Debian maintainer have
confirmed that Debian is dying!
I use Debian on older Sparc and MIPS architecture,
as well as x86. The benefit -- the same Debian
distribution on all 3 platforms. Running an
open source 32/64 bit OS on an inexpensive but
truly server class platform has been great. Using
the same distribution cross-platform was great --
emminent tweekability and no gotchas. (Except
this one, which I didn't see coming... )
Debian is DEAD! Long live Debian!
Considering some of the more insideous portions
/. post could be construed
of the USA Patriot Act (I) are concealed under a
veil of secrecy that even covers revelations by
the victims, it is a small wonder that any
evidence of abuse would see the light of day.
No doubt, the original
as a Bush administration canard designed to
deflect criticism of this Act, in preparation for
the upcoming battle in the Congress over the
"sunsetting" of some of the more onerous portions
of the USA Patriot Act (I).
Considering the shills and pundits already in the
employ of the Bush administration for generating
propaganda in their favor, this is not out of the
question.
Stranded? You don't know what stranded is until
you've been abandoned with Fortran-90 and Forth!
And in the day, I used to have to walk to school
5 miles each way, uphill, in the snow. Stranded
VB6 coders -- Sheeesh! Bunch of wimps!
The real problem with Verizon's "push" for FTTP
(Fiber To The Premesis) is that this will only
be done in areas with very high density occupancy.
Every other locality, including suburbs and more
"rural" areas will suffer the same way that they
have suffered since the breakup of Ma Bell. No
modern day telcos have the financial incentive, or
the government regulatory oversight, to furnish
such services equitably.
I live in a metropolitan suburb where all wiring
is underground, and has been for 35 years. 35-
year old underground POTS wiring does not make for
decent modem connections, analog OR digital. YMMV,
but line quality and distance from the CO are
paramount factors in decent internet access. In
my area, 17000 feet from the CO, analog service
is poor, and ADSL/DSL service is limited by the
telco's infrastructure to about 80Kb/s down and
60Kb/s upstream -- hardly good enough to warrant
a $30 - $40 per month Verison DSL bill. Sadly,
a similar price could get me Wireless Business
DSL with better bandwidth, if only my residence
were a bonafide business.
The telcos are at a great advantage over their
competitors with cable-based broadband access.
They are regulated (badly) at the state and fed
level, while the cable providers generally are
granted fixed term monopolies regulated at the
county level. If the cable companies don't offer
digital service in a timely fashion dictated by
the county, they risk losing their monopoly to
another vendor. The telco end-run around metro
WiFi service by paying off state legislatures is
monopolisticly criminal -- they are reserving for
future exploitation a captive market that they
will not commit resources to serve.
Now we know the real truth -- Dubya's regime is
planning the roll-out of a chain of Pizza Huts
in Iraq! No doubt that Halliburton will bill the
US government high enough delivery charges to
make up for the occassional road-side IED
(Improvised Explosive Device) and missed delivery
deadlines (free pizza with your next order).
This does not bode well for a timely exit from
Iraq (but of course we all suspected that anyway).
RM Nixon WAS a great American, at least to the
mega-corporations. He opened up a 1-1/2 billion
person commercial market (PRC) to USA's products.
That was, what, thirty years ago? I fully expect
that the PRC will OWN most of the American economy,
lock-stock-and-barrel, within 10 years.
Considering that our high technology, IP, and
jobs are already mostly their's, all they will
need to do is cash in all the balance of trade
IOU's to make the deal complete. I plan on
studying French history, Chinese language (Mandarin),
and Spanish/Hispanic/Mexican culture, so I should
fit right in.
MSFT has gotten it's hand caught in the proverbial
"cookie jar" so many times in the past 15 years
that the DoJ anti-monopoly "settlement" with
MSFT was a travesty of justice -- damn good thing
for MSFT that a more complacent regime took power
just in the nick of time -- MSFT could have wound
up looking like a cabbage that went through a
"Cuisinard". MSFT's "adopt & extend" mantra has
a new stanza -- "time & venue heal all lawsuits".
Sorry, but you sound vaguely like a Bush proponent. Let me
.
beat you about the ears with the following mantra;
it's made of fine hickory, but was imported from
the Dominican Republic.
(1) US Department of State "VISA Express" program
put unvetted Saudi Arabians on the fast-track into
the USA -- a Bush initiative.
(2) Relegated National Security Council Terrorism
expert Richard Clark to dark closet, while hob-
nobbing with Taliban representatives in Houston
and Washington over gas pipeline contracts.
(3) Cobbled together the slimest threads of intel
over al-Queda links to Saddam Hussein, and African
uranium ore (yellow cake) for Saddam's mythical
WMD as justification for an optional preemptive
war in Iraq.
(4) Thwarted the intent of Congress in illegally
redirecting monies alloted to the conflict in
Afghanistan ($750 Million USD) in the run-up to
the war in Iraq.
(5) Pissed away at least $250 Billion USD in a
totally optional war in Iraq, with 1,500 dead
US servicemen, 10,000+ wounded US servicemen,
and at least 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians (more
than the total Kurds Saddam gassed).
(6) Broke international treaties regarding the
treatment of POWs, and of torturing prisoners,
with absolutely zero accountability by the Bush
administration.
(7) Abridged the US Bill of Rights in the pursuit
of internal "terrorist" threats, all while leaving
US borders and seaports and air cargo largely
insecure. And then boasting about it with the
upcoming "amnesty" program, and statements in the
press about "...not IF, but WHEN another terror
attack would occur..."
(8) Drunken-sailor level spending, including the
war and tax cuts for those that least need it, in
order to justify a neo-con priority -- cutting
the legs out from Social Security and Medicare,
while promoting constitutionally illegal "faith-
based intiatives" as their replacements.
I could go on, in much finer detail, but it's
unnecessary if you have been viewing any news
besides Fox Network, or not listening only to
Rush Limbaugh.
MD Senator (D) Barbara Mikulski to the rescue!
She has been in the forefront of defending NASA
from the pinhead bean-counters in the past. I
sure hope she is successful once again.
Regarding the SSTs (Shuttle Space Transports):
NASA changed the formulation of the insulation
on the external tanks, which made the ablative
foam insulation dangerous. The original formula
was environmentally "unfriendly" since it used
CFCs. Losing a shuttle and crew during reentry
was also environmentally "unfriendly". NASA
management (at some level) knew that the ablative
foam insulation "might" pose some risks, long
before Columbia's tragic reentry. They never
spent the time and money necessary to confirm
the level of risk before the accident. O'Keefe's
mismanagement of NASA was merely highlighted by
Columbia -- testing the foam was a matter of
"due diligence" that the real engineers wanted.
The focus has subsequently been on a robotic
servicing mission. All primary NASA contractors
wanted a piece of that action, since it also
leveraged their interests in military space
contracts. Even a robotic mission has been deemed
too expensive, with a much greater chance of its
failure. Astronauts have been training for an
HST servicing mission for years -- the mission
isn't just about repairs, but about improvements.
The money has already been spent on the upgrades,
so why not sent the experts back up to HST?
The current political climate in Washington isn't
only penny-wise and pound-foolish. It's also
about the uses of space -- civilian vs military.
How else to explain NASA's determination to drop
support for the Voyager project, which would only
cost $4 Milion USD per year, while NASA pisses
away $11 Billion USD on a new internal accounting
system?
Have I missed anything here?
Parent is right on target!
If MSFT is truly concerned about the quality and
quantity of software patents, they need look no
further than their own software patent behavior.
It IsNot in MSFT's best interests to eliminate
software patents, but it is in their interests
to raise the bar, price-wise, for a software
patent. The Eolas software patent has bitten
MSFT on the backside, and they now want to change
the system that they have been most happy with.
MSFT has been in the forefront of those seeking
software patents in the EU. But just as in the
USA, they must have concerns about what other
patents are out there that will haunt them in the
future. Of course, having very deep pockets for
the legal challenges puts MSFT at some advantage,
which they will (no doubt) make use of.
What IsNot going to happen: MSFT will not give up
on software patents altogether, nor will IBM for
that matter. The very best outcome of the whole
software patent mess is for Congress and the USPTO
to get together and eliminate ALL software patents,
including business process, before the
EU makes the same/similar mistakes. The US govt.
could easily refund the filing fees for each
software patent applied for, or grant yet another
one-time tax break to provide the refund. S/W
patents are bogus -- virtually ALL software and
business processes have been built upon some prior
art, either in the computer realm or the real world.
With EU adoption of software patents, it is not
difficult to forsee a time when most of the WTO's
time and efforts will be to resolve software
patent issues BEFORE an IP trade war breaks out.
I expect we will hear a lot about Kaspirov, once
Putin puts him on trial, and then not at all.
Anyone out there know if Kaspirov already has
his retirement dacha built in Siberia?
Exactly so.
New name for the USA could/should be: People's
Democratic Republic of the United States of
North America and the Middle East. Except for
the fact that we have open borders, all the other
pieces seem to be fitting together well: secret
police that spy on everyone, need permission to
travel (fly), and (coming soon) national identity
card ("... your papers, please..."). The only
problem with this whole scenario is the stalinist
tilt -- because everyone not wearing blinders, or
in a drug-induced trance should realize that the
USA has become a Corporate National Socialist
state. A government by and of the corporation,
for the people.
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
When the US Attorney General and the DHS together
claim that copyright infringement is very nearly
a "terrorist" activity, and pursue webmasters
for P2P filesharing using charges of "conspiracy",
filesharing is no longer merely a civil matter.
For people with desktop systems blessed with huge
amounts of RAM and with plenty of CPU idle cycles,
no problem using the Firefox/Thunderbird combo.
But for people with notebook systems with limited
RAM & throttled-back CPU, loading two Gecko
rendering engines into memory is not the answer.
That, and having the browser interface change w/
each N.1 release makes my head spin. Too bad the
product fork didn't go the other way around,
because it looks like my only upgrade path for
the browser suite is Netscape (and I get tired
of all the "AIM features" I have to contend with
with that product).
It's a good thing Mozilla/Netscape is free, 'cause
otherwise I would demand my money back -- being an
orphaned 1.7.5 release and all.
This news would be great for Muni WiFi, except
that all the telcos are already spending all their
money buying states' legislators for their endrun
around public access WiFi.
Don't suppose that the FCC might lend NASA some
of the cash raised by the sale of radio spectrum
to keep the Voyager team together for a few more
years.
Oops! Dubya needs that money to fund his latest
propaganda campaign for Social Security reform.
WTF do you expect from Dubya, anyway? He's an
ex-corrousing, ex-drunkard, ex-cokehead father's
son who must have had a near-death experience and
found God. He's a born-again Calvinist Corporate
"Christian" who was annointed by God to put the
USA (and the rest of the world) on a collision
course with the Second Coming. No corporate-
whoring neocon creationist could ever really
support science -- science and the scientific
process reinforces (to most) evolution, which is
the "devil's work".
No doubt Dubya would like to roll back the clock/
calender to pre-Copernicus times, when the Earth
was the center of the universe. Billions (USD)
for the generational battle against the infidel,
but not a plugged nickel (USD) more for pure
science that might refute the "creationists".
Just because Dubya himself hasn't pulled the plug
on NASA (or on the NSF), doesn't mean that it has
not been his hand on the tiller -- that's what
his political appointees are there for, the dirty
work. That, and his buddies Tom DeLay & and the
Swift Boat thugs can put whatever spin they want
on their actions, with the willing assistance of
the unified corporate media machine.
The problem is that ((PublishedTruth + 8 Years) != Libel). Any assignment of monetary damages in a case of "libel" is, in fact, a finding for the plaintiff, regardless of whether or not a judicial motion was "suspended". This judicial action is a serious blow to freedom of speech, and could be the death-nell to the internet as we know it. Imagine having an internet-accessable archive of criminal proceedings -- and anyone linking to that archive is now vulnerable to a lawsuit for "libel", and to monetary damages -- in some other country and jurisdiction, no less. Pretty serious stuff, really.
ChoicePoint did not "lose" the data. These corporate
whore-mongers sold the information to whoever
had the money to buy it, without checking whether
they were bona fide businesses.
These are the same corporate whore-mongers that
have been selling Florida bogus "felon lists" to
ban from voting in 2000 and 2004. And the very
same corporate whore-mongers that are at the
forefront of the DHS's MATRIX database of "persons
of interest". Doesn't this info give you a nice
warm fuzzy feeling of security (national security)?
Unfortunately, the parent's point about "wireless networks being best left to commercial entities" is really only applicable where competition exists! There is no (real) competition for the regional "baby bell" telcos, because they own the infrastructure, and are regulated (badly) by the various state corporation commissions. The local municipalities are at the mercy of whatever timeframe and limits the telcos place on upgrading that infrastructure. OTOH, most cable companies are regulated at the municipal or county level, where the local governments can use the "big stick" of not renewing the cable company contracts for service. The difference in improved broadband access (between the telco & the cable provider) is remarkable.
Fairfax County, VA has Verizon for their telco, and Cox Cable for their cable service. The county specified the percentage of broadband access provided, as well as the timeframe that it could happen in, under threat of replacing Cox with another provider. So far, Cox has been rolling out broadband cable access right on schedule. OTOH, Verizon has been very slow to upgrade their infrastructure (POTS) for DSL access. Verizon doesn't answer to the county, but to the state, so there is no possibility of overturning Verizon's monopoly "applecart" at the county or municipality level.
Competition is a fair means to bring broadband access to a county or a region, and anything that a municipality can do to help foster that competition is fair game (in my book). The telcos' rush to squash municipal competition in WiFi access by doing an end-run with state legislatures is an unmitigated grab for continued monopolistic power that does not bode well for the consumer.
The underlying question that the citizens need to be asking their state legislatures is "Does the state grant monopoly status to corporations for the benefit of its citizens, or for the benefit of its corporations?" Increasingly (at least in these United States of America), the answer is in favor of the corporate monopolists. And considering which political party is in control of most state legislatures these days, it is a foregone conclusion that the corporate monopolists will win. In the USA, at least, our neocon politicians do have an ethos (of sorts): they stay "bought" by their corporate masters.
NO CARRIER
NO CARRIER
Yes, we really do want to get rid of software patents. The parent /. post is IMHO absolutely correct. I would actually take it one step further, however.
A parallel can be drawn between software "patents" and "religion", in the following manner:
(1) PRO software patent ~~ "Creationism"
Every business process ("click?") and every algorithm ("formula?") was created in a vacuum,
by the inspired touch of the hand of God. And since God isn't in business, the programmer/corporation has every right to protect this "Inspired Property" from God, with a patent.
(2) CON software patent ~~ "Evolution"
Every business process and every algorithm was created from 250,000 years worth of social and mental development, including spoken and written language. Collaboration and the inspiration to make incremental improvements, in life as well as business, has formed what and who we are today. This includes business processes, languages, algorithms and mathematical formulas, and our software. As such, any programmer/corporation cannot lay claim to any incrimental improvement without recognising, acknowledging, and assigning a portion of credit to every person who came before. Therefore, software patents are a mythical invention of those who would steal from society in order to unfairly profit, with the connivance of corrupt government. (Actually, this same argument can also be applied to most hardware patents as well...)
Of course, the USA has already fully embraced software patents, just as the regime in power has also been forcing "creationist" religion on its population. At the same time that this "creationist" pigopolist world view has taken hold in the USA, the individual rights of its citizens and the rights of that society as a democracy have fallen away in favor of "corporatism", aka Corporate National Socialism.
Do the MEPs of the EU truly believe that adopting "corporatism" themselves will somehow protect them from the tenticles of "corporatism" branching out across the Atlantic Ocean like a metastasizing cancer? Apparently, some do.
Exactly so.
In one jurisdiction after another in the USA, victims of violent crimes have tried (and failed) to sue their local government & police department for failure to respond in time (if at all) to a 911 call in an emergency. The courts have decided that the local police departments are not under any obligation to protect its citizens -- which leaves it up to the citizens themselves.
During the last round of riots in LA, CA, the police were filmed by news organizations staying well away from those riots. And when the National Guard were called out into the streets, they set up checkpoints, but were not issued any ammunition, by order of the governor. CA had a 2 week "cooling off" period between a citizen purchasing a firearm to defend themselves, and actually taking possession of the weapon.
I don't think that particular law has changed in the mean time, so if an honest citizen doesn't already have a firearm to defend themselves, they will be SOL when the next riot (or whatever else) comes along. Societies that are permissive in regard to violent crime and its punishment have a tendency to have more crime. Personally, I would rather be tried by twelve (a jury) than be carried by six (pall-bearers), so I not only own a firearm, but have become quite proficient in its use. I will call 911 in an emergency, but I will not risk my life waiting for law enforcement to eventually show up.
It's pretty hard to equate 3,000 American lives lost, 2 skyscapers and 4 commercial aircraft at the hands of Wahabist terrorists (and a government or two on the sly) with a natural disaster that killed 150,000 people and destroyed the lives and livihoods of millions. (Unless, of course, you are one of these dipshits that thinks the USA somehow caused that earthquake and tsunami.)
I haven't seen anyone anywhere laughing about the massive loss of life from the tsunami -- but I have seen plenty of people laughing and cheering about 9-11-2001, and how America deserved it. Just like I saw thousands of Palestinians cheering over the invasion, pillaging, and destruction of Kuwait when Saddam Hussein invaded there.
No doubt you are one of those rabid anti-American bleeding heart "new world order" socialists that will look for anything to help them hate Americans. It was one of our presidents, with a lot of blood and treasure expended, that liberated Kuwait from Saddam's stormtroopers. And it was the USA that has been johnny-on-the-spot to help the victims of the tsunami. And with more aid pouring in over there every day from Americans who may not have their jobs in six months.
In case you don't "get it", Americans make jokes about some of the worst things that happen to us, including earthquakes, mudslides, massive forest fires, and even 9-11-2001. It is one of the ways that we help to deal with these problems. So a few jokes about a failed terrorist attack against some Indian IT call center isn't so far out of line, except to some cheeky bastard like you.