The fact is that the fuel taxes, with the higher and higher efficiencies in cars (especially as people trade their gas guzzlers in the face of higher gas prices) is leaving a gap in revenues to maintain and build roads. This actually is a legitimate concern, imho.
Now, no GPS unit in my car. I definitely agree that reading the odometer somehow is a FAR better solution, because I'd be leary of the government tracking my every move, too...
99% of people who are on the web are NOT security experts. They're also WAY more likely to ignore subtle warnings about the identity of a site being questionable. For the average person (not the average/. subscriber) a subtle warning is completely futile in providing any security at all. The new SSL handling in FF3 is going to help....a LOT, imho.
In the overall scheme of things, which is better:
1) Having Joe User think a website is down where it isn't, which will only happen in a VERY small percentage of cases, or
2) Having Joe User provide his credit card info and SSN to a site he thinks is ok because he doesn't know any better?
One must remember that FF is no longer used only by net-savvy techie guys anymore. It has a WAY broader userbase now, and these changes are going to protect a LOT of people.
Except Lucas DID change the character of The Force in Episode I. He couldn't leave it as a simple mystical power which can be interacted with by the select few. He had to over-explain it, and create the Midichlorian (sp?) explanation. Why? Why couldn't he leave it as purely mystical where your actual ability to make use of it is a function of your FAITH in its existence and its power? You completely destroy the faith-based aspect when you can freaking MEASURE it on a sensor! He couldn't leave people to draw parallels to God or whatever "power larger than self" one might chose to draw parallels to.
I'm going to make my own edited versions when I get the DVD's and edit out all references to midichlorians....
I assure you that, despite what the author implies, there are certainly issues with DSL over on the Yankee side of the pond.
All of this article reads like any of the fiascos that can occur here if a phone # wasn't transfered properly (especially with rental properties, as the author illustrates), if the person who PREVIOUSLY HAD the number you've been given for your new line had DSL and never, officially, had is disconnected, heck, if the freaking install tech hooked your copper up to a DSLAM in the CO instead of the remote he was SUPPOSED to tie to (this happened to me, personally - I screamed at BellSouth people for about 2 weeks before they sent someone competent out, who proceded to fix my issue in about a half hour. Mind you, I used to do DSL installation for a living myself, so this was terribly frustrating. I wound up calling a personal contact within the DSG - the group that the consumer division calls to get lines provisioned - in order to get the situation remedied). If you change your number, they may disconnect your DSL. If you have line trouble, they may disconnect your DSL, and tell you that "I don't see any problem with the DSL" when it hasn't been reconnected. God forbid you have DSL through a reseller, rather than BS FastAccess, and a FA customer needs to get turned on....if they've got a port shortage on the remote, because they WILL forsake you for their "affiliated" ISP (granted, this happened more often early in the days of the remote DSLAMS - when they only had 8 ports). Let there be load coils on your line. My father had to palce a trouble call that his "fax machine wasn't sending faxes properly" to get Bell to do anything about them because they're committed to a QoS for faxing, but they WILL tell you to get lost if you want to get them removed so you can get DSL.
a) BIOS passowrd protection. You can often set it to require the password to boot the PC as well as to change the BIOS settings. Even if it's just for the BIOS settings, you can set first-boot as the hard disk, except if you specifically need to do otherwise temporarily. b) If you run an encrypted filesystem for secure stuff, they can't see the contents of the drive unless they're running the same program with the same keys. c) Don't store important crap on your PC. A PDA with a good password is best if you MUST store personal info in electronic form. (Personally, I've got all my important crap in the one computer I can trust...the one between my ears)
Ok. You're gonna bitch about running unsigned software from Firefox, but, yet, run an unsigned ZIP PROGRAM called 7-Zip? Where'd you get this from, eh?
Cnet?
I mean, I've used 7-Zip in the past, but you should at least make an effort, in your column denouncing downloading unsigned software to NOT USE UNSIGNED SOFTWARE!
If your theory is correct, then how does the demand change when the number of people able to afford a product goes down?
Say I'm a machinist in a plant which produces cars. I make $40,000/year. I drive a car which was produced by the company I work for, which cost me, say $18,000. When the plant I work in is closed, and I'm making $12,000/year flipping burgers, how can I be expected to make that same $15,000 purchase? I can't, can I? What about the other 1200 people who worked at the plant? Can the worker in El Salvador who replaced me make a purchase of the same value when he's making 10% of what I was? No, because his income won't support that purchase, either.
So, demand for the product of the company who offshored the jobs goes down. This then causes prices to fall, in order to increase the demand again. How does this work in the long run??
Ok, so I misinterpreted the statement when I initially read it. It sounded to me, initially, that they were disributing NMAP with Unixware, which would constitute extra licensing constraints.
What does remain true, is that if SCO is claiming the GPL is invalid, then Fydor would still own the copyright, and would then be able to create it's own licensing scheme. So, within the context of the GPL being invalid, as SCO is so vehemently screaming, a reversion to normal copyright would give Fydor the right to sue SCO for distributing their code without permission (which is granted under the GPL, but wouldn't be granted if the GPL was held to be invalid).
Um...YES they ARE violating the GPL with respect to NMAP. They are DISTRIBUTING NMAP, then tacking on extra licensing restrictions. This is a material violation of the GPL, and therefore, Fydor can rescind SCO's license to distribute their code. It's not a matter of Fydor arbitrarily revoking the license, but rather SCO's violation of the license gives Fydor the RIGHT (in my opinion, the DUTY - because exercising the rights under the GPL helps assure its protections) to rescind the license.
Read the fine print. I've got a user on this service, and its been a nightmare (I'm a network admin, and have 10 remote users connected over VPN to the office). If you EVER need to upload anything, you may as well dial up. When dealing with their support, I was told that a 40Kbps upload speed is within their spec, and so they wouldn't work with me to improve it at all. This becomes an issue when you need to send emails with attachments (or connect to an Exchange server, as was the case for me until I gave up and mover her to a pop3 configuration in Outlook), or any other data you might need to send. I've had a ton of issues supporting this user, and by contrast, my one user who is on dial-up is nearly problem-free.
Here's hoping this WiMax stuff catches on
As far as I can tell, the GPL is really an avenue for a developer to contribute to the community while still KEEPING his rights to the code he produced. Is this not a valid conclusion? It seems the GPL still protects the copyrights of the developers to the code they produce. In fact, the fact that the GPL demands that the code to anything released thereunder be distributed prevents someone from using someone else's code without it being known.
From the GPL: "1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty;
2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
stating that you changed the files and the date of any change."
So if I develop a piece of software, I can decide to GPL it, and allow other to see the code, use it in their own efforts, or improve upon it. I can also decide to use some other license, if I don't want these things to occur. Shouldn't this be my own choice?
Let's just get something straight....Net is NOT a standard. It's MICROSOFT'S standard, but this does NOT make it a standard as far as the rest of us are concerned. However, the only reason it has become as widely used as it has, is because M$ owns so much of the market share, that other options (Better options, perhaps) like Java are locked out of actually being able to compete.
I can point to two examples right offhand which operate significantly more efficiently than their M$ counterparts...Linux and MacOS. Yes, both have a GUI. Mac INVENTED windowing systems as we know them. Microsoft can still learn a LOT from Macs - stability, efficiency, usability. Linux is gaining fast, and with Suse being bought by Novel, Linux is poised to make large strides toward being a genuine player...if you don't already count Lindows and the like. Win2K (sorry, I haven't got the patience to deal with XP) is still a marginal OS, given the sheer numbers of patches which are released, which often break other software.
Mostly, my point is that Microsoft can basically do whatever they want, and force users to comply because they have an illegal monopoly (which has been proven in court - the punishments, however were completely bogus. Compare Microsoft to Ma Bell 20 years ago, and then look at what happened to them after they were found to be a monopoly and you'll see what I mean) and it is difficult for the average user to gain experience with anything else, even if it is better.
What I'm saying is that the more pieces of the pie that M$ has a stake in, the more we're going to see places where there aren't any choices but M$ products. If they get Sparkle, and run Macromedia out of business, then they will have another software capability in which they have a monopoly. The further and further this is allowed to go, there will be no choice for the other software guys but to give up. there will then be NO competition to keep them incheck and competitive at all, and so we'll never have the kinds of open systems which the Internet was created for. M$ will control every aspect of computing, including the production and delivery of the content. How the hell is that free and open?
Ok, so, you're saying Microsoft can make something better?
First, they'll publish it, despite 60,000 known bugs in the code.
It will take 50% more processing power to run the Sparkle player than it does to run Flash apps.
Then, we'll have to patch this software once a week in addition to the patches we already have to apply for Win2k, IE, Media Player, etc. If we don't, we'll get some uber virus that's transmitted though Sparkle which will cause our PC's to indiscriminately shutdown or delete the 600-page thesis we were working on for our Doctorate in Psychology.
Then, they'll come out with "Sparkle Player 2010" and we'll all have to purchase Longhorn20150 at $300 in order to get the new player, because there won't be any support for the old version anymore, because M$ will own majority stake in all of the people producing web content, and will force them to change their apps to only be compatible with the new version.
Nobody running anything other than Longhorn and IE9.0 and Sparkle will be able to actually view web pages, because M$ won't relase Linux, Mac or Netscape/Mozilla/Opera versions of the sotfware - even for money. And anyone who tries to create a version for these will be summarily executed by President Gates - or at least have their Internet connections terminated.
Thanks! Finally found a mirror that's not just a link back to ftp.mozilla.org that has a copy of Thunderbird. I havent' been able to get a complete download of any of them (Moz 1.5, FB 0.7 or TB 0.3) from mozilla.org. Weird...
AdAware GAIM (GPL'd IM - Trillian hogs resources) cDex (cd ripping) Gimp (image Creation/editing) Iview (simple image viewer) OpenOffice (you already know this one) Pegasus Mail (Used is a lot too, before I really started using Thunderbird. Awesome mail client!)
Really, it's hard to pinpoint withoug knowing what you're going to be using it for, however, for basic needs, I utilize the following (win32. I have a pair of RH boxes, but they are both servers without KDE/Gnome, so I don't use Linux desktops much):
(The whole suite) mail/browser with additional functionlity provided by a couple of plugins (EasySearch bar, Optimoz Mouse Gestures and the Calendar). Been playing with Firebird/Thunderbird, but thunderbird has a bit to go before it's up to the level ot the regular Mozilla mail client.
AntiVIR free Antivirus.
Updates every 2 weeks (or more if you're paranoid). Used AVG (Grisoft's product) for a while, but had issues with its W2k/XP compatibility. That was over a year ago, however.
With some plugins, can play almost any type of media file.
There's more, but I'm not going to list everything I use. Normally I'd just send you to my website, but I'm not going to/. my own site. It's just a little 486 box on a DSL connection!
The difference is thet the press is supposed to be protected by the first amendment. This is supposed to guarantee the protection of anonymous sources, and is essential to keeping the press free. If people fear speaking to the press because they might get arrested for it, the nation falls apart, for lack of a public venue for the expression of ideas outside the mainstream (read: contrary to the opinion of the government).
Darryl's gun shop on the corner is guaranteed no such protection, and, in fact, is bound by other laws which command that firearms be registered, and not to certain classes of convicted criminals. If Darryl refuses to keep records, and continues to sell guns, he will face criminal charges.
This IS a blatant abuse of journalists' rights which could ONLY occurr under the new powers granted by the USA PATRIOT Act (to quell the frustration of another poster).
Most of us are too young to actually remember first-hand where this country went during the McCarthy years, but some of us take the time to look into what's going on, and what happened in the past. McCarthy basically abused his powers to conduct his witch-hunt of "communist sympathizers" and if he said you were a "communist sympathizer," you were one, period. The Congress then tightened the reigns on the powers allowed such investigators, and put judicial review into effect as a check to prevent these abuses from occurring again.
Now Ashcroft, under the guise of "patriotism" (just like McCarthy) took advantage of the great national tragedy of our time, and got his act pushed through, which allowed the DOJ pwoers similar to those which existed during McCarthy's era. Now, instead of "communists," the word "terrorist" is the term. And if the DOJ wants to call you a "terrorist" or a "supporter of terrorism," you can do nothing to prove to anyone that you aren't, as you'll be unable to ask for legal assistance, held for as long as they decide they want to, without even being told why you're bing held. Just like McCarthy. Witch-hunts all over again.
Screw that! The Internet in and of itself may be free, but BANDWIDTH is not. DISK SPACE isn't. SERVERS aren't. GUYS TO RUN THE SEVERS aren't (though recently, with the economy and offshoring putting lots of us out of work, we are getting cheaper and cheaper...).
I shouldn't have to pay for someone else making money off the services I'm paying for - either being the hosting company paying for my bandwidth and gear to support the traffic generated by these bozo's, or being the customer of the hosting company and losing business to MY site because some bozo, whom I have never known, who happens to also buy hosting at the hosting company, hires some crazy bastards to monitor their website and crashes the server (not to mention paying for resources dedicated to dealing with SPAM, but that's another topic I've already ranted about).
I'm not saying that the content of sites, or emails, or chats, or IM's should be restricted, but when YOUR free speech takes money out of MY pockets, you should expect to be presented with a smart right-hook, or to at least compensate me for my lost money and to keep youy hands out of my wallet!
To me, with the sweeping attacks leveled against our civil rights/liberties by John Ashcroft, the terrorists which changed the world on 9/11 have gotten EXACTLY what they were looking for. These guys hate us for the freedoms which we have fought for and which we hold most dear. They have succeeded (and are more and more successful the longer Ashcroft is in office) in depriving us of them. How can we continue to fight against terrorism in the global community without first ridding ourselves of the scourge of terrorism which is John Ascroft.
If you think it's scary to have a minute group of dissidents plotting against us, imagine how scary it will be when the government starts doing it.
Many of the sweeping powers the government had during the McCarthy era were changed for the express purpose of eliminating the possibility of the abuses we saw then recurring. These are the very same powers the DOJ seeks to reestablish.
The administration ABUSED the public sentiment immediately following 9/11 to get this lesislation passed without much, if any, scrutiny.
I mean we let people from all over come here and work. Ummmmm, except we don't.
Um, YES we do!
The H-1 and L-1 Visa programs were invented specifically for this reason. In the US, we have no standard like those I've read about in Australia and elsewhere. Well, we have some regulations, but recently they've gone completely unenforced. If a company in this country can hire someone from overseas to do a job for which they're currently paying an American worker, and pay that worker half or less what the American makes, the company is under no pressure not to hire the foreign worker. It's happening for real. In the REAL world.
Further, US jobs now are being sent TO other countries. By some estimates, 2 million plus jobs in the next few years. Than't a HUGE chunk of the IT sector.
The reason this is a story here, is because a good number of us work in the IT sector. This has HUGE implications for us.
Consider the fact that many colleges around the nation are scaling back IT programs (my stepmother teaches various IT classes at a local college) and thike about what that means for those of us who spent money on educations or who have been relying on our IT experience as means to acquire jobs.
The economy and job prospects have been bad enough just dealing with the economic slowdown without having to deal with the jobs that are still there going away from the US (I know, I was unemployed for the greater portion of 2002, and I'm only employed now because I new the guy who ran the IT department for the company I work for now).
In many countries in the EU and also in Australia, they cannot hire a non-citizen unless they CANNOT find a qualified candidate who IS a citizen. The US government needs to step up and implement some similar legislation. Even if you think about this from a lawmakers perspective, an American who makes $50,000 a year pays a whole lot more than an unemployed American and the foreigner who takes his job for $30,000. They'll see a WHOLE LOT less than that from the unemployed American and the job that's no longer in the US! Even the companies that do use outsourcing are killing their own market. How many computers or programs or Coke ayr you going to buy when you're unemployed, and can the foreigner who's making half of what you were making pick up the slack? I don't think so...
Slashdot Mirror
The fact is that the fuel taxes, with the higher and higher efficiencies in cars (especially as people trade their gas guzzlers in the face of higher gas prices) is leaving a gap in revenues to maintain and build roads. This actually is a legitimate concern, imho.
Now, no GPS unit in my car. I definitely agree that reading the odometer somehow is a FAR better solution, because I'd be leary of the government tracking my every move, too...
99% of people who are on the web are NOT security experts. They're also WAY more likely to ignore subtle warnings about the identity of a site being questionable. For the average person (not the average /. subscriber) a subtle warning is completely futile in providing any security at all. The new SSL handling in FF3 is going to help....a LOT, imho.
In the overall scheme of things, which is better:
1) Having Joe User think a website is down where it isn't, which will only happen in a VERY small percentage of cases, or
2) Having Joe User provide his credit card info and SSN to a site he thinks is ok because he doesn't know any better?
One must remember that FF is no longer used only by net-savvy techie guys anymore. It has a WAY broader userbase now, and these changes are going to protect a LOT of people.
SSL without Entity Authentication is of no value.
Yeah, um, THEY KEPT IT A SECRET! Keeping pregnancy a secret = no pre-natal care.
Of course, the died of a broken heart.
Except Lucas DID change the character of The Force in Episode I. He couldn't leave it as a simple mystical power which can be interacted with by the select few. He had to over-explain it, and create the Midichlorian (sp?) explanation. Why? Why couldn't he leave it as purely mystical where your actual ability to make use of it is a function of your FAITH in its existence and its power? You completely destroy the faith-based aspect when you can freaking MEASURE it on a sensor! He couldn't leave people to draw parallels to God or whatever "power larger than self" one might chose to draw parallels to.
I'm going to make my own edited versions when I get the DVD's and edit out all references to midichlorians....
I assure you that, despite what the author implies, there are certainly issues with DSL over on the Yankee side of the pond.
All of this article reads like any of the fiascos that can occur here if a phone # wasn't transfered properly (especially with rental properties, as the author illustrates), if the person who PREVIOUSLY HAD the number you've been given for your new line had DSL and never, officially, had is disconnected, heck, if the freaking install tech hooked your copper up to a DSLAM in the CO instead of the remote he was SUPPOSED to tie to (this happened to me, personally - I screamed at BellSouth people for about 2 weeks before they sent someone competent out, who proceded to fix my issue in about a half hour. Mind you, I used to do DSL installation for a living myself, so this was terribly frustrating. I wound up calling a personal contact within the DSG - the group that the consumer division calls to get lines provisioned - in order to get the situation remedied). If you change your number, they may disconnect your DSL. If you have line trouble, they may disconnect your DSL, and tell you that "I don't see any problem with the DSL" when it hasn't been reconnected. God forbid you have DSL through a reseller, rather than BS FastAccess, and a FA customer needs to get turned on....if they've got a port shortage on the remote, because they WILL forsake you for their "affiliated" ISP (granted, this happened more often early in the days of the remote DSLAMS - when they only had 8 ports). Let there be load coils on your line. My father had to palce a trouble call that his "fax machine wasn't sending faxes properly" to get Bell to do anything about them because they're committed to a QoS for faxing, but they WILL tell you to get lost if you want to get them removed so you can get DSL.
a) BIOS passowrd protection. You can often set it to require the password to boot the PC as well as to change the BIOS settings. Even if it's just for the BIOS settings, you can set first-boot as the hard disk, except if you specifically need to do otherwise temporarily.
b) If you run an encrypted filesystem for secure stuff, they can't see the contents of the drive unless they're running the same program with the same keys.
c) Don't store important crap on your PC. A PDA with a good password is best if you MUST store personal info in electronic form. (Personally, I've got all my important crap in the one computer I can trust...the one between my ears)
Ok. You're gonna bitch about running unsigned software from Firefox, but, yet, run an unsigned ZIP PROGRAM called 7-Zip? Where'd you get this from, eh?
Cnet?
I mean, I've used 7-Zip in the past, but you should at least make an effort, in your column denouncing downloading unsigned software to NOT USE UNSIGNED SOFTWARE!
A suggestion....
Host your own email. I've been hosting my own email for about 4 years now.
Or at least all the ones broadcasting HDTV. XM and Sirius Radio look like good targets, too. Then there's the coming digital FM.
How the hell can they hire enough lawyers to sue all the people that broadcast digitally?
If your theory is correct, then how does the demand change when the number of people able to afford a product goes down?
Say I'm a machinist in a plant which produces cars. I make $40,000/year. I drive a car which was produced by the company I work for, which cost me, say $18,000. When the plant I work in is closed, and I'm making $12,000/year flipping burgers, how can I be expected to make that same $15,000 purchase? I can't, can I? What about the other 1200 people who worked at the plant? Can the worker in El Salvador who replaced me make a purchase of the same value when he's making 10% of what I was? No, because his income won't support that purchase, either.
So, demand for the product of the company who offshored the jobs goes down. This then causes prices to fall, in order to increase the demand again. How does this work in the long run??
Ok, so I misinterpreted the statement when I initially read it. It sounded to me, initially, that they were disributing NMAP with Unixware, which would constitute extra licensing constraints.
What does remain true, is that if SCO is claiming the GPL is invalid, then Fydor would still own the copyright, and would then be able to create it's own licensing scheme. So, within the context of the GPL being invalid, as SCO is so vehemently screaming, a reversion to normal copyright would give Fydor the right to sue SCO for distributing their code without permission (which is granted under the GPL, but wouldn't be granted if the GPL was held to be invalid).
Yeah, more like the vicious litigation business! We can't make money on our code, so let's make money by suing people!
The legal system in the country should be loser-pays, and we'd be a whole lot better off, but that's a whole other rant.
Um...YES they ARE violating the GPL with respect to NMAP. They are DISTRIBUTING NMAP, then tacking on extra licensing restrictions. This is a material violation of the GPL, and therefore, Fydor can rescind SCO's license to distribute their code. It's not a matter of Fydor arbitrarily revoking the license, but rather SCO's violation of the license gives Fydor the RIGHT (in my opinion, the DUTY - because exercising the rights under the GPL helps assure its protections) to rescind the license.
Read the fine print.
I've got a user on this service, and its been a nightmare (I'm a network admin, and have 10 remote users connected over VPN to the office). If you EVER need to upload anything, you may as well dial up. When dealing with their support, I was told that a 40Kbps upload speed is within their spec, and so they wouldn't work with me to improve it at all. This becomes an issue when you need to send emails with attachments (or connect to an Exchange server, as was the case for me until I gave up and mover her to a pop3 configuration in Outlook), or any other data you might need to send. I've had a ton of issues supporting this user, and by contrast, my one user who is on dial-up is nearly problem-free. Here's hoping this WiMax stuff catches on
As far as I can tell, the GPL is really an avenue for a developer to contribute to the community while still KEEPING his rights to the code he produced. Is this not a valid conclusion? It seems the GPL still protects the copyrights of the developers to the code they produce. In fact, the fact that the GPL demands that the code to anything released thereunder be distributed prevents someone from using someone else's code without it being known.
From the GPL:
"1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty;
2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
stating that you changed the files and the date of any change. "
So if I develop a piece of software, I can decide to GPL it, and allow other to see the code, use it in their own efforts, or improve upon it. I can also decide to use some other license, if I don't want these things to occur. Shouldn't this be my own choice?
Let's just get something straight... .Net is NOT a standard. It's MICROSOFT'S standard, but this does NOT make it a standard as far as the rest of us are concerned. However, the only reason it has become as widely used as it has, is because M$ owns so much of the market share, that other options (Better options, perhaps) like Java are locked out of actually being able to compete.
I can point to two examples right offhand which operate significantly more efficiently than their M$ counterparts...Linux and MacOS. Yes, both have a GUI. Mac INVENTED windowing systems as we know them. Microsoft can still learn a LOT from Macs - stability, efficiency, usability. Linux is gaining fast, and with Suse being bought by Novel, Linux is poised to make large strides toward being a genuine player...if you don't already count Lindows and the like. Win2K (sorry, I haven't got the patience to deal with XP) is still a marginal OS, given the sheer numbers of patches which are released, which often break other software.
Mostly, my point is that Microsoft can basically do whatever they want, and force users to comply because they have an illegal monopoly (which has been proven in court - the punishments, however were completely bogus. Compare Microsoft to Ma Bell 20 years ago, and then look at what happened to them after they were found to be a monopoly and you'll see what I mean) and it is difficult for the average user to gain experience with anything else, even if it is better.
What I'm saying is that the more pieces of the pie that M$ has a stake in, the more we're going to see places where there aren't any choices but M$ products. If they get Sparkle, and run Macromedia out of business, then they will have another software capability in which they have a monopoly. The further and further this is allowed to go, there will be no choice for the other software guys but to give up. there will then be NO competition to keep them incheck and competitive at all, and so we'll never have the kinds of open systems which the Internet was created for. M$ will control every aspect of computing, including the production and delivery of the content. How the hell is that free and open?
Ok, so, you're saying Microsoft can make something better?
First, they'll publish it, despite 60,000 known bugs in the code.
It will take 50% more processing power to run the Sparkle player than it does to run Flash apps.
Then, we'll have to patch this software once a week in addition to the patches we already have to apply for Win2k, IE, Media Player, etc. If we don't, we'll get some uber virus that's transmitted though Sparkle which will cause our PC's to indiscriminately shutdown or delete the 600-page thesis we were working on for our Doctorate in Psychology.
Then, they'll come out with "Sparkle Player 2010" and we'll all have to purchase Longhorn20150 at $300 in order to get the new player, because there won't be any support for the old version anymore, because M$ will own majority stake in all of the people producing web content, and will force them to change their apps to only be compatible with the new version.
Nobody running anything other than Longhorn and IE9.0 and Sparkle will be able to actually view web pages, because M$ won't relase Linux, Mac or Netscape/Mozilla/Opera versions of the sotfware - even for money. And anyone who tries to create a version for these will be summarily executed by President Gates - or at least have their Internet connections terminated.
Thanks! Finally found a mirror that's not just a link back to ftp.mozilla.org that has a copy of Thunderbird. I havent' been able to get a complete download of any of them (Moz 1.5, FB 0.7 or TB 0.3) from mozilla.org. Weird...
Ok, but just the titles...
AdAware
GAIM (GPL'd IM - Trillian hogs resources)
cDex (cd ripping)
Gimp (image Creation/editing)
Iview (simple image viewer)
OpenOffice (you already know this one)
Pegasus Mail (Used is a lot too, before I really started using Thunderbird. Awesome mail client!)
Really, it's hard to pinpoint withoug knowing what you're going to be using it for, however, for basic needs, I utilize the following (win32. I have a pair of RH boxes, but they are both servers without KDE/Gnome, so I don't use Linux desktops much):
/. my own site. It's just a little 486 box on a DSL connection!
Mozilla 1.4
(The whole suite) mail/browser with additional functionlity provided by a couple of plugins (EasySearch bar, Optimoz Mouse Gestures and the Calendar). Been playing with Firebird/Thunderbird, but thunderbird has a bit to go before it's up to the level ot the regular Mozilla mail client.
AntiVIR free Antivirus.
Updates every 2 weeks (or more if you're paranoid). Used AVG (Grisoft's product) for a while, but had issues with its W2k/XP compatibility. That was over a year ago, however.
EnZip Freeware Zip Utility
Explorer-like interface, with shell extensions and all. No nag screens!
FileZillaOpen-source FTP utility
Includes queuing and scheduling functions. Better than WsFTP lite.
Putty freeware SSH client
Nuf said!
iXplorer Freeware secure FTP client
Transfer files over SSH connections. Useful for transferring files to/from Linux hosts without opening up FTP.
WinAmp free Multimedia Player
With some plugins, can play almost any type of media file.
There's more, but I'm not going to list everything I use. Normally I'd just send you to my website, but I'm not going to
The difference is thet the press is supposed to be protected by the first amendment. This is supposed to guarantee the protection of anonymous sources, and is essential to keeping the press free. If people fear speaking to the press because they might get arrested for it, the nation falls apart, for lack of a public venue for the expression of ideas outside the mainstream (read: contrary to the opinion of the government).
Darryl's gun shop on the corner is guaranteed no such protection, and, in fact, is bound by other laws which command that firearms be registered, and not to certain classes of convicted criminals. If Darryl refuses to keep records, and continues to sell guns, he will face criminal charges.
This IS a blatant abuse of journalists' rights which could ONLY occurr under the new powers granted by the USA PATRIOT Act (to quell the frustration of another poster).
Most of us are too young to actually remember first-hand where this country went during the McCarthy years, but some of us take the time to look into what's going on, and what happened in the past. McCarthy basically abused his powers to conduct his witch-hunt of "communist sympathizers" and if he said you were a "communist sympathizer," you were one, period. The Congress then tightened the reigns on the powers allowed such investigators, and put judicial review into effect as a check to prevent these abuses from occurring again.
Now Ashcroft, under the guise of "patriotism" (just like McCarthy) took advantage of the great national tragedy of our time, and got his act pushed through, which allowed the DOJ pwoers similar to those which existed during McCarthy's era. Now, instead of "communists," the word "terrorist" is the term. And if the DOJ wants to call you a "terrorist" or a "supporter of terrorism," you can do nothing to prove to anyone that you aren't, as you'll be unable to ask for legal assistance, held for as long as they decide they want to, without even being told why you're bing held. Just like McCarthy. Witch-hunts all over again.
Except, you forget. Rush and his ilk (read: Sean Hannity) are all for the Patriot Act, completely ignoring all information to the contrary....
Screw that! The Internet in and of itself may be free, but BANDWIDTH is not. DISK SPACE isn't. SERVERS aren't. GUYS TO RUN THE SEVERS aren't (though recently, with the economy and offshoring putting lots of us out of work, we are getting cheaper and cheaper...).
I shouldn't have to pay for someone else making money off the services I'm paying for - either being the hosting company paying for my bandwidth and gear to support the traffic generated by these bozo's, or being the customer of the hosting company and losing business to MY site because some bozo, whom I have never known, who happens to also buy hosting at the hosting company, hires some crazy bastards to monitor their website and crashes the server (not to mention paying for resources dedicated to dealing with SPAM, but that's another topic I've already ranted about).
I'm not saying that the content of sites, or emails, or chats, or IM's should be restricted, but when YOUR free speech takes money out of MY pockets, you should expect to be presented with a smart right-hook, or to at least compensate me for my lost money and to keep youy hands out of my wallet!
To me, with the sweeping attacks leveled against our civil rights/liberties by John Ashcroft, the terrorists which changed the world on 9/11 have gotten EXACTLY what they were looking for. These guys hate us for the freedoms which we have fought for and which we hold most dear. They have succeeded (and are more and more successful the longer Ashcroft is in office) in depriving us of them. How can we continue to fight against terrorism in the global community without first ridding ourselves of the scourge of terrorism which is John Ascroft.
If you think it's scary to have a minute group of dissidents plotting against us, imagine how scary it will be when the government starts doing it.
Many of the sweeping powers the government had during the McCarthy era were changed for the express purpose of eliminating the possibility of the abuses we saw then recurring. These are the very same powers the DOJ seeks to reestablish.
The administration ABUSED the public sentiment immediately following 9/11 to get this lesislation passed without much, if any, scrutiny.
Where is the line??
I mean we let people from all over come here and work. Ummmmm, except we don't.
u rJ ob.htm- 10-03.htm
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Um, YES we do!
The H-1 and L-1 Visa programs were invented specifically for this reason. In the US, we have no standard like those I've read about in Australia and elsewhere. Well, we have some regulations, but recently they've gone completely unenforced. If a company in this country can hire someone from overseas to do a job for which they're currently paying an American worker, and pay that worker half or less what the American makes, the company is under no pressure not to hire the foreign worker. It's happening for real. In the REAL world.
http://www.rescueamericanjobs.org/
http://www.local6.com/money/2381343/detail.html
http://www.thenetworkadministrator.com/LosingYo
http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2003/L1_bill_7
Further, US jobs now are being sent TO other countries. By some estimates, 2 million plus jobs in the next few years. Than't a HUGE chunk of the IT sector.
http://www.cio.com/archive/090103/backlash.html (accoring to this article, the number is like 10% of IT jobs)
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/947478.asp?cp1=1
http://www.techsunite.org/news/techind/030722_ibm
http://comment.cio.com/comments/13404.html
The reason this is a story here, is because a good number of us work in the IT sector. This has HUGE implications for us.
Consider the fact that many colleges around the nation are scaling back IT programs (my stepmother teaches various IT classes at a local college) and thike about what that means for those of us who spent money on educations or who have been relying on our IT experience as means to acquire jobs.
The economy and job prospects have been bad enough just dealing with the economic slowdown without having to deal with the jobs that are still there going away from the US (I know, I was unemployed for the greater portion of 2002, and I'm only employed now because I new the guy who ran the IT department for the company I work for now).
In many countries in the EU and also in Australia, they cannot hire a non-citizen unless they CANNOT find a qualified candidate who IS a citizen. The US government needs to step up and implement some similar legislation. Even if you think about this from a lawmakers perspective, an American who makes $50,000 a year pays a whole lot more than an unemployed American and the foreigner who takes his job for $30,000. They'll see a WHOLE LOT less than that from the unemployed American and the job that's no longer in the US! Even the companies that do use outsourcing are killing their own market. How many computers or programs or Coke ayr you going to buy when you're unemployed, and can the foreigner who's making half of what you were making pick up the slack? I don't think so...
Anyway, I'm done...