I think this is a very good idea. Most techies think this is a battle of intellectual property, but in reality it is a PR/marketing-hype battle. The tech community should have more efforts like this to educate people so they understand the issues and are not misled by the legal meandering.
It doesn't really matter. Content-filtering based spam controls will never, ever be effective, because as soon as someone figures out a way to circumvent the spam filter, the spam filters get updated. It's a never-ending cycle, and AT&T can create all the goofball patents they want.
Relay blacklisting is still the most effective method of controlling spam. The more blacklisting that occurs, the more spammers are forced to congregate in smaller areas of the net and be more ethical in their practices.
Well, at least they didn't pull a "Network Solutions" and respond with, "Our customers are very excited about the 'new features' of our latest product. We've heard no complaints."
We need to get up in arms. If we do not defend the value of Open Source software, we will get railroaded. The story might be one big flamebait, but in a larger sense, these issues are important and being silent while other people make ignorant and inaccurate generalizations will hurt the Open Source movement, which needs as much credibility as possible to thwart the throngs of corporate interests desperately trying to dominate the market with inferior technology.
This is the alluring pitch of open source software. We may have to give up project planning, quality control, coding standards, accountability, version control, and support, but it's FREE and we get the ability to modify the source code ourselves, something that is extremely dangerous to do, was discredited decades ago, and few people do anyway.
This is obviously pro-Microsoft propaganda. I cannot see how anyone who has done their research can make such mindless exaggerations.
Pesudo-authoritative spin like this is part of the new marketing model where products are sold like politicians get votes: disparage your opponent rather than address the issues. Because if we actually raise the issues, one might find that Open Source products are often better-supported, more-reliable, more secure, and more cost-effective.
What makes you think that the big boy defense contractors aren't the ones ultimately running this show? You can bet the whole event is a big R&D bonanza for companies like Lockheed, which will basically be all over the place cherry-picking the best designs and people.
Does anyone know if there is a list and description of the various services that run under Windows and their function? Many applications install services that are ambiguous and it would be helpful to be able to weed out the unnecessary services to improve performance and security.
As an ex-senior guide from Everquest, I'd like to add a few things to the discussion. The lion's share of online "helpers" are often volunteers; players like everyone else, that often field abuse from frustrated players. We ourselves are just as frustrated, but we just can't show it (hopefully).
I agree with much that has been said on the issue, though I think Everquest is far and away the best and most successful MMORPG. Star Wars Galaxies turned out to be hugely anticlimactic. What makes EQ work are IMO, the core of solid low and mid-level people involved. The problem with most of the user's gripes are related to issues beyond the control of those who really have the ideas and the willingness to make the game more enjoyable.
A good example of this is with real-time GM events. As quest coordinator for my server, I pushed very hard to add more dynamic, interesting content to Everquest. But we were very limited to certain confines as far as what quests we could run, and most importantly, limited to very substandard rewards that could be given away. As a result of the mediocre rewards, many players would groan at the discovery of a GM event because they knew it would not be worth it.
This frustrated the GMs even more than the players, and resulted in morale loss across the board, as well as less enthusiasm to run events, which is why you don't see many, and when you do, they're lame. There's nothing more disappointing than participating in an event and getting a reward that you would sell to a merchant rather than use. But we couldn't do anything about it.
To make matters worse, most volunteer GMs share all the same frustrations, but are afraid to publicly voice much opposition, even among their peers for fear of being excommunicated from the privileged fold. As a result, things don't change much.
Does anyone have a good list of verified open proxies? DSL and Cable connections that should not be running SMTP traffic? This seems to be the main source of Spam.
Slashdot Mirror
Amen!
I think this is a very good idea. Most techies think this is a battle of intellectual property, but in reality it is a PR/marketing-hype battle. The tech community should have more efforts like this to educate people so they understand the issues and are not misled by the legal meandering.
It doesn't really matter. Content-filtering based spam controls will never, ever be effective, because as soon as someone figures out a way to circumvent the spam filter, the spam filters get updated. It's a never-ending cycle, and AT&T can create all the goofball patents they want. Relay blacklisting is still the most effective method of controlling spam. The more blacklisting that occurs, the more spammers are forced to congregate in smaller areas of the net and be more ethical in their practices.
Free Bobby McFerin downloads with each Happy Meal!
Well, at least they didn't pull a "Network Solutions" and respond with, "Our customers are very excited about the 'new features' of our latest product. We've heard no complaints."
Does this mean that telemarketers are going to interrupt my Tetris game?
We need to get up in arms. If we do not defend the value of Open Source software, we will get railroaded. The story might be one big flamebait, but in a larger sense, these issues are important and being silent while other people make ignorant and inaccurate generalizations will hurt the Open Source movement, which needs as much credibility as possible to thwart the throngs of corporate interests desperately trying to dominate the market with inferior technology.
This is obviously pro-Microsoft propaganda. I cannot see how anyone who has done their research can make such mindless exaggerations.
Pesudo-authoritative spin like this is part of the new marketing model where products are sold like politicians get votes: disparage your opponent rather than address the issues. Because if we actually raise the issues, one might find that Open Source products are often better-supported, more-reliable, more secure, and more cost-effective.
What makes you think that the big boy defense contractors aren't the ones ultimately running this show? You can bet the whole event is a big R&D bonanza for companies like Lockheed, which will basically be all over the place cherry-picking the best designs and people.
This brings up an even more important issue.
Does anyone know if there is a list and description of the various services that run under Windows and their function? Many applications install services that are ambiguous and it would be helpful to be able to weed out the unnecessary services to improve performance and security.
As an ex-senior guide from Everquest, I'd like to add a few things to the discussion. The lion's share of online "helpers" are often volunteers; players like everyone else, that often field abuse from frustrated players. We ourselves are just as frustrated, but we just can't show it (hopefully).
I agree with much that has been said on the issue, though I think Everquest is far and away the best and most successful MMORPG. Star Wars Galaxies turned out to be hugely anticlimactic. What makes EQ work are IMO, the core of solid low and mid-level people involved. The problem with most of the user's gripes are related to issues beyond the control of those who really have the ideas and the willingness to make the game more enjoyable.
A good example of this is with real-time GM events. As quest coordinator for my server, I pushed very hard to add more dynamic, interesting content to Everquest. But we were very limited to certain confines as far as what quests we could run, and most importantly, limited to very substandard rewards that could be given away. As a result of the mediocre rewards, many players would groan at the discovery of a GM event because they knew it would not be worth it.
This frustrated the GMs even more than the players, and resulted in morale loss across the board, as well as less enthusiasm to run events, which is why you don't see many, and when you do, they're lame. There's nothing more disappointing than participating in an event and getting a reward that you would sell to a merchant rather than use. But we couldn't do anything about it.
To make matters worse, most volunteer GMs share all the same frustrations, but are afraid to publicly voice much opposition, even among their peers for fear of being excommunicated from the privileged fold. As a result, things don't change much.
Does anyone have a good list of verified open proxies? DSL and Cable connections that should not be running SMTP traffic? This seems to be the main source of Spam.