Seriously, I dislike spammers as much as the next guy, but immediately saying this is the work of a spammer is stretching it just a bit. For all we know the person behind the worm has nothing to do with spam.
In lectures and in a September 2001 article in Scientific American, Smalley outlined his scientific objections to the idea of molecular assemblers, specifically what he called the "fat fingers problem" and the "sticky fingers problem."
Aye, this is something that almost all/.ers have had to face at one point or another.
If, in the future, copying physical objects is nearly as easy as copying information on a computer, will corporations lobby to pass laws that make it illegal to do so? In other words, will I be arrested one day for making a copy of my friend's Ferrari?
Under changes to its Acceptable Use Policy, BigPond will investigate cable and ADSL Internet customers sending more than 20 e-mails in a 10-minute period, and BigPond management "may suspend the (user's) account while the customer is contacted" if they are suspected of sending spam.
It doesn't say anywhere they they will suspend your account if you simply send 20 emails in 10 minutes. All it says is they may investigate users who do, and may suspend their account upon further investigation. I really don't see a huge deal with this, and there isn't any plausible reason to get angry with this policy if it is followed properly.
OK, this spyware thing is just one example. The fact is that Dell has just lost touch with their home user customer base. One thing I've learned from working with Dell for the past few years is that they don't give a flip about the home users... But then again, why should they? They make money off corporate/government contracts, not supporting grannies who don't know where the any key is.
After having such good experiences with Dell in the Office, we started recommending people buy Dell for their home, too. Oh boy BIG mistake. The hardware is substandard, just about every default installation is munged somehow or another, and the things generally stop working within a year. *NO ONE* I know has gotten a good Dell home PC recently. Meanwhile we noticed a definite decrease in quality of customer support in the past year...
Me: Here's an article from Adobe that says there's a known issue between this motherboard and Adobe Acrobate 5.5, what's the solution? Faceless E-mail Tech: Here's an article on how to troubleshoot Windows 2000 startup problems. Me: Argh!
Ad infinitum.
On that note, is there any big name manufacturer that still makes/supports good home machines? People always ask me recommendations but I'm out of them, other than "Just buy a Mac".
I sure can "blame" them. They seem to be the only computer company doing this, and who knows if they even install spyware on their computers at the factory. At the very least, they need to realize that spyware can seriously cripple computers, and is just as important an issue as hardware failures or driver problems.
This is similar to the current situation with Quicktime, Real and WMV playback on Linux - there is a technical solution, but it is illegal. Unfortunately, it is doubtful that the companies developing these secret formats will ever port to Linux, and even less likely that they will make them open source.
Have a look at the Gnome Meeting webpage; there are many more screenshots there with some preferences and other parts of the app shown that don't appear in the OSNews article.
-- Steve
Overall, Gnomemeeting is one of the very interesting Linux/Unix apps for video-conferencing and while there are still problems here and there it is a sexy and fun app to run. It is not as polished usability-wise as the iSight/iChat combo, but it does the job. Get a supported cheap web camera if you already don't have one (you don't really need the latest and the greatest) and come join the *nix geeks online! You never know, you might meet the love of your life over there (well, it was IRC for me back in the day, but technology progresses, now you will be able to see to whom you are talking to;-).
Slashdot Mirror
Here
The link in the slashdot story just seems to point back to the slashdot itself.
Seriously, I dislike spammers as much as the next guy, but immediately saying this is the work of a spammer is stretching it just a bit. For all we know the person behind the worm has nothing to do with spam.
In lectures and in a September 2001 article in Scientific American, Smalley outlined his scientific objections to the idea of molecular assemblers, specifically what he called the "fat fingers problem" and the "sticky fingers problem."
/.ers have had to face at one point or another.
Aye, this is something that almost all
If, in the future, copying physical objects is nearly as easy as copying information on a computer, will corporations lobby to pass laws that make it illegal to do so? In other words, will I be arrested one day for making a copy of my friend's Ferrari?
Quote:
Under changes to its Acceptable Use Policy, BigPond will investigate cable and ADSL Internet customers sending more than 20 e-mails in a 10-minute period, and BigPond management "may suspend the (user's) account while the customer is contacted" if they are suspected of sending spam.
It doesn't say anywhere they they will suspend your account if you simply send 20 emails in 10 minutes. All it says is they may investigate users who do, and may suspend their account upon further investigation. I really don't see a huge deal with this, and there isn't any plausible reason to get angry with this policy if it is followed properly.
OK, this spyware thing is just one example. The fact is that Dell has just lost touch with their home user customer base. One thing I've learned from working with Dell for the past few years is that they don't give a flip about the home users... But then again, why should they? They make money off corporate/government contracts, not supporting grannies who don't know where the any key is.
After having such good experiences with Dell in the Office, we started recommending people buy Dell for their home, too. Oh boy BIG mistake. The hardware is substandard, just about every default installation is munged somehow or another, and the things generally stop working within a year. *NO ONE* I know has gotten a good Dell home PC recently. Meanwhile we noticed a definite decrease in quality of customer support in the past year...
Me: Here's an article from Adobe that says there's a known issue between this motherboard and Adobe Acrobate 5.5, what's the solution?
Faceless E-mail Tech: Here's an article on how to troubleshoot Windows 2000 startup problems.
Me: Argh!
Ad infinitum.
On that note, is there any big name manufacturer that still makes/supports good home machines? People always ask me recommendations but I'm out of them, other than "Just buy a Mac".
I sure can "blame" them. They seem to be the only computer company doing this, and who knows if they even install spyware on their computers at the factory. At the very least, they need to realize that spyware can seriously cripple computers, and is just as important an issue as hardware failures or driver problems.
HP
IBM
Compaq
Alienware
Gateway
Build your own
We have choices, after all.
But an obvious solution, I guess, is simply to not recommend Dell to your friends and family. Not that I ever did in the first place.
Maybe, but it's perfect for Spider Man's new car!
Soon we will hear the deep voice of Darth Vader saying "I find your lack of bandwidth disturbing..."
Why did I think of that? I dunno, maybe it's because the car looks kinda like Darth's friggen head..
Try toothpicks.
There are no more angels willing to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sure, if by angels you mean idiots.
This is similar to the current situation with Quicktime, Real and WMV playback on Linux - there is a technical solution, but it is illegal. Unfortunately, it is doubtful that the companies developing these secret formats will ever port to Linux, and even less likely that they will make them open source.
Surely it is illegal to copy the ntfs.sys driver and distribute it in another operating system, seeing as how it is a part of Windows.
Have a look at the Gnome Meeting webpage; there are many more screenshots there with some preferences and other parts of the app shown that don't appear in the OSNews article. -- Steve
Overall, Gnomemeeting is one of the very interesting Linux/Unix apps for video-conferencing and while there are still problems here and there it is a sexy and fun app to run. It is not as polished usability-wise as the iSight/iChat combo, but it does the job. Get a supported cheap web camera if you already don't have one (you don't really need the latest and the greatest) and come join the *nix geeks online! You never know, you might meet the love of your life over there (well, it was IRC for me back in the day, but technology progresses, now you will be able to see to whom you are talking to ;-).