Hey, it worked for Quake et al. Being hackable ain't that bad, as long as you can still make money.
MS doesn't care how you connect X-boxes, they want you to buy games.
True, this will take away from the "XMSN" service, but not everyone will use that anyway. Some technically savy people scream and run when they see MSN anywhere because of the requirements of Passport.
As far as MS is concerned, this is win-win. If anything, it will increase online games' popularity (with consoles) and drive the less technically savy people to XMSN.
That would make the shortform for ternary digits TITS.
Which would then lead to TYTES, KILOTYTES, MEGATYTES, etc...
Of course, it would be better to have something that doesn't sound so alike... bit-tit, byte-tyte...
how about TET and TEET? TEET being the single ternary digit and TET being a logical grouping 3^3=27 TEETS?? The only logic there being that it's easier to say MEGATET than MEGATEET... and MEGATEETS sound silly.;)
True the new ones have advantages. Napster also had a few:
dead easy to use
lots of files at its peak
wasn't decentralized, so searches were quick
you could browse a user's files (which I used to get whole albums - very handy)
Besides that, I didn't say that FT wouldn't be popular, I'm saying that because people were 'forced' to use it because Napster (as we knew it) went the way of the dodo, it became more popular.
If Napster was still around, the average Joe User would still be using it for music because they already know it and they see no reason to change. Those of us on the bleeding edge would probably use both. Joe User tends not to have two things that will both find music.
People searching for video weren't using Napster for that anyway.
Also, it is fair to say that Napster would have incorporated multi-source downloading technology into their system if they were still around today. True it's copying, but it only makes good sense - it's a really good idea.
And it's also just a matter of time before a newer, better system comes along and takes over in the quashed system's place.
Would GNUtella (an arguably superior technology compared to Napster) or Kazaa be as popular as they are if Napster was still around? Maybe, but I doubt it.
If anything the RIAA is doing us a favour by spurning innovation in peer to peer technology. Geez I love irony.
So the usership is growing huge and by that measure they successful, but what about their profitability?
And what is the business model for these services? How do the providers make money at this? User fees or what?
I know that Kazaa currently uses pop-under advertising. I get a page or two sneaking under my apps every so often.
But here's a question: What makes you think these services need to profitable?. A service like Gnutella is decentralized. It's not as if they need to operate bandwidth intensive servers (besides the web servers to distribute the software - but even that can be done by other parties, like download.com, etc).
Some people aren't motivated by greed. The original programmer of Napster wasn't thinking of money - he just wanted to share files. Gnutella was founded on the principle of an open decentralized protocol that, as a nice side effect, doesn't need money to run well.
It's true that programmers are writing this code and probably aren't getting paid. However, they have different motivations for bringing this software to the world. Money is lower on their priority list.
I think it should be pointed out (to people who don't know), that Kazaa uses multi-source segmented downloading.
Even though the system was most likely designed to allow for multiple source downloading, another good side effect is that only the speed of the download is effected when you lose a server. Then you can just 'search' for more sources and keep going...
... this is the kind of technology that was needed to bring movie downloading to home broadband. Too bad the MPAA would rather bitch about it than capitalize on this tech.
I'm suprised no one has mentioned co-op programs yet.
I've been in co-op in two different engineering programs (yes, I made a switch too) and it's been a great way to learn how to apply some of the stuff you learn in school and get great work experience.
Also, it's sweet only having school for 4 months at a time... a lot less likely that you'll become sick of it in the middle of a long school year.
So consider CO-OP programs - you'll get a better idea of what the real world is like in your field.
I was told directly that the use of free software development tools would thwart SAP participation due to the lack of a liability structure.
I've heard the same said about Microsoft.
Isn't it ironic that these companies claim that open source software's disadvantage is that 'no one is held accountable' YET the first thing you do when you agree to a simple software license is agree that 'this company shall not be held responsible for any damages caused by this software, (etc)'?
Oh, and hypocrytical as well.
Software "liability" is a myth perpetuated by the big boys to make tech-clueless suits nervous of open source software.
You'd think after all of these Outlook/IIS virii people (and lawyers) would point this out to their executives!
Next week version 2 of this doc will be put on the Net after the author has a chance to read Slashdot and incorporate all of the corrections (read: criticisms) we are posting here.
Maybe I'll just save some time and frustration by skipping this one and reading the next version.:)
why would someone want to maintain an old kernel? It sounds boring to me... Adding new features should be more engaging then fixing bugs and pleasing users.
Ah, but you are forgetting that more people actually use the stable 2.4 kernel as part of many many distributions. Having the responsibility of maintaining this very important (and mission critical in many cases) kernel is right on par with making the next version. It's just a different kind of responsibility.
They (MusicNet) could just run the servers in the US and accept credit cards. Granted the service might be slower, but I'm pretty happy with the services that aren't in Europe.
I think given the current connectivity and reliability of the Internet, this is a moot point. Like you said, you're happy with non-local (national) services. In fact, when I was in France this past summer, many sites in North America were faster than French sites presumably because they use better technology and thus have greater capacity, even across the Atlantic.
I think what the EU is proposing is a ban on sites outside and inside of the EU. Sites outside of the EU will be filtered out at ISPs by new legislation created by the EU and sites inside the EU will be forbidden to exist. Also, hardware technology needed to play the new 'digitally secure' music will be forbidden from the EU. Done. Some people may circumvent this, but not enough for the EU to worry.
Personally, I think the whole digital music thing is laughable. I'd like to go back to the early 1980's and listen in on meetings with tech guys saying "There's no way people will be able to store whole albums on their hard drives! We don't need to protect the data."... talk about letting the cat out of the bag.
... and now the RIAA is running around trying to bag the cat, dye it's hair and let it free again - all by themselves. Good luck!
Shit, if you are getting a 100 Gig drive, why not just screw the lossy compression and just save the wave files? 100 gigs should hold 150 cds in wave format.
.... and while you're at it, why not increase your browser cache to 10GB so you can keep every web page you visit back a whole year??
The Answer: Because you don't NEED to store information you'll never use (or will never hear). That's the whole point of compression.
Also, it should be pointed out that 150 CDs is a fairly small collection, especially when singles are taken into account on top of that.
Man when bored journalists with deadlines write shitty pieces I don't get upset, I know a job is a job. But responding/reacting to it is just plain stupid.
I think that baseball and football are really boring (too much waiting, unlike hockey or motorsports)
You don't have to wait in motorsports? You have wait for the race to end!! True the cars are going really really fast, but relative to each other they aren't - and they are just going around in circles! (a circuit)
I can see your argument with baseball and football, but motorsports go right in there. Instead of waiting between plays listening to yacky sportscasters, you're waiting between crashes watching cars going around in a circle. Maybe I just don't "get it".
Of course millions of people watch baseball, football AND motorsports. Go figure.
Maybe one day millions of people will watch first-person shooters too.
Is this Hemos finally responding to this? Geez, took him long enough.:)
Re:Code red growth spurts
on
Code Redux
·
· Score: 2
A good portion of them have probably been unattatched to the network, or will be brand new machines just for school.
This may be insightful, but how many of these people will ACTUALLY be running a vulnerable web server? Only those that have installed IIS with Windows 2000! I am willing to bet that this number is negligable among college students, especially those with new computers. Those computers will most likely be running ME, which is less expensive and is more suitable for home/student use.
Those students running Win9x or ME are NOT VULNERABLE from Code Red or CR II and those running NT4 are NOT VULNERABLE from Code Read II. This kind of FUD is what makes people panic. We don't need it in the news and we especially don't need it on Slashdot.
Even though I give him shit for not taking the time to support a still prominent browser (ns 4.x), I applaud him for not putting a big "you suck, get a new browser and use windows and ie" sign up for all non ie5 users.
I have this exact message on my blog. Do you know why? Because the W3C published the HTML4 and CSS1 standards EONS ago!
The only reason why people don't bother to update their browsers is because no one is making them! If sites continue to support NS4, people will continue using it - and that makes the standards that were developed by the W3C absolutely useless.
So stop whining about 'lack of NS4' support and get a modern standards compliant browser!
</rant>
*grin*
PS> I'm not usually like this, but the 'web platform' sucks. We need to fix its current state of stagnation. Let's go!
As a (curious) sysadmin I wouldn't mind reading a post mortem like what the/. crew did a few weeks ago. I think MS is missing out on a lot of brownie points by not publishing a blow by blow summary of how an enterprise goes about troubleshooting/fixing a system like that. It would be possible to do something like that w/o disclosing sensitive information. Like I said, wishfull thinking.
... unless they are bullshitting *cough*Marketing*cough* the whole thing. Never underestimate Microsoft - you do so at your own peril.
Sure you only have to call in to get a new id when you install three or more items, but what does this say about Microsoft's bet on the stability/longevity of XP? Is Microsoft betting that most people won't have to replace/re-install XP before they replace hardware (in which case they'll have to call anyway)? Or they'll just wait until Windows 2005 comes out while their fragmented hard disk slugs around? Come on...
<troll-material>If Win98 is an indication, the 32-bit (kinda) MS OSes benefitted from a re-install every year or so</troll-material>. If I had XP the last two years, I would have had to call them 3 times already!
But seriously, is the amount of Microsoft investing in over-friendly tech support people that dole out ids going to be worth it for all of this hassel to them and consumers? I could see the XP reg. tech. support staff getting quite large...
I think people really are missing this point.
It's the same with the Comet cursor and Amazon monitoring where you go. Who cares if you can't tell who's who and it's not a privacy issue. IT IS a privacy issue for the GROUP of us users as a whole - and I don't think Microsoft has a right to know what hardware we have just because we use XP.
My step-daughter is almost 11 and, though she's only with her mother and me every other weekendBy my standards this would qualify as a total wreck of a family, and accessibility of the Internet would be the least problem for the daughter.
Then again, I am not American.
What an interesting, ignorant thing to say, you Non-American, you.
Being a Canadian and the son of divorced parents, I know that divorces are quite common in North America. When a couple gets divorced (and this has been going on for quite a while) usually one parent gets custody of the kids and the other parent gets visitation rights. All of that is decided in family court. It sounds to me as though the guy asking the/. question gets to see his step-daughter every two weeks (which is also typical). There is also joint custody where the child bounces back and forth, spending equal time with both parents - which I can imagine is probably not very good for the child.
So now is the time to take your Non-American foot out of your Non-American mouth and WAKE UP. Divorces are bound to be more common in the future wherever you are too!
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, it worked for Quake et al. Being hackable ain't that bad, as long as you can still make money.
MS doesn't care how you connect X-boxes, they want you to buy games.
True, this will take away from the "XMSN" service, but not everyone will use that anyway. Some technically savy people scream and run when they see MSN anywhere because of the requirements of Passport.
As far as MS is concerned, this is win-win. If anything, it will increase online games' popularity (with consoles) and drive the less technically savy people to XMSN.
Is it work hacking? Heck yeah, because it's THERE. Oh, and the fact that it's MS helps too.
Hacking into something that may not be practical hasn't stopped hackers, and I hope it never does.
If a Bit is short for Binary Digit...
...
... bit-tit, byte-tyte ...
... and MEGATEETS sound silly. ;)
Actually, 'bit' is short for binary digit.
That would make the shortform for ternary digits TITS.
Which would then lead to TYTES, KILOTYTES, MEGATYTES, etc
Of course, it would be better to have something that doesn't sound so alike
how about TET and TEET? TEET being the single ternary digit and TET being a logical grouping 3^3=27 TEETS?? The only logic there being that it's easier to say MEGATET than MEGATEET
Besides that, I didn't say that FT wouldn't be popular, I'm saying that because people were 'forced' to use it because Napster (as we knew it) went the way of the dodo, it became more popular.
If Napster was still around, the average Joe User would still be using it for music because they already know it and they see no reason to change. Those of us on the bleeding edge would probably use both. Joe User tends not to have two things that will both find music.
People searching for video weren't using Napster for that anyway.
Also, it is fair to say that Napster would have incorporated multi-source downloading technology into their system if they were still around today. True it's copying, but it only makes good sense - it's a really good idea.
..until they are killed by legal actions.
And it's also just a matter of time before a newer, better system comes along and takes over in the quashed system's place.
Would GNUtella (an arguably superior technology compared to Napster) or Kazaa be as popular as they are if Napster was still around? Maybe, but I doubt it.
If anything the RIAA is doing us a favour by spurning innovation in peer to peer technology. Geez I love irony.
Morpheus, Grokster, and Kazaa ...
So the usership is growing huge and by that measure they successful, but what about their profitability?
And what is the business model for these services? How do the providers make money at this? User fees or what?
I know that Kazaa currently uses pop-under advertising. I get a page or two sneaking under my apps every so often.
But here's a question: What makes you think these services need to profitable?. A service like Gnutella is decentralized. It's not as if they need to operate bandwidth intensive servers (besides the web servers to distribute the software - but even that can be done by other parties, like download.com, etc).
Some people aren't motivated by greed. The original programmer of Napster wasn't thinking of money - he just wanted to share files. Gnutella was founded on the principle of an open decentralized protocol that, as a nice side effect, doesn't need money to run well.
It's true that programmers are writing this code and probably aren't getting paid. However, they have different motivations for bringing this software to the world. Money is lower on their priority list.
Maybe it should be lower on yours, too.
I think it should be pointed out (to people who don't know), that Kazaa uses multi-source segmented downloading.
...
Even though the system was most likely designed to allow for multiple source downloading, another good side effect is that only the speed of the download is effected when you lose a server. Then you can just 'search' for more sources and keep going
... this is the kind of technology that was needed to bring movie downloading to home broadband. Too bad the MPAA would rather bitch about it than capitalize on this tech.
I'm suprised no one has mentioned co-op programs yet.
... a lot less likely that you'll become sick of it in the middle of a long school year.
I've been in co-op in two different engineering programs (yes, I made a switch too) and it's been a great way to learn how to apply some of the stuff you learn in school and get great work experience.
Also, it's sweet only having school for 4 months at a time
So consider CO-OP programs - you'll get a better idea of what the real world is like in your field.
I was told directly that the use of free software development tools would thwart SAP participation due to the lack of a liability structure.
I've heard the same said about Microsoft.
Isn't it ironic that these companies claim that open source software's disadvantage is that 'no one is held accountable' YET the first thing you do when you agree to a simple software license is agree that 'this company shall not be held responsible for any damages caused by this software, (etc)'?
Oh, and hypocrytical as well.
Software "liability" is a myth perpetuated by the big boys to make tech-clueless suits nervous of open source software.
You'd think after all of these Outlook/IIS virii people (and lawyers) would point this out to their executives!
Next week version 2 of this doc will be put on the Net after the author has a chance to read Slashdot and incorporate all of the corrections (read: criticisms) we are posting here.
:)
Maybe I'll just save some time and frustration by skipping this one and reading the next version.
why would someone want to maintain an old kernel?
It sounds boring to me... Adding new features should be more engaging then fixing bugs and pleasing users.
Ah, but you are forgetting that more people actually use the stable 2.4 kernel as part of many many distributions. Having the responsibility of maintaining this very important (and mission critical in many cases) kernel is right on par with making the next version. It's just a different kind of responsibility.
They (MusicNet) could just run the servers in the US and accept credit cards. Granted the service might be slower, but I'm pretty happy with the services that aren't in Europe.
... talk about letting the cat out of the bag.
I think given the current connectivity and reliability of the Internet, this is a moot point. Like you said, you're happy with non-local (national) services. In fact, when I was in France this past summer, many sites in North America were faster than French sites presumably because they use better technology and thus have greater capacity, even across the Atlantic.
I think what the EU is proposing is a ban on sites outside and inside of the EU. Sites outside of the EU will be filtered out at ISPs by new legislation created by the EU and sites inside the EU will be forbidden to exist. Also, hardware technology needed to play the new 'digitally secure' music will be forbidden from the EU. Done. Some people may circumvent this, but not enough for the EU to worry.
Personally, I think the whole digital music thing is laughable. I'd like to go back to the early 1980's and listen in on meetings with tech guys saying "There's no way people will be able to store whole albums on their hard drives! We don't need to protect the data."
... and now the RIAA is running around trying to bag the cat, dye it's hair and let it free again - all by themselves. Good luck!
Shit, if you are getting a 100 Gig drive, why not just screw the lossy compression and just save the wave files? 100 gigs should hold 150 cds in wave format.
.... and while you're at it, why not increase your browser cache to 10GB so you can keep every web page you visit back a whole year??
The Answer: Because you don't NEED to store information you'll never use (or will never hear). That's the whole point of compression.
Also, it should be pointed out that 150 CDs is a fairly small collection, especially when singles are taken into account on top of that.
Man when bored journalists with deadlines write shitty pieces I don't get upset, I know a job is a job. But responding/reacting to it is just plain stupid.
;)
Don't you find this just a little ironical?
I think that baseball and football are really boring (too much waiting, unlike hockey or motorsports) You don't have to wait in motorsports? You have wait for the race to end!! True the cars are going really really fast, but relative to each other they aren't - and they are just going around in circles! (a circuit) I can see your argument with baseball and football, but motorsports go right in there. Instead of waiting between plays listening to yacky sportscasters, you're waiting between crashes watching cars going around in a circle. Maybe I just don't "get it". Of course millions of people watch baseball, football AND motorsports. Go figure. Maybe one day millions of people will watch first-person shooters too.
grease ----> squeaky wheel
;)
Good point. But if you maintain the wheel properly, it will probably never squeak in the first place.
rLowe
Is this Hemos finally responding to this? Geez, took him long enough. :)
A good portion of them have probably been unattatched to the network, or will be brand new machines just for school.
This may be insightful, but how many of these people will ACTUALLY be running a vulnerable web server? Only those that have installed IIS with Windows 2000! I am willing to bet that this number is negligable among college students, especially those with new computers. Those computers will most likely be running ME, which is less expensive and is more suitable for home/student use.
Those students running Win9x or ME are NOT VULNERABLE from Code Red or CR II and those running NT4 are NOT VULNERABLE from Code Read II. This kind of FUD is what makes people panic. We don't need it in the news and we especially don't need it on Slashdot.
Get over it, man. Star Wars is a children's franchise. It was never good to begin with, so why expect it to be the pinnacle of film now?
Obviously flamebait. But you expect it to be better because Lucas should be better after 20 years of great filmmaking. Don't you think?
Even though I give him shit for not taking the time to support a still prominent browser (ns 4.x), I applaud him for not putting a big "you suck, get a new browser and use windows and ie" sign up for all non ie5 users.
I have this exact message on my blog. Do you know why? Because the W3C published the HTML4 and CSS1 standards EONS ago!
The only reason why people don't bother to update their browsers is because no one is making them! If sites continue to support NS4, people will continue using it - and that makes the standards that were developed by the W3C absolutely useless.
So stop whining about 'lack of NS4' support and get a modern standards compliant browser!
</rant>
*grin*
PS> I'm not usually like this, but the 'web platform' sucks. We need to fix its current state of stagnation. Let's go!
As a (curious) sysadmin I wouldn't mind reading a post mortem like what the /. crew did a few weeks ago. I think MS is missing out on a lot of brownie points by not publishing a blow by blow summary of how an enterprise goes about troubleshooting/fixing a system like that. It would be possible to do something like that w/o disclosing sensitive information. Like I said, wishfull thinking.
... unless they are bullshitting *cough*Marketing*cough* the whole thing. Never underestimate Microsoft - you do so at your own peril.
Think about focusing development efforts on mainstream hardware.
... I think all of this Microsoft babble (see: XBOX) is melting your brain. *grin* .. (just kiddin')
"Mainstream hardware." BWAHAHAHA
Sure you only have to call in to get a new id when you install three or more items, but what does this say about Microsoft's bet on the stability/longevity of XP? Is Microsoft betting that most people won't have to replace/re-install XP before they replace hardware (in which case they'll have to call anyway)? Or they'll just wait until Windows 2005 comes out while their fragmented hard disk slugs around? Come on ...
...
<troll-material>If Win98 is an indication, the 32-bit (kinda) MS OSes benefitted from a re-install every year or so</troll-material>. If I had XP the last two years, I would have had to call them 3 times already!
But seriously, is the amount of Microsoft investing in over-friendly tech support people that dole out ids going to be worth it for all of this hassel to them and consumers? I could see the XP reg. tech. support staff getting quite large
I think people really are missing this point. It's the same with the Comet cursor and Amazon monitoring where you go. Who cares if you can't tell who's who and it's not a privacy issue. IT IS a privacy issue for the GROUP of us users as a whole - and I don't think Microsoft has a right to know what hardware we have just because we use XP.
My step-daughter is almost 11 and, though she's only with her mother and me every other weekend By my standards this would qualify as a total wreck of a family, and accessibility of the Internet would be the least problem for the daughter. Then again, I am not American. What an interesting, ignorant thing to say, you Non-American, you. Being a Canadian and the son of divorced parents, I know that divorces are quite common in North America. When a couple gets divorced (and this has been going on for quite a while) usually one parent gets custody of the kids and the other parent gets visitation rights. All of that is decided in family court. It sounds to me as though the guy asking the /. question gets to see his step-daughter every two weeks (which is also typical). There is also joint custody where the child bounces back and forth, spending equal time with both parents - which I can imagine is probably not very good for the child.
So now is the time to take your Non-American foot out of your Non-American mouth and WAKE UP. Divorces are bound to be more common in the future wherever you are too!