I agree, I wouldn't call Slasdot's mod system democratic. And really, moderation shouldn't be used to vote on political viewpoints anyway IMO. I've modded up posts that contained opinions I strongly disagreed with because those posts also contained interesting or insightful ways of looking at things I hadn't considered before.
As for why you haven't gotten mod points, do you frequently visit the site and metamoderate regularly? Seriously, we need a lot more good meta moderations done to impede the bad moderators from getting mod points. Meta moderation is just as important, IMO, as moderation if you care about quality posts on slashdot. When you do get mod points, please don't see them as opportunities to vote down people you disagree with. That really sucks when intelligent posts get moderated down for no other apparent reason than what was said wasn't neccesarily a popular opinion.
It's far better, if you're going to use your mod points that way, to just vote up opinions you agree with, though even that really isn't the point of moderation.
Wile I generally don't like the idea of corporate lobbying, what I would be interested in knowing is where IBM is when this is going on? IBM seems pretty damned committed to Open Source, it would seem like they'd be lobbying on the other side of the fence. God knows they have the cash to do it effectively.
would you want to live in a nation where a company's lobbies were not allowed to speak
Yes. Not because a vocal minority opposed them, just because companies aren't people, don't vote, and should not influence a government of the people. To me it's pretty obvious that letting companies fund political efforts leads to laws that put the needs of the people behind the needs of those companies. In fact, it's pretty much a no brainer. I'm sure there's a handful of people out there who believe that large corps are going to drop huge amounts of money to get politicians to do what is best for everyone, but really it's absurd to believe that.
Granted, that is a sensationalistic headline. But if you read what comes next, it clarifies it. Odds are, there are going to be people on slashdot impacted by it, given that the majority, according to the last browser statistics blurb I read, use Windows.
I would argue that when I buy new hardware, I'm receiving a new tangible product that I own, which offers me expanded capability.
So far with motherboards, I've only needed bios updates during the first year or two after purchase, which in my experience, the board maker has provided. I've never had to upgade a motherboard because of bios issues, personally. Maybe someone has, but not me.
As an example, I finally upgraded my PIII-450 late last year to a dual Opteron setup. I hadn't needed a bios update in years, and that computer served me for something like 5 years. My reason for updating was simply that I wanted something faster and more capable. It had nothing to do with the bios.
Like I said though, it's arguable. I just take a particularly hard line stance on this out of principle. The principle being, and you've already said things that indicates you generally agree, we should OWN what we pay for and be free to do with it what we want. Changing that model changes the rules of buying and selling such that, it's no longer something I would want to take part in.
Thank God for Linux, BSD, and open source in general. MS can do whatever it wants now, I'm free.:)
I don't care what PC Welt thinks and how much it sells - it's just one source.
You guys bashing slashdot for this, let me ask you, should slashdot not post links to stories until 8 different sources confirm it? That ought to make for a really boring site.
The thing I don't get, is why people get pissed about this? This site is largely a community discussion site driven by user submitted stories. Slashdot isn't out there engaging in investigative journalism or writing the stories themselves.
And when you say something like this:
As far as I can tell, I've installed SP2 and nothing like that happened so it's false to my eyes
I had unprotected sex and I never got a venereal disease, therefore, all those stories about VD are wrong. I mean that's basicaly the same as your argument. Did you read the article? Did you even read the blurb for the article on slashdot? Let me help you: with a certain configuration, your file and printer sharing data are visible worldwide, despite an activated Firewall.
What does that say? It says WITH A CERTAIN CONFIGURATION. Obviously, you don't have that certain configuration.
That's a form of assault! I'm still in counseling from the first and only time I saw that picture. The dreams finally stopped a month ago and the flashbacks aren't as severe. Doc says maybe in a month I can go off the lithium...
The difference between paying for software and paying for a license to use a tool is that the computer is half software and the tool is all hardware.
I would argue that software is simply information necessary to operate the computer. I would see the license to use the tool, as being a license on the information necessary to use the tool, which is how I see software licensing.
But this is arguable. Here's a scary thought, imagine having to pay a subscription fee for EVERY piece of software on your computer. The motherboard bios, any controllers bios, the drivers for all your peripherals, etc...
The OS is free and people have to pay for the hardware.
The way it should be. The tangibles that require substantial physical resources to manufacture are sold to us, and we own actual, tangible property. The information required to use that property is free.
Imagine if Sears gave out free tools but you had to pay a subscription to use them. I know some will take issue with this comparison, but I think it's a good one. If we let them shift the paradigm, we as consumers will lose alot of our power and rights.
I've known about doing this on a standard CD. But will this fit on a 50mb business card CD? The convenience of that media far outweights the convenience of a standard CD. I'll play with that and see what I can get it to do. I have to admit, that project looks alot better than WinPE.
But as is typical with the world of MS: In the Technet Webcast about Windows PE a Microsoft Program Manager (not calling any names) says: "BartPE is an unlicensed version of WinPE and of Windows XP. Something to we really encourage people to stay away from because it's actually an improperly licensed version of Windows".
Bastards. Making a customized boot disk from your pre-existing windows installation equals an unlicensed version of Windows? Man, what bullshit. Thanks for that link, I look forward to playing with that.
IMO, this is what is wrong with the 2 parties. They offer us messiahs, not presidents. The republicans tell us we should vote for Bush so he can save us from the terrorists. Pardon me, but if a terrorist was aiming a weapon at the president, Bush would hide behind an innocent person and shout "bring it on" from behind them, just like he's done internationally. His mouth writes checks that the lives of braver men than him have to cash. Then the democrats tell us that we should vote for Kerry so he can save us from Bush and save the world. Pardon me, but Kerry is a professional career politician. He isn't going to save the world, and while he might "save" us from Bush, who will save us from him?
The point I'm getting at is, neither one of these guys offer substance. They offer us hyperbole and fantasy. Let's look at 9/11 and why it happened honestly for a second. Did it happen because Bush got elected into office? Hardly. It happened because of shoddy foreign policy for decades. Foreign policy which was carried out by both republicans and democrats. If Kerry gets elected, is he suddenly going to say "gee, maybe we shouldn't be forcing our will on people on the other side of the globe" and just stop doing what makes people around the world hate us to the point where they will give their own lives to kill some of us? Not a chance in hell. He's going to carry on business as usual and America will continue to be targeted. The difference will be in some domestic policies and the image and type of hyperbole used to justify international intervention.
Please my fellow Americans, you need to shake yourselves out of this stupor. You are not going to save the world. We aren't a nation of supermen. God did not rise us up to benevolently rule the world through violence and economic sanctions. Get over yourselves before it is too late. Please. Come to your senses.
I refuse to vote democrat or republican in this or any election. I encourage everyone who knows that both parties are wrong to research the third parties and decide for themselves who best represents them.
Admittedly you can't get the source to the OS or the Win32 API but it generally isn't necessary
You were talking about hackers right? Having the source code to the OS and the API's is actually a HUGE bonus to hacking around on your system.
And in the grand scheme of things the development tools typically comprise only a small amount compared to the other development costs.
Yeah, you're talking about development in a professional sense. Hacking encompasses alot more than that.
How about some real "mind-boggling" advantages?
I think if you decided to be honest, having the source code to your OS, applications, and utilities would be a mind-boggling advantage for hackers/programmers.
I am playing devils advocate somewhat here - I _like_ Linux as a development platform. However, to claim that Windows is "infinitely worse" for programmers and hackers is far from what I've experienced..
Hey, if you haven't ever wanted to peak under the hood of your OSs kernel, opened up the source code for your word processor, or wanted to see what made your filesystems repair utility ticked, then good for you. But I would question whether you are a hacker or a professional programmer. That's according to my definition of hacker tho, your mileage may vary.
Here's something fun you might get a kick out of, I did... http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
I've already added a couple of my favorite tools to this distro. A full working, useful OS on a business card CD. Try that with Windows.
I should add, I'm generally not a windows basher. It's great for Joe user to get his work done, among other things. But in the context of hacking, forget it, windows isn't even close to Linux.
Why do you consider Linux to be a 'mind boggling' better platform for hackers... What can't you do on a Windows platform that you can do on Linux?
Other than have full access to the source code for virtually everything on your system which gives you the ability to customize and compile your kernel, apps, and utilities, I guess nothing.
I'm tired of this two-party system. I want more choices.
We have more choices, the problem is the majority of people are democrats and republicans who are convinced that their parties mediocrity and corporate ownership is the best way to go. They are so convinced, that they call everyone who is sick of the lies, the bullshit, the hypocrisy, the games, the corruption, etc... stupid. They call US stupid, because we won't say that their party's shit smells like roses.
Vote 3rd party anyway and don't listen to any democrat or republican. They'll be the last people to realize how jacked up everything is because of their parties.
You should consider though that he's part of a different sub-culture. Look at how pro boxers talk, WWF wrestlers(many of whom are very boisterous off camera), or even just many body builders. Drop by a bodybuilding website where they talk about steroid use and follow the conversations. It's all about pride of accomplishments, boisterous pride of accomplishments.
I think it's a safe bet he doesn't think like us here on slashdot, or even like most typical people. That guys a professional man hunter and a successful one at that. Totally different mindset. Just consider it.
I think everyone who listens to any of the major media outlets and imagine themselves listening to a reliable news source is greatly deceived. They should think long and hard on these proverbs:
Bad is called good when worse happens.
Because we focused on the snake, we missed the scorpion.
Believe nothing that you hear and half of what you see.
I'm not saying I'm a fan of his, but I will say this, I can bench 250 and I would not want that guy hunting me because of a $100,000 bounty. Maybe if you get a chance to meet him, you can let him know your opinion of him in person.
As for Stephen Hawking, you'll note that he's not using his website to sell services(not that I could tell).
I just think it's interesting that if they set this bounty up, this is the type of person who will be looking for spammers.
You want to talk about too much work? Try getting the government to implement that idea. Then there's the question of how the WTO is going to feel about that.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree, I wouldn't call Slasdot's mod system democratic. And really, moderation shouldn't be used to vote on political viewpoints anyway IMO. I've modded up posts that contained opinions I strongly disagreed with because those posts also contained interesting or insightful ways of looking at things I hadn't considered before.
As for why you haven't gotten mod points, do you frequently visit the site and metamoderate regularly? Seriously, we need a lot more good meta moderations done to impede the bad moderators from getting mod points. Meta moderation is just as important, IMO, as moderation if you care about quality posts on slashdot. When you do get mod points, please don't see them as opportunities to vote down people you disagree with. That really sucks when intelligent posts get moderated down for no other apparent reason than what was said wasn't neccesarily a popular opinion.
It's far better, if you're going to use your mod points that way, to just vote up opinions you agree with, though even that really isn't the point of moderation.
Wile I generally don't like the idea of corporate lobbying, what I would be interested in knowing is where IBM is when this is going on? IBM seems pretty damned committed to Open Source, it would seem like they'd be lobbying on the other side of the fence. God knows they have the cash to do it effectively.
would you want to live in a nation where a company's lobbies were not allowed to speak
Yes. Not because a vocal minority opposed them, just because companies aren't people, don't vote, and should not influence a government of the people. To me it's pretty obvious that letting companies fund political efforts leads to laws that put the needs of the people behind the needs of those companies. In fact, it's pretty much a no brainer. I'm sure there's a handful of people out there who believe that large corps are going to drop huge amounts of money to get politicians to do what is best for everyone, but really it's absurd to believe that.
Same here. :)
Granted, that is a sensationalistic headline. But if you read what comes next, it clarifies it. Odds are, there are going to be people on slashdot impacted by it, given that the majority, according to the last browser statistics blurb I read, use Windows.
I would argue that when I buy new hardware, I'm receiving a new tangible product that I own, which offers me expanded capability.
:)
So far with motherboards, I've only needed bios updates during the first year or two after purchase, which in my experience, the board maker has provided. I've never had to upgade a motherboard because of bios issues, personally. Maybe someone has, but not me.
As an example, I finally upgraded my PIII-450 late last year to a dual Opteron setup. I hadn't needed a bios update in years, and that computer served me for something like 5 years. My reason for updating was simply that I wanted something faster and more capable. It had nothing to do with the bios.
Like I said though, it's arguable. I just take a particularly hard line stance on this out of principle. The principle being, and you've already said things that indicates you generally agree, we should OWN what we pay for and be free to do with it what we want. Changing that model changes the rules of buying and selling such that, it's no longer something I would want to take part in.
Thank God for Linux, BSD, and open source in general. MS can do whatever it wants now, I'm free.
I don't care what PC Welt thinks and how much it sells - it's just one source.
You guys bashing slashdot for this, let me ask you, should slashdot not post links to stories until 8 different sources confirm it? That ought to make for a really boring site.
The thing I don't get, is why people get pissed about this? This site is largely a community discussion site driven by user submitted stories. Slashdot isn't out there engaging in investigative journalism or writing the stories themselves.
And when you say something like this:
As far as I can tell, I've installed SP2 and nothing like that happened so it's false to my eyes
I had unprotected sex and I never got a venereal disease, therefore, all those stories about VD are wrong. I mean that's basicaly the same as your argument. Did you read the article? Did you even read the blurb for the article on slashdot? Let me help you:
with a certain configuration, your file and printer sharing data are visible worldwide, despite an activated Firewall.
What does that say? It says WITH A CERTAIN CONFIGURATION. Obviously, you don't have that certain configuration.
That's a form of assault! I'm still in counseling from the first and only time I saw that picture. The dreams finally stopped a month ago and the flashbacks aren't as severe. Doc says maybe in a month I can go off the lithium...
The difference between paying for software and paying for a license to use a tool is that the computer is half software and the tool is all hardware.
I would argue that software is simply information necessary to operate the computer. I would see the license to use the tool, as being a license on the information necessary to use the tool, which is how I see software licensing.
But this is arguable. Here's a scary thought, imagine having to pay a subscription fee for EVERY piece of software on your computer. The motherboard bios, any controllers bios, the drivers for all your peripherals, etc...
The OS is free and people have to pay for the hardware.
The way it should be. The tangibles that require substantial physical resources to manufacture are sold to us, and we own actual, tangible property. The information required to use that property is free.
Imagine if Sears gave out free tools but you had to pay a subscription to use them. I know some will take issue with this comparison, but I think it's a good one. If we let them shift the paradigm, we as consumers will lose alot of our power and rights.
I've known about doing this on a standard CD. But will this fit on a 50mb business card CD? The convenience of that media far outweights the convenience of a standard CD. I'll play with that and see what I can get it to do. I have to admit, that project looks alot better than WinPE.
But as is typical with the world of MS:
In the Technet Webcast about Windows PE a Microsoft Program Manager (not calling any names) says: "BartPE is an unlicensed version of WinPE and of Windows XP. Something to we really encourage people to stay away from because it's actually an improperly licensed version of Windows".
Bastards. Making a customized boot disk from your pre-existing windows installation equals an unlicensed version of Windows? Man, what bullshit. Thanks for that link, I look forward to playing with that.
i want Kerry to win and save the world
IMO, this is what is wrong with the 2 parties. They offer us messiahs, not presidents. The republicans tell us we should vote for Bush so he can save us from the terrorists. Pardon me, but if a terrorist was aiming a weapon at the president, Bush would hide behind an innocent person and shout "bring it on" from behind them, just like he's done internationally. His mouth writes checks that the lives of braver men than him have to cash. Then the democrats tell us that we should vote for Kerry so he can save us from Bush and save the world. Pardon me, but Kerry is a professional career politician. He isn't going to save the world, and while he might "save" us from Bush, who will save us from him?
The point I'm getting at is, neither one of these guys offer substance. They offer us hyperbole and fantasy. Let's look at 9/11 and why it happened honestly for a second. Did it happen because Bush got elected into office? Hardly. It happened because of shoddy foreign policy for decades. Foreign policy which was carried out by both republicans and democrats. If Kerry gets elected, is he suddenly going to say "gee, maybe we shouldn't be forcing our will on people on the other side of the globe" and just stop doing what makes people around the world hate us to the point where they will give their own lives to kill some of us? Not a chance in hell. He's going to carry on business as usual and America will continue to be targeted. The difference will be in some domestic policies and the image and type of hyperbole used to justify international intervention.
Please my fellow Americans, you need to shake yourselves out of this stupor. You are not going to save the world. We aren't a nation of supermen. God did not rise us up to benevolently rule the world through violence and economic sanctions. Get over yourselves before it is too late. Please. Come to your senses.
I refuse to vote democrat or republican in this or any election. I encourage everyone who knows that both parties are wrong to research the third parties and decide for themselves who best represents them.
Admittedly you can't get the source to the OS or the Win32 API but it generally isn't necessary
You were talking about hackers right? Having the source code to the OS and the API's is actually a HUGE bonus to hacking around on your system.
And in the grand scheme of things the development tools typically comprise only a small amount compared to the other development costs.
Yeah, you're talking about development in a professional sense. Hacking encompasses alot more than that.
How about some real "mind-boggling" advantages?
I think if you decided to be honest, having the source code to your OS, applications, and utilities would be a mind-boggling advantage for hackers/programmers.
I am playing devils advocate somewhat here - I _like_ Linux as a development platform. However, to claim that Windows is "infinitely worse" for programmers and hackers is far from what I've experienced..
Hey, if you haven't ever wanted to peak under the hood of your OSs kernel, opened up the source code for your word processor, or wanted to see what made your filesystems repair utility ticked, then good for you. But I would question whether you are a hacker or a professional programmer. That's according to my definition of hacker tho, your mileage may vary.
Here's something fun you might get a kick out of, I did...
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
I've already added a couple of my favorite tools to this distro. A full working, useful OS on a business card CD. Try that with Windows.
I should add, I'm generally not a windows basher. It's great for Joe user to get his work done, among other things. But in the context of hacking, forget it, windows isn't even close to Linux.
Why do you consider Linux to be a 'mind boggling' better platform for hackers...
What can't you do on a Windows platform that you can do on Linux?
Other than have full access to the source code for virtually everything on your system which gives you the ability to customize and compile your kernel, apps, and utilities, I guess nothing.
Ah yes, I forgot they changed their name. You can tell I don't keep up with wrestling much anymore. So, is Jimmy "Superfly" Snooka still around?
I'm tired of this two-party system. I want more choices.
We have more choices, the problem is the majority of people are democrats and republicans who are convinced that their parties mediocrity and corporate ownership is the best way to go. They are so convinced, that they call everyone who is sick of the lies, the bullshit, the hypocrisy, the games, the corruption, etc... stupid. They call US stupid, because we won't say that their party's shit smells like roses.
Vote 3rd party anyway and don't listen to any democrat or republican. They'll be the last people to realize how jacked up everything is because of their parties.
Ah, I get where you're coming from.
You should consider though that he's part of a different sub-culture. Look at how pro boxers talk, WWF wrestlers(many of whom are very boisterous off camera), or even just many body builders. Drop by a bodybuilding website where they talk about steroid use and follow the conversations. It's all about pride of accomplishments, boisterous pride of accomplishments.
I think it's a safe bet he doesn't think like us here on slashdot, or even like most typical people. That guys a professional man hunter and a successful one at that. Totally different mindset. Just consider it.
I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
I don't know anything about that, but I do know that Fox, the bastion of journalistic truth telling integrity, has argued in court they have a right to distort news.
I think everyone who listens to any of the major media outlets and imagine themselves listening to a reliable news source is greatly deceived. They should think long and hard on these proverbs:
Bad is called good when worse happens.
Because we focused on the snake, we missed the scorpion.
Believe nothing that you hear and half of what you see.
Take the red pill already.
This is a little OT... I'd actually like to hear a proponent of SPF deal with the complaints made about it here.
I myself have no opinion. I haven't admined a mail server in over 2 years and I am woefully not up on this subject.
I'm not saying I'm a fan of his, but I will say this, I can bench 250 and I would not want that guy hunting me because of a $100,000 bounty. Maybe if you get a chance to meet him, you can let him know your opinion of him in person.
As for Stephen Hawking, you'll note that he's not using his website to sell services(not that I could tell).
I just think it's interesting that if they set this bounty up, this is the type of person who will be looking for spammers.
Now picture a spammer having to deal with him. Perhaps the FTC is going too far?
That should have been "would be looking for spammers."
I know how you feel... But now these types of people will be looking for spammers.
Kinda funny and strangely satisfying at the same time.
You want to talk about too much work? Try getting the government to implement that idea. Then there's the question of how the WTO is going to feel about that.