I have noticed that Verizon's service in the Washington, DC area has deteriorated in the last year or so.
The other day while complaining to customer service, I asked to speak to their president. I was informed that one cannot call him, the implication was that he did not have a phone!
If it is true that Napster users buy more music, and it is becaues of their Napster use, then the best interest of the music industry would be to encourage Napster. (We won't even get into concert attendence here).
But, like most business folks, they don't have the smarts or immagination to sometimes do the counterintuitive.
WAMU a Washington, DC public radio station, has an archive of its old shows. The Jon Katz inverview is here. (Real Audio is required for this link to work.)
I remember people writing music routines for mechanical scientific calculators, the old monsters made by Marchant and others.
We used to have rooms of these things for statistics classes when I went to college, although I can't remember anyone doing a multipart score. Maybe someone at MIT?
I think this is another example of Red Hat trying to give something back to the community they came out of. Good for them. And I hope some of the other free software companies follow their example.
If this Micro$oft thing does go to court, things could get expensive. So lets start thinking Legal Defense Fund. Maybe this could work through FSF or ACLU. Or maybe it will have to be stand alone. But lets all start thinking about kicking in our pennies and dollars.
What gets very scary is that the Melissa and ILOVEYOU are only the beginning.
Sometime soon someone will write something really destructive, and it will infect and affect all the millions of computers affected by ILOVEYOU. Only this time it will destroy alot of mission critical data, systems, etc.
This could cause some companies, overly dependent on MS, out of business, and cause major losses at others.
Maybe even trigger a major economic downturn. I only hope the corporate suits come to their senses in time.
This isn't about keeping the users out. Its about harassing the hell out of Napster.
Napster promised to eject pirates brought to their attention. Now they have to go through and block these accounts.
Re:What about VA/MD residents?
on
Fighting UCITA
·
· Score: 1
Also consider going after these folks in the primary election. You may be able to find someone there who is more in line with your political tastes, than going to the opposite party.
Re:What about VA/MD residents?
on
Fighting UCITA
·
· Score: 2
Yes, there is something we can do in Maryland and Virginia.
In Virginia its easy. Tell your state rep that you are voting against them in the future because of their bonehead vote. No research is necessary, every one of the critters woted for ucita. Consider supporting, working for etc their opponents.
In Maryland its a little more complicated. A number, not large enough voted against it. If you are lucky enough to have one of these fine people, tell them how much you appreciate their vote against ucita, and that you will support them in the future. Consider joining their next campagin, giving it $$, etc.
If you have a rep who voted for them, let them know you will no longer vote for or support them. And consider working for their opponents in the nexe election.
Actually, this may give us a way to circumvent region codes.
It will depend how the program implements it.
One may need to install multiple copies of the program, or even reinstal it every time we need to change regions, but it may be doable.
Ken
Re:Someone forgot to call the media
on
Protesting DMCA
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· Score: 1
The media was notified, by various means.
And the protest was on the west side of the Capital Grounds, as close as we were allowed, which was the sidewalk on First ST [N-S]W, from 9am to 11am. Then we went to the Library of Congress (Copyright office).
The media just don't think this is important enough to cover, not sexy enough. Or for the conspiracy folks out there, they decided it was not in the best interests of various parent companies. Guess who owns CNN, etc?
We did get coverage by Wired, one of the Linux pubs, and of course Slashdot.
Most people do not have a clue as to what is going on with the DMCA, and similar laws.
These laws can change the way we use and work with our computers, for the worse. They allow the Microsofts of the world to become private dictators.
We have to first become politically active. Register to vote, and let your elected reps know how you feel. And then vote against them if and when they screw up.
Next we have to educate. The news media is not reporting this stuff. Maybe because its not sexy. Maybe because CNN is owned by a company that is also in the movie and music business.
Maybe its time that we actually do something. First, check out who is running for what, and do some screening to see if any candidates are actually willing to promote our concerns. Then, we can set up web sites and mailing lists to get ourselves organized to support said candidate.
If there isn't anyone worth supporting, then find someone to run, perhaps as a writein, and organize online to get them elected.
It's not exactly c programming, but it is alot of hard work, but worth it.
Here we go again. Back in the early days of microcomputers, one of the most pirated pieces of software was the wordprocessor, Wordstar. This was also the best selling word processor. Why, because everybody got a copy to play with, and then suggested it be purchased by their companies when they needed it for work.
Slashdot Mirror
Did anyone else notice that they REQUIRE a micro$oft windoze product on the desktop, at least to sync mail?
I have noticed that Verizon's service in the Washington, DC area has deteriorated in the last year or so.
The other day while complaining to customer service, I asked to speak to their president. I was informed that one cannot call him, the implication was that he did not have a phone!
Does this go for the fine folks who got their MCSE or whatever, and click on buttons to administer their NT servers?
But, like most business folks, they don't have the smarts or immagination to sometimes do the counterintuitive.
WAMU a Washington, DC public radio station, has an archive of its old shows. The Jon Katz inverview is here. (Real Audio is required for this link to work.)
I remember people writing music routines for mechanical scientific calculators, the old
monsters made by Marchant and others.
We used to have rooms of these things for statistics classes when I went to college, although I can't remember anyone doing a multipart score. Maybe someone at MIT?
Thanks for the heads up on this. It caused me to get off my butt and finally join USENIX.
I think this is another example of Red Hat trying to give something back to the community they came out of. Good for them. And I hope some of the other free software companies follow their example.
And keep up the good work
What gets very scary is that the Melissa and ILOVEYOU are only the beginning.
Sometime soon someone will write something really destructive, and it will infect and affect all the millions of computers affected by ILOVEYOU. Only this time it will destroy alot of mission critical data, systems, etc.
This could cause some companies, overly dependent on MS, out of business, and cause major losses at others.
Maybe even trigger a major economic downturn. I only hope the corporate suits come to their senses in time.
And we should also thank fhwang for posting these "Links for further reading."
Napster promised to eject pirates brought to their attention. Now they have to go through and block these accounts.
Also consider going after these folks in the primary election. You may be able to find someone there who is more in line with your political tastes, than going to the opposite party.
Yes, there is something we can do in Maryland and Virginia.
In Virginia its easy. Tell your state rep that you are voting against them in the future because of their bonehead vote. No research is necessary, every one of the critters woted for ucita. Consider supporting, working for etc their opponents.
In Maryland its a little more complicated. A number, not large enough voted against it. If you are lucky enough to have one of these fine people, tell them how much you appreciate their vote against ucita, and that you will support them in the future. Consider joining their next campagin, giving it $$, etc.
If you have a rep who voted for them, let them know you will no longer vote for or support them. And consider working for their opponents in the nexe election.
Instead of selling it, they should have rented it out, and evect any renter who doesn't actually use it as indended.
Back in the old, pre Return of the Jobsi Apple, I saw a demo of a Newton based battle system that the Marines were supposed to be messing around with.
Does anyone else remember seeing this application for the good old Newton, rip?
Hopefully, no way this will happen.
Remember, this is a country with an official secrets act, and no free speech protection.
Actually, this may give us a way to circumvent region codes.
It will depend how the program implements it.
One may need to install multiple copies of the program, or even reinstal it every time we need to change regions, but it may be doable.
Ken
The media was notified, by various means.
And the protest was on the west side of the Capital Grounds, as close as we were allowed, which was the sidewalk on First ST [N-S]W, from 9am to 11am. Then we went to the Library of Congress (Copyright office).
The media just don't think this is important enough to cover, not sexy enough. Or for the conspiracy folks out there, they decided it was not in the best interests of various parent companies. Guess who owns CNN, etc?
We did get coverage by Wired, one of the Linux pubs, and of course Slashdot.
Most people do not have a clue as to what is going on with the DMCA, and similar laws.
These laws can change the way we use and work with our computers, for the worse. They allow the Microsofts of the world to become private dictators.
We have to first become politically active. Register to vote, and let your elected reps know how you feel. And then vote against them if and when they screw up.
Next we have to educate. The news media is not reporting this stuff. Maybe because its not sexy. Maybe because CNN is owned by a company that is also in the movie and music business.
So educate your friends, neighbors, family, etc.
Maybe its time that we actually do something. First, check out who is running for what, and do some screening to see if any candidates are actually willing to promote our concerns. Then, we can set up web sites and mailing lists to get ourselves organized to support said candidate.
If there isn't anyone worth supporting, then find someone to run, perhaps as a writein, and organize online to get them elected.
It's not exactly c programming, but it is alot of hard work, but worth it.
Here we go again. Back in the early days of microcomputers, one of the most pirated pieces of software was the wordprocessor, Wordstar. This was also the best selling word processor. Why, because everybody got a copy to play with, and then suggested it be purchased by their companies when they needed it for work.
When will they ever learn!
Anyone care to find out if Linux or Free BSD will run on one of these beasts?
It somehow seems a proper thing to do.
I just got to vote with my dollars. I wanted a small notebook, and I was considering one of the various Vaio *505*s or the IBM Thinkpad 240.
Well, I figured while Sony was part of an orginization trying to jail hacker kids, IBM was busy porting Linux to their 390.
So, I went with the IBM, installed SuSE Linux, and I am happy. Saved a few hundred $ too!