Can a blind person install and configure windows, iis, SQL server, exchange, and active directory?
Once your favorite OSS tool is installed can a blind person use them?
How about other types of disabilities? How about if a person is blind and deaf? Or is missing both arms? Or is a quadrapeligic? How do we help them install and use linux?
It seems to me that you have to draw the line someplace. If somebody wants to put forth the effort then great but honestly why don't we concentrate on getting the documentation so that a reasonably intelligent non disabled person can use it first. Then we can worry about the blind.
In the mean time if a blind person wants to run linux please have them contact their local LUG, I am pretty sure somebody would step up to the plate. Another option might be to buy a pre-installed linux machine, lots of companies sell them.
"There's nothing that Windows (or Linux, or OS X, *BSD, Solaris, etc) can do to prevent me from installing stuff if I have the admin (or root) password."
Sure there is, it's called DRM. Granted it won't be used for this purpose but it would work.
Imagine this.
Your computer is set to only install programs that are signed by some authority. FOr the sake of argument let's assume the authority is the debian foundation. After this the OS will not install anything that hasn't been signed by the debian foundation for debian stable and presumably they have tested everything in their distribution. Voila, no more spyware.
Same could be done with MS, Apple, etc. Of course a programmer would be much more likely to trust debian then MS but those are political issues that need to be sorted out. Technically it's easy to prevent viruses and spyware.
In other words, whether you trust corporations or the govt you are fucked either way. If the govt wants to bend you over but can't they hire a corporation to do it. If the corporation wants to fuck but can't they hire the govt.
America needs a face on it's enemies. We are not fighting iraq, we are fighting Saddam (and now zarqawi). Once zarqawi dies or gets captured the govt will prop up another face to put on our enemy.
Saddam, osama, noriaga, zarqawi, arafat, milosewic etc. I suggest Bush for a face, his face should be on the toilet paper. One would have to be a brave man do that though. You can be sure Rush or one of his cohorts would decree a fatwah on you and you would be dead in no time.
I know it's heresy to say that these days but that ought to tell you something. Unfortunately capitalism has become a cult these days. The fact of the matter is that capitalism is nothing but sin with lipstick on. It encourages the worst traits of mankind. What's worse it's a voratious destroyer of natural resources and is eating away on the only planet we have to live on.
This doesn't mean capitalism doesn't work for some people. It does. Those who are especially greedy, lustful, mean, and cruel do very well under capitalism. Those who hold those sociopathic impulses at bay do much worse. How did Jesse Jackson put it? "capitalism without capital is just another ism".
That's not really true. The corporations pretty much control the govt. If a corporation wants something (say some oil wells in Iraq) it simply has the govt do it for them.
Since corporations can buy and sell senators at will they have all the power the govt has and more.
Look, you posted about MS offering jobs to top level clinton officials, you posted about influential democratic senators expressing their support for MS. Despite this the Justice dept went after MS hard. This tells me that they were not influenced by these things.
"The reason why breakup was not pursued was because two separate appeals courts said not to,"
That's a misleading statement. The break up option was taken off the table as soon as Bush got into office and before it got to the appeals court.
"I'd prefer your unstated third option: he can write me off as a prick who isn't worth the time or effort it takes to listen."
So you want to be able to go around calling people nigger and dyke or whatever and they should just take it huh? Sorry it doesn't work that way. Should they also ignore your white smock, hood and the cross burning on their lawn?
"I prefer freedom and good sense to law or vigilantism."
Its not good sense to go around spewing racist comments.
There is no guarantee the fifth amendment protects you in this scenario. It hasn't been tested.
Also consider all the govt has to do is to utter the word "terrorism" and off you go to egypt or israel where some professional will talk to you for about a month and get your key. Best you can hope for is that you get keep one or both of your testicles by the time you are done.
Your post tells me that the clinton administration had integrity when it came to this matter. Despite attempts by MS to influence the administration by kissing up to the president, promising jobs to high level officials, despite pressure from his own party he (actually reno) went full steam ahead to prosecute MS.
On the other hand after the case had already been won the first think the Bush justice dept did was take the breakup off the table. Then they went after the softest of all we noodles to slap their wrists with.
You post is proof alone that the CLinton justice dept was less corruptable then the Bush justice dept.
CIO: We had MS here and they made us a very attractive offer, they are going to give us thousands of dollars worth of free licenses and there is a rolex in it for me personally. IBM: Do you really want your servers to have the same reliabity as your desktop? The same performance as outlook? The same bloat as office? CIO: NO but I want that rolex. IBM: Al right we too will give you a rolex, and a fiji golfing trip. CIO: DONE.
The point is that the CIOs don't make decisions based on technology. Every CIO I have ever met has been an accountant who can't even manage to configure an outlook filter. They are sheeple who read PC magazines and make decisions based on that.
MS knows how to get to them but so does IBM. I don't know if MS can run with the big boys here, I kind of doubt it.
Better yet look for another job, clearly a company that is this rigid in it's thinking will not be able to survive in a fast changing world. Embrace change or die is the new business mantra.
I think a more interesting question is if they can take you off to be interrogated someplace in order to get you to spill your key. I am specifically thinking about guantanamo where "prisoners" were routinely given injections of unknown substances (presumably truth serums of sorts) or maybe even to syria, lebanon, egypt or israel for further "interrogation".
I think most people would crack just at the threat of such an action.
YOu walk up to somebody and say "get off my campus nigger and take your watermelon eatin sticky nappyhead crackwhore with you".
At that point he can either hit you or take you to court.
I would prefer he take you to court.
You want to go around insulting people without consequence (liek for example calling all women who disagree with you lesbians). There are always consequences to speech. SOmetimes it's legal but if people don't have legal options they will attempt to make you pay for your insults some other way.
"Have you heard of Michael Moore, Barbra Streisand, or Alec Baldwin being put on a no-fly list?"
Those are rich and powerful people, Bush isn't going to go after them like he goes after other people. He isn't that stupid, he know if he tries heavy handed tactics like shipping them off to guantanamo or making them disappear he is never going to get away with it. Having said that if you believe that those people don't have a fat file about them at the FBI and Rowes filing cabinet you are fool.
It would be trivial for MS to stop pirating. They already have a unique serial number, they already have a massive IT infrastructure. All they have to do is the shut down windows if it's already registered to somebody else. If people call in to register just check the database and refuse to give them a key if it's already registered.
I have news for you. MS wants windows to be pirated. Not by anybody in the US or the rest of the "first world", we are here to be milked so we can subsidize people stealing in africa or india. Everbody else is welcome to steal all the copies of windows they want.
If MS ever actually wanted to stop piracy and did it would be the best day ever for open source.
Linux prevented MS from leveraging their desktop monopoly to gain a monopoly on servers.
Apple prevented MS from leveraging their desktop monopoly to gain a monopoly on media players (and DRM).
MS failed miserably on their own when attempting a monopoly on mobile phones by stabbing their partners in the back (I guess they couldn't help themselves).
It still remains to be seen if firefox, openoffice, linux etc will be able to break monopolies MS already has in place. lets all hope so for the good of mankind.
Microsoft is a hooker that will steal your wallet after you have rolled over and went to sleep. You won't be able to call the police either because you are too ashamed and embarrased to be have slept with her in the first place.
The worst part is that she wasn't that great of a lay in the first place, you were probably better off trying to get you sex for free.
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Can a blind person install and configure windows, iis, SQL server, exchange, and active directory?
Once your favorite OSS tool is installed can a blind person use them?
How about other types of disabilities? How about if a person is blind and deaf? Or is missing both arms? Or is a quadrapeligic? How do we help them install and use linux?
It seems to me that you have to draw the line someplace. If somebody wants to put forth the effort then great but honestly why don't we concentrate on getting the documentation so that a reasonably intelligent non disabled person can use it first. Then we can worry about the blind.
In the mean time if a blind person wants to run linux please have them contact their local LUG, I am pretty sure somebody would step up to the plate. Another option might be to buy a pre-installed linux machine, lots of companies sell them.
"There's nothing that Windows (or Linux, or OS X, *BSD, Solaris, etc) can do to prevent me from installing stuff if I have the admin (or root) password."
Sure there is, it's called DRM. Granted it won't be used for this purpose but it would work.
Imagine this.
Your computer is set to only install programs that are signed by some authority. FOr the sake of argument let's assume the authority is the debian foundation. After this the OS will not install anything that hasn't been signed by the debian foundation for debian stable and presumably they have tested everything in their distribution. Voila, no more spyware.
Same could be done with MS, Apple, etc. Of course a programmer would be much more likely to trust debian then MS but those are political issues that need to be sorted out. Technically it's easy to prevent viruses and spyware.
In other words, whether you trust corporations or the govt you are fucked either way. If the govt wants to bend you over but can't they hire a corporation to do it. If the corporation wants to fuck but can't they hire the govt.
America needs a face on it's enemies. We are not fighting iraq, we are fighting Saddam (and now zarqawi). Once zarqawi dies or gets captured the govt will prop up another face to put on our enemy.
Saddam, osama, noriaga, zarqawi, arafat, milosewic etc. I suggest Bush for a face, his face should be on the toilet paper. One would have to be a brave man do that though. You can be sure Rush or one of his cohorts would decree a fatwah on you and you would be dead in no time.
Capitalism is the disease, not the cure.
I know it's heresy to say that these days but that ought to tell you something. Unfortunately capitalism has become a cult these days. The fact of the matter is that capitalism is nothing but sin with lipstick on. It encourages the worst traits of mankind. What's worse it's a voratious destroyer of natural resources and is eating away on the only planet we have to live on.
This doesn't mean capitalism doesn't work for some people. It does. Those who are especially greedy, lustful, mean, and cruel do very well under capitalism. Those who hold those sociopathic impulses at bay do much worse. How did Jesse Jackson put it? "capitalism without capital is just another ism".
That's not really true. The corporations pretty much control the govt. If a corporation wants something (say some oil wells in Iraq) it simply has the govt do it for them.
Since corporations can buy and sell senators at will they have all the power the govt has and more.
The guy I was talking to was saying that Gates is trying to win something.
I do appreciate your naivete though. Please keep that innocence when you grow up.
Look, you posted about MS offering jobs to top level clinton officials, you posted about influential democratic senators expressing their support for MS. Despite this the Justice dept went after MS hard. This tells me that they were not influenced by these things.
"The reason why breakup was not pursued was because two separate appeals courts said not to,"
That's a misleading statement. The break up option was taken off the table as soon as Bush got into office and before it got to the appeals court.
"I'd prefer your unstated third option: he can write me off as a prick who isn't worth the time or effort it takes to listen."
So you want to be able to go around calling people nigger and dyke or whatever and they should just take it huh? Sorry it doesn't work that way. Should they also ignore your white smock, hood and the cross burning on their lawn?
"I prefer freedom and good sense to law or vigilantism."
Its not good sense to go around spewing racist comments.
There is no guarantee the fifth amendment protects you in this scenario. It hasn't been tested.
Also consider all the govt has to do is to utter the word "terrorism" and off you go to egypt or israel where some professional will talk to you for about a month and get your key. Best you can hope for is that you get keep one or both of your testicles by the time you are done.
Maybe you should also consider moving to a country where the govt is not so interested in monitoring and reading your email.
Just a thought.
Your post tells me that the clinton administration had integrity when it came to this matter. Despite attempts by MS to influence the administration by kissing up to the president, promising jobs to high level officials, despite pressure from his own party he (actually reno) went full steam ahead to prosecute MS.
On the other hand after the case had already been won the first think the Bush justice dept did was take the breakup off the table. Then they went after the softest of all we noodles to slap their wrists with.
You post is proof alone that the CLinton justice dept was less corruptable then the Bush justice dept.
CIO to IBM sales rep..
CIO: We had MS here and they made us a very attractive offer, they are going to give us thousands of dollars worth of free licenses and there is a rolex in it for me personally.
IBM: Do you really want your servers to have the same reliabity as your desktop? The same performance as outlook? The same bloat as office?
CIO: NO but I want that rolex.
IBM: Al right we too will give you a rolex, and a fiji golfing trip.
CIO: DONE.
The point is that the CIOs don't make decisions based on technology. Every CIO I have ever met has been an accountant who can't even manage to configure an outlook filter. They are sheeple who read PC magazines and make decisions based on that.
MS knows how to get to them but so does IBM. I don't know if MS can run with the big boys here, I kind of doubt it.
run firefox off your USB drive.
Better yet look for another job, clearly a company that is this rigid in it's thinking will not be able to survive in a fast changing world. Embrace change or die is the new business mantra.
IE does not have popup blocking, XP does. IE on W2K doesn't block shite.
I think a more interesting question is if they can take you off to be interrogated someplace in order to get you to spill your key. I am specifically thinking about guantanamo where "prisoners" were routinely given injections of unknown substances (presumably truth serums of sorts) or maybe even to syria, lebanon, egypt or israel for further "interrogation".
I think most people would crack just at the threat of such an action.
Actually you are not. You should check into the law in your state or town but most towns have laws against "fighting words" types of speech.
THe way I see it there are two options.
YOu walk up to somebody and say "get off my campus nigger and take your watermelon eatin sticky nappyhead crackwhore with you".
At that point he can either hit you or take you to court.
I would prefer he take you to court.
You want to go around insulting people without consequence (liek for example calling all women who disagree with you lesbians). There are always consequences to speech. SOmetimes it's legal but if people don't have legal options they will attempt to make you pay for your insults some other way.
I prefer the law to vigilanteeism.
"Have you heard of Michael Moore, Barbra Streisand, or Alec Baldwin being put on a no-fly list?"
Those are rich and powerful people, Bush isn't going to go after them like he goes after other people. He isn't that stupid, he know if he tries heavy handed tactics like shipping them off to guantanamo or making them disappear he is never going to get away with it. Having said that if you believe that those people don't have a fat file about them at the FBI and Rowes filing cabinet you are fool.
It would be trivial for MS to stop pirating. They already have a unique serial number, they already have a massive IT infrastructure. All they have to do is the shut down windows if it's already registered to somebody else. If people call in to register just check the database and refuse to give them a key if it's already registered.
I have news for you. MS wants windows to be pirated. Not by anybody in the US or the rest of the "first world", we are here to be milked so we can subsidize people stealing in africa or india. Everbody else is welcome to steal all the copies of windows they want.
If MS ever actually wanted to stop piracy and did it would be the best day ever for open source.
Linux prevented MS from leveraging their desktop monopoly to gain a monopoly on servers.
Apple prevented MS from leveraging their desktop monopoly to gain a monopoly on media players (and DRM).
MS failed miserably on their own when attempting a monopoly on mobile phones by stabbing their partners in the back (I guess they couldn't help themselves).
It still remains to be seen if firefox, openoffice, linux etc will be able to break monopolies MS already has in place. lets all hope so for the good of mankind.
Microsoft is a hooker that will steal your wallet after you have rolled over and went to sleep. You won't be able to call the police either because you are too ashamed and embarrased to be have slept with her in the first place.
The worst part is that she wasn't that great of a lay in the first place, you were probably better off trying to get you sex for free.
Well allright then. You should arm yourself in case of a japanese attack again.
Wow, you should not have posted that link. You are a first class asshole aren't you?
"He just wanted to when Linux would get easier. That's it. It's a reasonable question."
No, he was just trolling. He lied about how easy it was to install windows. Linux is already easier to install then windows.