"Our goal is to ensure that January 2, 2000 is just another business day for Bank of X."
Anyone see the problem with this statement?
I don't see the problem, and if you really closed your account because of that, I hope you didn't make a total fool of yourself by saying so to the teller.
So you're saying, free and open software can be helped if people who create controversial programs will take their name off of it, and letting the codes go anonymously? Of course!
Egos don't seem to allow this, EVER.
The guy with the DVD code couldn't just let out the code as 'darthvader@deathstar.empire.net'?
He wouldn't run the risk of litigation, to say the least!!
BUT NO. Had to sign his real name, and as a consequence, he has to take the files off his computer.
"...the individual must either go into great debt or quit. "
This sometimes is the case, but it is quite urban-legend-ish.
The fact is that so many people go into legal situations with an attitude of ignorance, apathy and defeatism, and they go with their wallet out.
"Being Sued" does not drive everybody into bankruptcy. The situation is not as bleak as slashdot discussions and other pessimistic people want you to believe it is.
Most people who say that it's so, have never gone to court for anything more serious than a traffic ticket. And even fewer of them are lawyers (and MOST LAWYERS never see the inside of a courtroom.)
You CMU students may not care about your rights, but I can guarantee that if somebody accuses me of a crime, they had damn well better be prepared to present their evidence before a magistrate, according to my constitutionally guaranteed right to due process of law.
They accused me of a crime and already punished me, you say? The judge will hear about that in very clear terms, and I will have grounds to seek damages.
Not one of these 71 students who has been deprived of their constitutional right to due process upon being accused of a crime, has sought a hearing?
This is NOT about RIAA or MP3. It's about being accused of a crime by a private party, with that party taking punitive action. This is activity that we delegate to proper authority, not to private parties.
But if you want to accuse me of a crime, you'd better have a uniformed peace officer there to do it for you. Which police agency took this action? Which judge ruled that it was acceptable to terminate these student accounts?
Oh well, these kids don't care enough to really fight, they just complain. Daddy's money will probably get them a DSL line in less than the 4 weeks that their accounts are suspended.
"when somebody says to us, 'We have a problem with members of your community violating copyright laws,' we have to do something."
Actually, you've only "got to" do something if that somebody is a judge who has signed an order. Otherwise the only thing you've "got to" do is die and pay taxes, in no particular order.
Both of the totally blind people I've worked with could differentiate US currency by feel, even old bills. They were *very* careful about it, but good at it.
Oh well. They have to publish it, in order to patent it. Are you saying someone comes up with the cure for aids or whatever, and patents it, then doesn't let anybody make the drug? Or just the one licensee?
Well, people would probably make it anyway.
Patents are routinely violated.
If you patented something that had the impact of something like a cure for aids, a *lot* of people would just ignore it, and the courts probably would too.
There's not a jury in in the world that would hold you liable for this, in your extreme example of a cure for aids...
But even for non-earth-shaking inventions, patents are violated all the time, without consequences.
"walked into the building and told the president to immediately show him where every copy of their software was and who was using it."
Sure. Either come back with a federal marshal and a search warrant, or else a civil discovery request signed by a judge. My assistant will show you the door.
The skyrocketing costs of Pink Dog Dye is the real reason he needed the bucks. [/:-)
He is married to the kind of woman that any real man would commit crimes to keep happy. Or else, he realizes that a divorce would be even more costly...
You are correct. It is supposed to be silly. What you're saying with the arrow is supposed to be right. Isaac Newton spelled it out, very completely and correctly.
BUT.
Newton turns out to be wrong on the subatomic level.
I don't understand why people continue to try to use imagery such as flying arrows to explain the problems in quantum mechanics. You're supposed to be correct. But then experimentation comes along and consistently finds results that can't be explained like that.
You can't say "QM is bullshit because Arrows don't stand still when you blink."
So far there's been one response, some AC who can only say "blow it out yer ass."
In my opinion, the thing had damn well better look like a modem, e.g., something that can take AT commands. It's okay if there's no dialtone. But if I can't use it to dial directly to my choice of hosts (e.g., the shell on my home computer), and/or use it as a faxmodem from my laptop to any other fax point, it's just about worthless to me. If I have to use Sprint for an ISP, and only some specified protocol, it's equally useless.
Sprint has failed miserably at answering any of my questions about this. I even asked if I could email and engineer who has worked on the project.
Now my only hope is if such an engineer reads slashdot.
NVidia had their flak over the obfuscated driver thing - it just shows that we can't afford to immediately jump down companies' necks and annoy them when they make decisions we don't like
I could just as easily say "We can't afford not to..."
NVidia woke up one morning with their house on fire. They set the blaze and the community stoked it. They were not able to ignore it. They had to put the fire out. All the kind words in the world won't bring about such a turnaround as the presence of half a million complaints. You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar. But if you're trying to attract flies, you should use rotting meat.
I didn't complain, personally, preferring rather to gently suggest that as a Linux user and a repeat buyer of their products, they might have better results if they cater to the Linux community. I got a nice response, but that's not important. What's important is that a LOT of people voiced their outrage at the actions of NVidia. They could not ignore it. So they changed their policies. I wonder if they fired the guy who thought it was a good idea to obfuscate the code in the first place.
I read your message in hopes of seeing something like "I have the touchpoint phone and the rs-232 cable and it works like this yadda yadda" not "blow it out yer ass?"
My Touchpoint phone has an accessory listed for a cable that plugs it into a DB9 serial port. Supposedly, this allows it to be used as a modem for data and fax.
In addition to that capability, it has a web browser built in, which I've actually used to get driving directions from maps.yahoo.com. It does an RSA key exchange, and an ecrypted link. That's quite cool, but I'd rather just use the phone as an external for my notebook.
Which of you geeks has tried this? (Which of you developed it?) I've heard conflicting reports that a pcs phone is fast as a modem, and is slow.
Our old system admin, showed me some titanium notebooks, with Alpha processors, a few years back. This is much more interesting to me. What is the brand? I can't remember at all.
That would mean that you could pay $100 for a really tough carrying bag...
I was in the luggage store at the Mall the other day. I did not get the brand, but, perhaps foolishly, I asked to see "better quality" cases for portable computers. Guess what? They have them upwards of $600.00.
That's Six Hundred Dollars. For a leather bag. Equipment cases can run even higher, like the stuff for professional audio/video gear.
The $600.00 laptop bag had a (PATENTED!) cradle for the computer. If you dropped the bag, the computer would not hit the cement floor because of the way it was suspended. I actually liked it. But there's no way I'd pay that much for a piece of luggage, much less a briefcase. It's just not my style.
Anyway, I'm just posting to let everybody know that $100.00 does not buy you a carrying bag that is considered high end.
I just thought about this, and realized I paid almost this much for my guitar case. If you want to be very damned sure that your $4000.00 guitar arrives at the airport in one piece, the price of a pro road case does not seem outrageous at all. I'm sure professional photographers have the same issues. Even more so. I can only imagine the stress engendered by travelling with a Panaflex lens worth $16000.00, and the rest of the equipment increasing in value from there.
Slashdot Mirror
Even my boss gets... to show how 'with-it' he is.
The ones to fear are those who agree that he's 'with-it'.
Anyone see the problem with this statement?
I don't see the problem, and if you really closed your account because of that, I hope you didn't make a total fool of yourself by saying so to the teller.
So you're saying, free and open software can be
helped if people who create controversial programs
will take their name off of it, and letting the
codes go anonymously? Of course!
Egos don't seem to allow this, EVER.
The guy with the DVD code couldn't just let
out the code as 'darthvader@deathstar.empire.net'?
He wouldn't run the risk of litigation, to say the least!!
BUT NO. Had to sign his real name, and as a consequence, he has to take the files off his computer.
"...the individual must either go into great
debt or quit. "
This sometimes is the case, but it is quite urban-legend-ish.
The fact is that so many people go into legal situations with an attitude of ignorance, apathy
and defeatism, and they go with their wallet out.
"Being Sued" does not drive everybody into bankruptcy. The situation is not as bleak as
slashdot discussions and other pessimistic people
want you to believe it is.
Most people who say that it's so, have never gone
to court for anything more serious than a traffic ticket. And even fewer of them are lawyers (and MOST LAWYERS never see the inside of a courtroom.)
You CMU students may not care about your rights,
but I can guarantee that if somebody accuses me
of a crime, they had damn well better be prepared
to present their evidence before a magistrate,
according to my constitutionally guaranteed right
to due process of law.
They accused me of a crime and already punished me, you say? The judge will hear about that in
very clear terms, and I will have grounds to seek
damages.
Not one of these 71 students who has been deprived of their constitutional right to due process upon
being accused of a crime, has sought a hearing?
This is NOT about RIAA or MP3. It's about being
accused of a crime by a private party, with that party taking punitive action. This is activity that we delegate to proper authority, not to private parties.
But if you want to accuse me of a crime, you'd better have a uniformed peace officer there to do it for you. Which police agency took this action?
Which judge ruled that it was acceptable to terminate these student accounts?
Oh well, these kids don't care enough to really fight, they just complain. Daddy's money will probably get them a DSL line in less than the 4
weeks that their accounts are suspended.
"when somebody says to us, 'We have a problem
with members of your community violating
copyright laws,' we have to do something."
Actually, you've only "got to" do something if that somebody is a judge who has signed an order.
Otherwise the only thing you've "got to" do is die
and pay taxes, in no particular order.
Both of the totally blind people I've worked
with could differentiate US currency by feel,
even old bills. They were *very* careful about
it, but good at it.
If it has a modem, you can set it up for remote
administration. Never mind the ISP, silly.
"I would love to have Hendrix
teach me guitar."
So track down Ernie Isley. It's the closest
you'll get -- Ernie was Jimi's teacher...
The "old people" who I've helped with computers
have generally done better with character interfaces (cp/m, dos) than with windowing interfaces.
We assume too much about gui's. Icons just plain
don't make sense to some people, even after using them for years.
Keep it simple. Make a login profile that brings
up pine. Don't spring any applications on the old
man other than Email.
Oh well. They have to publish it, in order to patent it. Are you saying someone comes up with
the cure for aids or whatever, and patents it,
then doesn't let anybody make the drug? Or just
the one licensee?
Well, people would probably make it anyway.
Patents are routinely violated.
If you patented something that had the impact of
something like a cure for aids, a *lot* of people would just ignore it, and the courts probably would too.
There's not a jury in in the world that would hold
you liable for this, in your extreme example of a
cure for aids...
But even for non-earth-shaking inventions, patents are violated all the time, without consequences.
"walked into the building and told the president to immediately show him where every copy of their software was and who was using it."
Sure. Either come back with a federal marshal and a search warrant, or else a civil discovery request signed by a judge. My assistant will show you the door.
Okay, I'm going to ask this again, now that
it's ontopic.
Has anybody tried the Sprint/Qualcomm Touchpoint
PCS phone with the serial cable? Does it work
like an external modem or what?
But let's start explaining the intricacies(sp?) of quantum physiscs or paleantology and I'm there.
I'm as far as Tao of Pooh and The Dancing Wu Li Masters (Zukav), Gödel, Escher, Bach,
Fermat's Enigma (Singh)...
The skyrocketing costs of Pink Dog Dye is the real reason he needed the bucks. [/:-)
He is married to the kind of woman that any real man would commit crimes to keep happy. Or else, he realizes that a divorce would be even more costly...
"Anyway, what happened to quantum causality. Doesn't that make an arrow."
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.
You are correct. It is supposed to be silly. What you're saying with the arrow is supposed to be right. Isaac Newton spelled it out, very
completely and correctly.
BUT.
Newton turns out to be wrong on the subatomic level.
I don't understand why people continue to try to use imagery such as flying arrows to explain the problems in quantum mechanics. You're supposed to be correct. But then experimentation comes along and consistently finds results that can't be explained like that.
You can't say "QM is bullshit because Arrows don't stand still when you blink."
The Dancing Wu Li Masters
by Gary Zukav ISBN 0-688-08402-8
It's a very easy-to-read introduction to the concepts of Quantum Mechanics.
So far there's been one response, some AC who can only say "blow it out yer ass."
In my opinion, the thing had damn well better look like a modem, e.g., something that can take AT commands. It's okay if there's no dialtone. But if I can't use it to dial directly to my choice of hosts (e.g., the shell on my home computer), and/or use it as a faxmodem from my laptop to any other fax point, it's just about worthless to me. If I have to use Sprint for an ISP, and only some specified protocol, it's equally useless.
Sprint has failed miserably at answering any of my questions about this. I even asked if I could email and engineer who has worked on the project.
Now my only hope is if such an engineer reads slashdot.
by Anonymous Coward on 16:50 Wednesday 13 October 1999 CDT I have the touchpoint phone and the rs-232 cable and it works like this blow it out yer ass
I'm still not quite sure I understand. I think I'll have to get the thing and try it myself to be sure.
NVidia had their flak over the obfuscated driver thing - it just shows that we can't afford to immediately jump down companies' necks and annoy them when they make decisions we don't like
I could just as easily say "We can't afford not to..."
NVidia woke up one morning with their house on fire. They set the blaze and the community stoked it. They were not able to ignore it. They had to put the fire out. All the kind words in the world won't bring about such a turnaround as the presence of half a million complaints. You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar. But if you're trying to attract flies, you should use rotting meat.
I didn't complain, personally, preferring rather to gently suggest that as a Linux user and a repeat buyer of their products, they might have better results if they cater to the Linux community. I got a nice response, but that's not important. What's important is that a LOT of people voiced their outrage at the actions of NVidia. They could not ignore it. So they changed their policies. I wonder if they fired the guy who thought it was a good idea to obfuscate the code in the first place.
Ex-squeeeeeeeeze me?
I read your message in hopes of seeing something
like "I have the touchpoint phone and the rs-232
cable and it works like this yadda yadda"
not "blow it out yer ass?"
How is that supposed to help?
My Touchpoint phone has an accessory listed
for a cable that plugs it into a DB9 serial
port. Supposedly, this allows it to be used
as a modem for data and fax.
In addition to that capability, it has a
web browser built in, which I've actually
used to get driving directions from maps.yahoo.com. It does an RSA key exchange, and
an ecrypted link. That's quite cool, but I'd rather just use the phone as an external for my
notebook.
Which of you geeks has tried this? (Which of you
developed it?) I've heard conflicting reports that a pcs phone is fast as a modem, and is slow.
Which is it?
Our old system admin, showed me some titanium
notebooks, with Alpha processors, a few years
back. This is much more interesting to me.
What is the brand? I can't remember at all.
That would mean that you could pay $100 for a really tough carrying bag...
I was in the luggage store at the Mall the other day. I did not get the brand, but, perhaps foolishly, I asked to see "better quality" cases for portable computers. Guess what? They have them upwards of $600.00.
That's Six Hundred Dollars. For a leather bag. Equipment cases can run even higher, like the stuff for professional audio/video gear.
The $600.00 laptop bag had a (PATENTED!) cradle for the computer. If you dropped the bag, the computer would not hit the cement floor because of the way it was suspended. I actually liked it. But there's no way I'd pay that much for a piece of luggage, much less a briefcase. It's just not my style.
Anyway, I'm just posting to let everybody know that $100.00 does not buy you a carrying bag that is considered high end.
I just thought about this, and realized I paid almost this much for my guitar case. If you want to be very damned sure that your $4000.00 guitar arrives at the airport in one piece, the price of a pro road case does not seem outrageous at all. I'm sure professional photographers have the same issues. Even more so. I can only imagine the stress engendered by travelling with a Panaflex lens worth $16000.00, and the rest of the equipment increasing in value from there.
Dammit, there's not a free Mathematica for
any other platform. Why do we have to take
abuse over everything not being free?