Okaye Okaye. It seems to me that the judge
is trying to do this research.
The Restraining Order is just something
the judge passed down in order to buy
time to do exactly that.
What should the ISP do? They should
use forwarding to comply with the order,
and in the mean time, collect data to
show what a hardship this whole ordeal
is putting them through.
That way, when the Big Day comes, they
will have hard numbers to present the
judge, instead of just abstract concepts
that you'd have to be well versed in
technology to understand.
Yes, that's what this is for a judge:
abstract concepts.
Also, is the Customer trying to take
their IP-adress permanently or
is this just about trying to keep the
old IP-adress long enough to implement the
transition in an orderly fashion?
Furthermore, if ARIN can revoke
IP-space at a moment's notice,
that needs to be changed.
They should be required to give
adequate Prior Notice far enough
in advance as to allow all parties
involved to brace themselves for
the impact.
Well, I tried to cross-reference to
read those posts of yours
that you seem to be making a reference to.
This would have been possible if you
got your own slashdot account, logged
on, and used it to make your posts.
But since you posted as Anonymous Coward,
I can't do this.
That's one of the nice things about User
Accounts. It makes it possible to see
Other Posts by Same Author.
Someone, therefore, who posts as
Anonymous Coward shouldn't make references
such as "See my other posts", and
definitely shouldn't put others
down for not having read them.
In some ways I'm not sure how this is different on the surface from cell phone number portability.
For one thing, doing this won't force CelPhone
providers to completely uproot the way their
network operates.
In that sense, this customer's request
is more analogous to moving from one
area to another and asking to keep the
same land-based number.
Do you think I got to keep the came
land-based phone number when I moved from
Knoxville to Oak Ridge?
No!
And these cities are well within the
same local-calling area.
Also, a phone number is the primary
way of reaching someone from the
user's viewpoint.
Not so with IP adresses.
When I go to a given web-site, I
don't enter the IP adress on my
browser. I enter the DNS name.
And if they don't have one, it's
their fault. Those are
portable.
When I call someone on the phone,
however, I don't enter their name,
or any DNS name.
There is no public lookup-table for
translating a mneumonic name to a phone
number.
There is no lookup-table at all, for
that matter, unless I have entered
it myself into my phone (and that means
also that if someone's phone number
were to change, it wouldn't get
updated unless I updated it myself).
Basically, with phone-numbers (unlike
IP-adresses) if the phone-number isn't
portable, there is no portable
way of someone being reached by phone.
Problem is: Good programmers are becoming
fewer and farther between.
Good programmers are becoming an endangered
species because they just don't get along
well with CEOs.
This is because the CEO is all about deadlines,
and will invariably cross swords with a good
programmer, who insists on taking however long
it takes to write the program propperly.
Aw what a crock!
This crazy logic (if you actually take
it seriously, which I don't)
can be appied to anything you
wish to apply it to.
If you're worried about GNU being too
centralized, but not worried about
Micro$oft being so centralized, your
reality circuits must surely be damaged.
I see your point. However, this problem could easiliy be rectified by requiring anyone who takes liberty to make such a release in a given country under those circumstances to pay a reasonable royalty fee to the author. That way, the author still gets paid for his or her hard work (thus fulfilling the purpose of copyright) - and the publisher doesn't deserve to get paid, because they were the ones who decided to just sit back instead of releasing it in the given country. Nothing can send to publishers a message of "ya snooze ya looze" better than a policy like this.
If they don't want to take the risk of releasing it to those countries too in a timely manner, then they should run the alternate risk of someone else bringing it to those countries first.
Also, with Copyright issues aside, I suspect that (if accompanied with a phonetic guide to the Japanese writing systems) having the Japanese manga and a separate script could make it easier to lern the Japanese language. I would welcome a chance to learn Japanese any day of the week!
May I remind people in general of something? The original reason why Copyright was invented was to ensure that the author got paid for his or her work: it was *not* to limit distribution. Translating something to a language in which it is previously unavailable should be regarded as fair use, *not* as Intellectual Property Theft - as it does not take away from the author's revenue stream (as the author was *already* not collecting revenue from the audience who speak the target language) and there are people who might not get the chance to read the work at all if such fair use is banned.
But I can't help but wonder if the effort would be better spent working on Wine or allowing Linux or FreeBSD to use Windows drivers. But as you said, why not? It's their time and their choice.
Why not, you ask? I thought that just
a second before you answered that
question yourself.
You said that the time spent working
on ReactOS would be better spent
working on Linux and WINE.
(Maybe even fixing that kink that
causes WINE apps to pre-empt all
other apps on the desktop instead
of being well-integrated with the
windowing environment like the
Linux-native apps - but that's
another story.)
Seriously, working on ReactOS
may be fun: but working on
Linux is desparately needed.
Let's wake up and smell the coffee.
Whether we like it or not, the Open
Source movement is under attack
from a several companies,
probably spearheaded by Micro$oft.
If Open Source programmers want to
continue having viable platforms
like Linux where we can do our
own stuff and have it viable,
now is not the time that we have
the luxury of being able to just
scratch our itches and worry
about nothing else.
Each of us needs to spend a
certain amount of our time
devoted to projects that can
pull the rug out of the Micro$oft
monopoly.
In other words:
Now is the time for all good
programmers to come to the aid
of their operating system.
Yes, I know what I'm saying is a bit
inconvenient.
But this inconvenience is a necessary
one.
If we want to continue to have our
freedom for long, we each need to
give up a little bit of our free
time for this community service.
The Brave New World (yes, this is a
Huxleyan reference) moves in on us.
If we don't move to stop it, it
will succeed.
Now, if this guy really and
honestly believes that
ReactOS is the best way to go
about pulling the rug from under
the Micro$oft monopoly, then More
Power To him.
But otherwise, he should put the
project aside, and try to help
Linux dislodge the monopoly that
hangs over it like an axe.
You say that blocking port 25 for most users won't break E-mail if they provide an SMTP server? That may be true: but only if they provide a quality SMTP server... which Comcast incidentally does not.
For instance, I had trouble sending E-mail through Comcast, and the guy at tech-support told me that the SMTP server wouldn't allow me to send it if the "From:" line didn't have a Comcast adress on it. That's a problem for me, because I want the "From:" adress on the E-mail messages that I send to be my main E-mail adress (which gets automatically forwarded to my Comcast adress).
I agree with Fred Langa that Linux does
not support as much hardware as Windows
does.
But I don't think just lowering the price
of Linux is the solution to that problem.
True, some distros of Linux are
rediculously priced (like SuSe won't
even ship with Apache unless you order
the enterprisey version!) but
others aren't.
And many distros, if you don't want
to shell out the money for a boxed
copy, you're allowed (and in some
cases even encouraged) to download.
As for the fact that going with
Linux restricts your choices as far
as hardware is concerned,
leaving you with a more limited
hardware-compatibility list;
this too wouldn't bother me
if only one thing were different:
if only it were easier and more
straightforward to find the stuff
that is on this more limited
hardware-compatibility list.
Finding hardware to put together
a Linux system can be a very
daunting task for many would-be
Linux users: and not just because
there are fewer things supported.
If you go into a store looking for,
in this example, a DVD rom for your
computer:
if you're running a version of
either Windows or MacOS,
you can look at the box of each
piece of hardware, and it will
usually tell you if it supports
your system.
No such luck with Linux.
Only once do I recall ever having
seen something with a "Works with
Linux" sticker on it: and I don't
remember for sure what it was, but
it sadly was a device that was
meant for doing something that I had
no use for at the time.
Let's start with what I
will call "Step 1".
To find stuff that works with
Linux you have to deal with
complex Hardware Compatibility
Lists. And you will want probably
be able to access it while you're
in the store. This will require
you to either (a) massacre some trees
to print out several pages worth
of informatioin or (b) access the
online copy *somehow* while you're
in the store.
My CompactFlash memory drive (the
only piece of at-the-time Linux
compatible hardware I was ever
able to find without my dad's help
or someone else's) I found because
the clerk was able to allow me to
use option -b-.
Usually, however, unless you're
willing to be ruthless to our
green-leaved neighbors, you are
already out of luck.
Now to Step 2.
Once you're in the store with
a means of figuring out what
will and will not work with
Linux, you have to hope that
something on the list
is still on the shelves.
(You can't guarantee the
quality of something you get
used - and if you're planning
to try to order it new online
that can be a whole can-of-worms
to some people too - and yes,
people whom Linux will have to
accomodate in order to gain
wide acceptance.)
Doing this may be possible
if you are running the latest
version of Linux - which you
may have perfectly legitimate
reasons not to want to be
constrained by such a requirement.
For example, I use RedHat Linux
7.3 because I don't know how to
fix all those dysfunctional things
in Red Hat Linux 9. (I know there
is a way to do it - but I don't know
how.)
Of course, in theory, I could
download and
install the drivers necessary
that came out since 7.3, and thereby
increas my hardware selection to
what's supported by RH 9.0, and beyond
even that.
But in reality, that option is only
availabe to kernel-experts.
Now, I'm no fool or computer
newbie. I'm a heck of a good
computer programmer, if I do
say so myself.
And if finding Linux hardware
is above my head at times,
then it is probably beyond the
look-up-in-the-sky range
for the typical user
that you'd have to appeal to to
get widespread Linux acceptance.
As for Step 1:
I think a database could be
put together which contains
several bits of information
on each piece of hardware,
including what major distros the
piece of hardware works with,
how hard is it to work with the
hardware (I mean: is it supported out
of the box or do you have do download
and install driver?)
and channels of availability
(What stores is it available in?
And if a store has an online version
Slashdot Mirror
Okaye Okaye. It seems to me that the judge is trying to do this research. The Restraining Order is just something the judge passed down in order to buy time to do exactly that. What should the ISP do? They should use forwarding to comply with the order, and in the mean time, collect data to show what a hardship this whole ordeal is putting them through. That way, when the Big Day comes, they will have hard numbers to present the judge, instead of just abstract concepts that you'd have to be well versed in technology to understand. Yes, that's what this is for a judge: abstract concepts.
Also, is the Customer trying to take their IP-adress permanently or is this just about trying to keep the old IP-adress long enough to implement the transition in an orderly fashion?
Furthermore, if ARIN can revoke IP-space at a moment's notice, that needs to be changed. They should be required to give adequate Prior Notice far enough in advance as to allow all parties involved to brace themselves for the impact.
Well, I tried to cross-reference to read those posts of yours that you seem to be making a reference to. This would have been possible if you got your own slashdot account, logged on, and used it to make your posts. But since you posted as Anonymous Coward, I can't do this.
That's one of the nice things about User Accounts. It makes it possible to see Other Posts by Same Author. Someone, therefore, who posts as Anonymous Coward shouldn't make references such as "See my other posts", and definitely shouldn't put others down for not having read them.
In some ways I'm not sure how this is different on the surface from cell phone number portability.
For one thing, doing this won't force CelPhone providers to completely uproot the way their network operates. In that sense, this customer's request is more analogous to moving from one area to another and asking to keep the same land-based number. Do you think I got to keep the came land-based phone number when I moved from Knoxville to Oak Ridge? No! And these cities are well within the same local-calling area.
Also, a phone number is the primary way of reaching someone from the user's viewpoint. Not so with IP adresses. When I go to a given web-site, I don't enter the IP adress on my browser. I enter the DNS name. And if they don't have one, it's their fault. Those are portable.
When I call someone on the phone, however, I don't enter their name, or any DNS name. There is no public lookup-table for translating a mneumonic name to a phone number. There is no lookup-table at all, for that matter, unless I have entered it myself into my phone (and that means also that if someone's phone number were to change, it wouldn't get updated unless I updated it myself). Basically, with phone-numbers (unlike IP-adresses) if the phone-number isn't portable, there is no portable way of someone being reached by phone.
Problem is: Good programmers are becoming fewer and farther between. Good programmers are becoming an endangered species because they just don't get along well with CEOs. This is because the CEO is all about deadlines, and will invariably cross swords with a good programmer, who insists on taking however long it takes to write the program propperly.
Aw what a crock! This crazy logic (if you actually take it seriously, which I don't) can be appied to anything you wish to apply it to. If you're worried about GNU being too centralized, but not worried about Micro$oft being so centralized, your reality circuits must surely be damaged.
I see your point. However, this problem could easiliy be rectified by requiring anyone who takes liberty to make such a release in a given country under those circumstances to pay a reasonable royalty fee to the author. That way, the author still gets paid for his or her hard work (thus fulfilling the purpose of copyright) - and the publisher doesn't deserve to get paid, because they were the ones who decided to just sit back instead of releasing it in the given country. Nothing can send to publishers a message of "ya snooze ya looze" better than a policy like this.
If they don't want to take the risk of releasing it to those countries too in a timely manner, then they should run the alternate risk of someone else bringing it to those countries first.
Also, with Copyright issues aside, I suspect that (if accompanied with a phonetic guide to the Japanese writing systems) having the Japanese manga and a separate script could make it easier to lern the Japanese language. I would welcome a chance to learn Japanese any day of the week!
May I remind people in general of something? The original reason why Copyright was invented was to ensure that the author got paid for his or her work: it was *not* to limit distribution. Translating something to a language in which it is previously unavailable should be regarded as fair use, *not* as Intellectual Property Theft - as it does not take away from the author's revenue stream (as the author was *already* not collecting revenue from the audience who speak the target language) and there are people who might not get the chance to read the work at all if such fair use is banned.
But I can't help but wonder if the effort would be better spent working on Wine or allowing Linux or FreeBSD to use Windows drivers. But as you said, why not? It's their time and their choice.
Why not, you ask? I thought that just a second before you answered that question yourself. You said that the time spent working on ReactOS would be better spent working on Linux and WINE. (Maybe even fixing that kink that causes WINE apps to pre-empt all other apps on the desktop instead of being well-integrated with the windowing environment like the Linux-native apps - but that's another story.)
Seriously, working on ReactOS may be fun: but working on Linux is desparately needed. Let's wake up and smell the coffee. Whether we like it or not, the Open Source movement is under attack from a several companies, probably spearheaded by Micro$oft. If Open Source programmers want to continue having viable platforms like Linux where we can do our own stuff and have it viable, now is not the time that we have the luxury of being able to just scratch our itches and worry about nothing else. Each of us needs to spend a certain amount of our time devoted to projects that can pull the rug out of the Micro$oft monopoly. In other words: Now is the time for all good programmers to come to the aid of their operating system.
Yes, I know what I'm saying is a bit inconvenient. But this inconvenience is a necessary one. If we want to continue to have our freedom for long, we each need to give up a little bit of our free time for this community service. The Brave New World (yes, this is a Huxleyan reference) moves in on us. If we don't move to stop it, it will succeed.
Now, if this guy really and honestly believes that ReactOS is the best way to go about pulling the rug from under the Micro$oft monopoly, then More Power To him. But otherwise, he should put the project aside, and try to help Linux dislodge the monopoly that hangs over it like an axe.
You say that blocking port 25 for most users won't break E-mail if they provide an SMTP server? That may be true: but only if they provide a quality SMTP server ... which Comcast incidentally does not.
For instance, I had trouble sending E-mail through Comcast, and the guy at tech-support told me that the SMTP server wouldn't allow me to send it if the "From:" line didn't have a Comcast adress on it. That's a problem for me, because I want the "From:" adress on the E-mail messages that I send to be my main E-mail adress (which gets automatically forwarded to my Comcast adress).
I agree with Fred Langa that Linux does not support as much hardware as Windows does. But I don't think just lowering the price of Linux is the solution to that problem.
True, some distros of Linux are rediculously priced (like SuSe won't even ship with Apache unless you order the enterprisey version!) but others aren't. And many distros, if you don't want to shell out the money for a boxed copy, you're allowed (and in some cases even encouraged) to download.
As for the fact that going with Linux restricts your choices as far as hardware is concerned, leaving you with a more limited hardware-compatibility list; this too wouldn't bother me if only one thing were different: if only it were easier and more straightforward to find the stuff that is on this more limited hardware-compatibility list.
Finding hardware to put together a Linux system can be a very daunting task for many would-be Linux users: and not just because there are fewer things supported. If you go into a store looking for, in this example, a DVD rom for your computer: if you're running a version of either Windows or MacOS, you can look at the box of each piece of hardware, and it will usually tell you if it supports your system. No such luck with Linux. Only once do I recall ever having seen something with a "Works with Linux" sticker on it: and I don't remember for sure what it was, but it sadly was a device that was meant for doing something that I had no use for at the time.
Let's start with what I will call "Step 1". To find stuff that works with Linux you have to deal with complex Hardware Compatibility Lists. And you will want probably be able to access it while you're in the store. This will require you to either (a) massacre some trees to print out several pages worth of informatioin or (b) access the online copy *somehow* while you're in the store. My CompactFlash memory drive (the only piece of at-the-time Linux compatible hardware I was ever able to find without my dad's help or someone else's) I found because the clerk was able to allow me to use option -b-. Usually, however, unless you're willing to be ruthless to our green-leaved neighbors, you are already out of luck.
Now to Step 2. Once you're in the store with a means of figuring out what will and will not work with Linux, you have to hope that something on the list is still on the shelves. (You can't guarantee the quality of something you get used - and if you're planning to try to order it new online that can be a whole can-of-worms to some people too - and yes, people whom Linux will have to accomodate in order to gain wide acceptance.)
Doing this may be possible if you are running the latest version of Linux - which you may have perfectly legitimate reasons not to want to be constrained by such a requirement. For example, I use RedHat Linux 7.3 because I don't know how to fix all those dysfunctional things in Red Hat Linux 9. (I know there is a way to do it - but I don't know how.)
Of course, in theory, I could download and install the drivers necessary that came out since 7.3, and thereby increas my hardware selection to what's supported by RH 9.0, and beyond even that. But in reality, that option is only availabe to kernel-experts.
Now, I'm no fool or computer newbie. I'm a heck of a good computer programmer, if I do say so myself. And if finding Linux hardware is above my head at times, then it is probably beyond the look-up-in-the-sky range for the typical user that you'd have to appeal to to get widespread Linux acceptance.
As for Step 1: I think a database could be put together which contains several bits of information on each piece of hardware, including what major distros the piece of hardware works with, how hard is it to work with the hardware (I mean: is it supported out of the box or do you have do download and install driver?) and channels of availability (What stores is it available in? And if a store has an online version