The crap I spouted off was perfectly well understood by the tree-hugging hippy I was talking with. Incidentally, she doesn't know much about computers or the politics of Open Source vs. Closed, and her knowledge of Linux is that it isn't made by Microsoft. Her next email to me said:
I know, but see the thing is that he does dictate what you will use. And for some reason, we're letting him get away with it. That's what bothers me about the whole thing. I mean yes, of course, make as much money as you can. Warren Buffett is my hero. I suppose I should take my anger out on big brother instead of gates, but at some point you would hope that ethical, if not legal, considerations would come in.
What was untrue? This is my opinion, and if you want to refute anything I've said, I'm willing to listen. Like I said, I run Windows on my desktop machine.
The web page icon I was referring to is the graphic that appears in the Address field that never changes from the blue 'e' in IE. This was a weak example of how MS products don't adhere to standards, I admit, but I wasn't trying to impress anyone. I was simply spouting off my opinion quickly before I had to go to lunch.
Someone just asked me this not too long ago. Here's what I emailed her back:
No Microsoft for many reasons, really. I view Microsoft as the Borg (Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.), so anything Microsoft says can be done with a highly restrictive license scheme, I try to find an Open Source method of accomplishing the same task. OpenOffice or KOffice instead of Microsoft Office, Apache with php3 / Washington University FTPD instead of MS Internet Information Services, etc.
The Open Source community also seems to be in closer compliance with net-standard RFC's than MS proprietary products. For example, Mozilla has much better handling of cascading style sheets and web page icons than Internet Explorer, and includes some really nice features such as mouse gestures for page navigation. I use a variant of Mozilla called Phoenix on the help desk. Open source instant messengers, ssh (secure telnet), network protocols, all that stuff can be more easily and cheaply implemented in Linux than in Windows.
Avoidance of malicious programs is another reason. Viruses are spread in Windows. How often do you hear about a Mac virus? Malicious web applets targetting Internet Explorer, spyware (a biggie) targetting Windows, having to patch security flaws every week or two because of skript kiddies playing with toys that break into computers, all that gets old.
Finally, freely available software.
www.freshmeat.net and www.sourceforge.net are good examples.
Besides all that, I already have a Windows computer as a desktop that I can play games on. For what I would use a laptop for -- DVD's, music, diagnostic / data recovery tool, etc, Linux would better suit me.
The vulnerabilities came to light during a court case involving 'phantom' ATM transactions that users deny making but that banks still charge to customers accounts because they claim their systems are secure."
What the fuck are there video cameras embedded in ATMs for? When do they turn on? Have my efforts to moon the bank people been completely in vain?
Even if they are found to be in compliance with the GPL on their stolen code in court, wouldn't there *still* be an issue of copyright? AFAIK, publishing your code under the GPL doesn't give up your copyright on that code does it? From the GNU website:
Who has the power to enforce the GPL?
Since the GPL is a copyright license, the copyright holders of the software are the ones who have the power to enforce the GPL. If you see a violation of the GPL, you should inform the developers of the GPL-covered software involved. They either are the copyright holders, or are connected with the copyright holders.
An overturning of the GPL is not going to announce free reign of software pirates claiming GPL'd code as their own and making a buttload of money on it. Personally, I don't see it ever coming down to this detail though.
This is a little off topic, but on my mind so fuck it. I'm posting it anyway. On a telephone system, those three successive tones (the ones you get when you dial a wrong number) signal non-completion of a call. The Tele-zapper, sold in Radio Shack and other electronics stores, I believe emit these tones, effectively removing the receiver of the call from the call lists of the automated dialers of call centers. Assuming (weakly) that spammers emailed using a valid return address, wouldn't it be nice to have a similar device bouncing spam mails automatically? Years ago, Albert Yale wrote a program called BSM -- Bounce Spam Mail, for Windows. Seems like it worked like twice out of twenty for me. You can still find it on the net with a Google search and a little digging. Would it be possible to have an automated plugin similar to this? I'm not saying such a program would stop spam, but it would certainly be a nice counterpart to Baysean filtering, SpamNet-like utilities, and progressive and intelligent legislation.
If Iraq's own citizens are treated like this, what importance do you think Iraq regards rules of engagement or international law? The U.S. invasion of Iraq is not only liberatory, but also pre-emptive. Kuwait has been under Saddam's thumb for a generation. After Kuwait, who's next -- Turkey? Egypt? And by what means -- with the chemical weapons Saddam claims not to have? Would you rather turn a blind eye while all this happens?
Our government has a history of lying to the public to sucker people into fighting wars. The cult of government secrecy has long distorted our public policy.
Not in debate, but you must see that Ernie makes a valid point that in revealing the evidence we have, the risk of what we potentially give up in tactical advantage outweighs our need to appease the French.
If someone expects me to die for them, they better give me a damn good reason, not "trust me. I know some secrets that I can't tell you."
Thank God our country's armed forces don't feel that way. Ironically, defending the freedom you have to be skeptical requires them to trust the decisions of the chain of command without skepticism -- and it is their willingness to be selfless that defends our right to be assholes =) But I don't think your intended point was about service in the armed forces -- rather, the U.S.'s need to justify our actions to the rest of the U.N. Well, weeks of debate haven't solved this issue for the U.N. ambassadors, and neither will our debate on Slashdot.
It bothers me that you think the U.S. is going to war for oil. Ernie at Ernie's House of Whoopass sums it up best.
I speak now to the clueless imbeciles who say, "Iraw doesn't have any weapons of mass destruction -- that's why the US can't produce any proof that they do!" Listen closely now, because I'm only going to say this one time. Ya ready?
You stupid fuck.
Yeah produce proof for the world to see, that's what we need to do. That'd kind of shortsighted thinking has gotten our asses into hot water before, and if we make the same mistake here, we'll just be setting ourselves up for more devastating terrorist attacks in the future. Hey, wanna know the last time the US was forced into revealing secret evidence just to win the world opinion? After the bombing of the American and Israeli embassies in Manila back in 1994, we had to reveal taped phone conversations to support the indictment of the bombers. So classified recordings of conversations between Osama and his dipshit followers saying things like, "Hell yeah we did it", along with the knowledge that the US had these advanced eavesdropping capabilities, were laid bare for the scrutinizing eyes of the world, both friend and foe alike.
You see Osama was using encrypted satellite phones which were supposedly 100% secure and impervous to electronic eavesdropping -- probably the only reason he felt comfortable enough to openly admit this connections to the planning and execution of the bombings. And until the tapes were released he didn't know that US surveillance could tap into his secure phones, so he thought he was safe and discussed his business without reservation. So guess what? Ever since then we haven't been able to eavesdrop on any of his phone conversations, because there haven't been any. Knowing his phones were compromised, he abandoned them in favor of "word to ear" communications and in doing so took away one of our best abilities to defend against future terror attacks.
If the secure phone tapping advantage wasn't given up, would we have had enough of a warning to prevent Sept 11th? Well, it's kind of a stretch, but I suppose it's certainly conceivable. We didn't have any warning about the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania back in 1998. Or the USS Cole bombings that killed 17 sailors just three years ago. Both of which were the handiwork of Osama and his Al Queda brethren.
So now we are forced to publicly show evidence on Iraq, and potentially lose another advantage in the war of information, all to appease the peaceniks who say there's no reason to invade Iraq. Kids, I'm here to tell ya the proof is there. We ain't getting all dressed up for this because some balloonheads think G.W. has a score to settle for his pappy, we're getting dressed up because there's a reason. I just hope we don't have to sell our souls to the devil again, just so the fucking French and the rest of the Europeans don't have to sneer when they say "Bah, American cowboys."
For the record, we aren't going to war. We haven't been in a war since WW2. This is a police action, enforcing maybe not international law, but justice nonetheless. Saddam has lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, been consistently evasive and obstinate in his compliance with U.N. inspectors, and even gone so far as to threaten to use his non-existant weapons on the U.S.
I've rambled enough about this. Someone else take over. Time for a smoke break.
Sometimes it's easier to grep for an answer than flip flip flip for it. I have a few tech books I read through when I'm on the toilet, but other than that, the books don't have as good a refresh rate as my monitor as I'm searching Google for HOWTO's. Books usually have lots more information than I'm looking for as a quick reference, and it's kind of a pain weeding out the extraneous info.
nevermind. I just found it here. It doesn't look like you can install Xandros by downloading that source, but it is enough to statisfy the conditions of the GPL I guess. Sorry.
Hey, the article linked to Xandros, a commercial Linux distribution. Xandros's website references the GPL on their source code page, stating that:
Many of the licenses that govern the redistribution this software require Xandros to make the source code for these components available to anyone who receives a copy of the product. You can access the source code for the Free and Open Source software components in Xandros Desktop in our
FTP archive.
I fail to see the source code for much of anything there except KDE. Has anyone used Xandros, and know that the distribution CD comes with source, or at least know where the source is available? The reason I ask is that I was hoping to download and try this distribution out. I realize that it's within Xandros's rights not to publish the source or even the binaries online of their installation routine, front ends, or anything else they've coded -- but where is their adherance to the GPL for software they haven't written?
Sometimes licking the phone is how I ask for a raise. Depends on the boss, really. I wouldn't recommend this if you're a telemarketer, though. That's a mistake I'll never forget.
Any prototype for a video phone I've ever seen has the option to disable / enable video broadcasting. For normal use, you probably wouldn't have to show your face, but it certainly would put a new twist on phone sex =)
Second thought. . . phone sex without video is kinda like having the lights off. Even I'm sexy with the lights off.
Before I read this article, I assumed security flaws in web browsers involved activex, javascript, or basically *script that wasn't a problem in the days when HTML only rendered text and images. The image bug:
really got me concerned though. If you're interested to know, Phoenix wasn't affected by this bug, and the other *script bug vulnerable features can be easily disabled on a critical computer.
There is no law that says web browsers have to have lots of security flaws that can remain published for several weeks before patches are issued on an obscure web page? Pshh, next thing I'll see will say my MS servers are poorly secured.
Not all slashdotters are trolls bud. I am sure this wasn't an easy decision to make -- kind of like kicking someone out of the Peace Corps or United Way. There's no easy way to do it. I don't envy the deciding group's situation, but moreso, I don't envy the mixed feelings involved in having to wave goodbye to someone who has provided an invaluable contribution to such a monumental project. FreeBSD will go on though, and Matt Dillon's talent will certainly provide invaluable contributions for other projects. Sorry things have to happen for the bad though.
Does Sega really need propping up? Aren't they still kicking butt in the coin-op industry? It seems more like Microsoft begging to keep their marriage in spite of lower console games sales. It seems reasonable to me that MS has projected the console sales much higher than what has come to pass, and that if it is truly Sega that is the JPN developer in question, they are not happy about devoting a higher budget to produce games on a console that isn't selling as well as they'd hoped; therefore, the games themselves aren't selling as well as Sega hoped; therefore again, Sega is threatening to quit developing on a not-quite-so-profitable platform.
if there is to be a non p2p media sharing usage for this protocol, it has to get industry support. Read M$
I agree. A great example is the archival world. PKware's zip format has been the standard compression scheme, despite gzip and bzip2's better compression ratios. But if you email your mother a compressed file, better make it a zip file.
And don't get me started on the non-standard HTML implementation of IE. . .
If [the judge] does find in favor of Hollywood, then what? The law may take out Hemming and Zennström, but it can't stop a peer-to-peer network that requires no central entity to run. Ultimately, the power to snuff Kazaa rests solely in the hands of Kazaa users. Getting them to do so means first giving them a better place to go.
I wholeheartedly agree with your comment, but I also agree with the article's point of view that Kazaa isn't on its way out. If Sharman networks is forced out of business, who will force music pirates to stop running software that has no dependency on Sharman networks once it's been coded, posted and downloaded? For that matter, what effect will Kazaa's demise have on Kazaa Lite or Diet Kazaa, which users can also use to access the fast track network? This network seems to be as permanent as the web, Usenet or IRC. It would be as easy to enforce a ban on the fast track network as, say, Usenet or IRC, which are not only other legitimate networks, but also vehicles of piracy.
In other words, shutting down Kazaa would be about as effective as dismantling mIRC where there also exists xchat, bitchx, pirch, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
What was untrue? This is my opinion, and if you want to refute anything I've said, I'm willing to listen. Like I said, I run Windows on my desktop machine.
The web page icon I was referring to is the graphic that appears in the Address field that never changes from the blue 'e' in IE. This was a weak example of how MS products don't adhere to standards, I admit, but I wasn't trying to impress anyone. I was simply spouting off my opinion quickly before I had to go to lunch.
This is a little off topic, but on my mind so fuck it. I'm posting it anyway. On a telephone system, those three successive tones (the ones you get when you dial a wrong number) signal non-completion of a call. The Tele-zapper, sold in Radio Shack and other electronics stores, I believe emit these tones, effectively removing the receiver of the call from the call lists of the automated dialers of call centers. Assuming (weakly) that spammers emailed using a valid return address, wouldn't it be nice to have a similar device bouncing spam mails automatically? Years ago, Albert Yale wrote a program called BSM -- Bounce Spam Mail, for Windows. Seems like it worked like twice out of twenty for me. You can still find it on the net with a Google search and a little digging. Would it be possible to have an automated plugin similar to this? I'm not saying such a program would stop spam, but it would certainly be a nice counterpart to Baysean filtering, SpamNet-like utilities, and progressive and intelligent legislation.
A damn good reason for police action
If Iraq's own citizens are treated like this, what importance do you think Iraq regards rules of engagement or international law? The U.S. invasion of Iraq is not only liberatory, but also pre-emptive. Kuwait has been under Saddam's thumb for a generation. After Kuwait, who's next -- Turkey? Egypt? And by what means -- with the chemical weapons Saddam claims not to have? Would you rather turn a blind eye while all this happens?
=)
If Congress doesn't declare war, we are not in a war. (Article I, section 8, clause 11, the U.S. Constitution)
I've rambled enough about this. Someone else take over. Time for a smoke break.
Sometimes it's easier to grep for an answer than flip flip flip for it. I have a few tech books I read through when I'm on the toilet, but other than that, the books don't have as good a refresh rate as my monitor as I'm searching Google for HOWTO's. Books usually have lots more information than I'm looking for as a quick reference, and it's kind of a pain weeding out the extraneous info.
nevermind. I just found it here. It doesn't look like you can install Xandros by downloading that source, but it is enough to statisfy the conditions of the GPL I guess. Sorry.
Sometimes licking the phone is how I ask for a raise. Depends on the boss, really. I wouldn't recommend this if you're a telemarketer, though. That's a mistake I'll never forget.
Any prototype for a video phone I've ever seen has the option to disable / enable video broadcasting. For normal use, you probably wouldn't have to show your face, but it certainly would put a new twist on phone sex =)
Second thought. . . phone sex without video is kinda like having the lights off. Even I'm sexy with the lights off.
There is no law that says web browsers have to have lots of security flaws that can remain published for several weeks before patches are issued on an obscure web page? Pshh, next thing I'll see will say my MS servers are poorly secured.
.)
(someone had to be the first to say it. .
Not all slashdotters are trolls bud. I am sure this wasn't an easy decision to make -- kind of like kicking someone out of the Peace Corps or United Way. There's no easy way to do it. I don't envy the deciding group's situation, but moreso, I don't envy the mixed feelings involved in having to wave goodbye to someone who has provided an invaluable contribution to such a monumental project. FreeBSD will go on though, and Matt Dillon's talent will certainly provide invaluable contributions for other projects. Sorry things have to happen for the bad though.
Does Sega really need propping up? Aren't they still kicking butt in the coin-op industry? It seems more like Microsoft begging to keep their marriage in spite of lower console games sales. It seems reasonable to me that MS has projected the console sales much higher than what has come to pass, and that if it is truly Sega that is the JPN developer in question, they are not happy about devoting a higher budget to produce games on a console that isn't selling as well as they'd hoped; therefore, the games themselves aren't selling as well as Sega hoped; therefore again, Sega is threatening to quit developing on a not-quite-so-profitable platform.
if there is to be a non p2p media sharing usage for this protocol, it has to get industry support. Read M$
I agree. A great example is the archival world. PKware's zip format has been the standard compression scheme, despite gzip and bzip2's better compression ratios. But if you email your mother a compressed file, better make it a zip file.
And don't get me started on the non-standard HTML implementation of IE. . .
From the article: I wholeheartedly agree with your comment, but I also agree with the article's point of view that Kazaa isn't on its way out. If Sharman networks is forced out of business, who will force music pirates to stop running software that has no dependency on Sharman networks once it's been coded, posted and downloaded? For that matter, what effect will Kazaa's demise have on Kazaa Lite or Diet Kazaa, which users can also use to access the fast track network? This network seems to be as permanent as the web, Usenet or IRC. It would be as easy to enforce a ban on the fast track network as, say, Usenet or IRC, which are not only other legitimate networks, but also vehicles of piracy.
In other words, shutting down Kazaa would be about as effective as dismantling mIRC where there also exists xchat, bitchx, pirch, etc.
hehe or an area in New York. Actually, There is a pretty good definition of this particular SOHO here.
And umm, the Zerg will be replaced by Windows bugs.
Elect Steve Jobs President of the United States
;)
well, the mac community is probably larger than the perot community.