" I don't remember if this is default behavior..."
Yes, it is. I have a PowerBook with 10.4.x but don't boot to OSX too often. So it is an out-of-the-box + any update configuration and I just looked and the box was checked.
Currently, Sharepoint specifically relies on the OWC (MS Office Web Component) ActiveX controls. So that's fine in an office environment full of MS boxes with IE but it doesn't look like a good idea for the Internet with unknown connecting clients, IMHO. And I see MS wants to introduce it as a web tool. Is this going to be yet another method of introducing incompatabliity on the Internet?
"The cryptographic software components which we use currently were written in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, Norway, and Sweden."
"When we create OpenBSD releases or snapshots we build our release binaries in free countries to assure that the sources and binaries we provide to users are free of tainting."
" There is no way they could know what the weather was like 1200 years ago."
No? Do you think a forcast such as this wouldn't be accurate 1200 years ago? A winter storm is evolving over the South, sparking heavy rain and thunderstorms with snow increasing across parts of many mountain ranges. The storm will target the East this weekend.
The weekend is not shaping up for the Viking chieftain, Rurik, to led raids on Northern Russia as the storm continues its Eastern advance. And Alfred the Great major victory over the Danes is in for a soggy battle. Don't forget to bring your umbrella and hand warmers.
"...seriously, the technology [DRM] is not bad, it is corporations abusing it to get more power...."
That's right. And let's hope that we, as consumers, can vote with our dollar if it's abused. But my glass is half-empty perspective tells me the consumer is going to get screwed. Time will tell.
"Simply put, hearing loss is a function of volume over time."
I think impulse sounds can cause damage to your hearing too even if it's in the range of OSHA's sound pressure requirements of 9.5 bel. So maybe the type of music was a factor, I wonder.
"He could never wake up, and $10M will sit for eternity accruing interest"
Nah, not too soon in the future, people will start getting e-mails that say something to the effect:
Dear Mr Foobar
I represent the financial estate of a Mr David Pizer. I manage approximately $10M USD of a frozen Mr Pizer and his account. I'm giving you, of all people, an exclusive opportunity to share a 70/30 cut of this large sum of wasted, frozen money. But you must act fast! 419 other people were given this same offer to become rich over night without having to do ANYTHING!
All you have to do...
Please, Mr. Foobar, you must maintain absolute confidentiality to ensure success...
The new study, in contrast, looks at what would happen to the amount of space junk if no rocket bodies or spacecraft were launched in the next 200 years.
Apparently, the current junk out there will create more junk by colliding with itself. How long for it all to be gone? Dunno. I imagine it's a function of each objects size, speed and orbit.
" This constant, unwavering anti-Microsoft fanaticism of Slashdot is really getting tedious.
I think if you went to a Republican Convention, you wouldn't find many people who support the Democratic party, now would you. Why? Same thing here. This is a site that promotes Open Source. And naturally, you find Open Source minded people here, duh. And my observations is that Open Source people don't like the control-freak nature of Microsoft. So they aren't going to speak highly of them, now are they.
" Why does the title give me a mental image of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail..."
Me too. After reading what Ballmer said, I almost soiled my armor because I was so scared. He looks like a harmless little bunny rabbit. But nevertheless and regardless of the warnings heeded by the wizard to look at all of the bones of the dead companies and his big, sharp, pointy teeth, I deployed an OSS solution anyway while all the others ran away from it. Now, they are looking for the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch to save them from the resulting lock-in and artificial restrictions that entrap them.
"Oh, and I've never had one bit of spyware nor any viruses infect my Windows system. Ever. Maybe I just know how to take care of my system?"
That's a good point. And it demonstrates that really any general purpose operating system needs an experienced, knowledgeable user to keep it safe and secure these days. I find that task is easier when you don't have an operating system with a big, fat bulls-eye target painted on it though.
"The OASIS OpenDocument format is, was, and always will be centered around OpenOffice.org. It is as much OOo's format as Microsoft's XML formats are Microsoft's."
BFD. It doesn't matter. Microsoft can have its special,more advanced XML format too. Just add the simple option of SAVE AS->OpenDocument to their Office suite. Now the user has a choice.
"Web standards are fine and good, but people still code to the 'one true standard' for the majority of web users, which is still IE. "
That, I believe, is because people don't intentionally code for just IE. It ends up that way because they developed with Microsoft tools. If you develop web stuff without Microsoft products, you will be hard-pressed to create an IE only web page.
Remember, the WWW in the URL line means World Wide Web; not MWW (Microsoft Wide Web).
" but everyone know[sic] the standard is the Word 2000 format."
I don't share your interpretation of a standard, And at best it's a self-proclaimed standard. And most definitely it's a standard for paying members of a private club. The reverse engineering efforts you mention are not the way one goes about interfacing to a "standard" for interoperability.
"...they'll explain this is why they want to work with the OSDL to create an objective report covering a large number of scenarios where there may not be an overall winning OS, but rather a number of good suggestions where OSS and Windows work best."
I can't share your rational optimism of what Microsoft wants from this so-called competition because my tinfoil hat (darn thing) isn't tuned for those frequencies. But I do believe Microsoft's marketing department will not see it that way. And Microsoft will never even consider the comparison of EULAs in this study.
By that I mean, if Microsoft products have an edge in a particular scenario, why would someone who has a mixed environment want something that only wants to lock you in, lock others out, impose artificial constraints (number of processors, number of clients in your cost) and not interoperate with your other non Microsoft products? I think the edge would have to be a big one to out-way those factors for me.
When you install Windows, you are presented with their EULA and asked to accept it. But their is a problem. Most people can't, completely anyway, because it is encrypted with legalese.
So, I wondered, why would such an important, legal-binding license agreement that's intended to be read, understood, accepted or rejected by John Q. Public be written so only a lawyer could understand it? I mean not all of Microsoft's customers are lawyers are they? I know I'm not. In fact I don't think most people even know a lawyer whom they could ask to come over and decrypt the ELUA for them while they wait to install the OS. It's not very user friendly to the consumer - Microsoft's customers.
I have read unencrypted software EULAs before so I know it can be done. In fact, legalese encryption is a good measure, IMHO, of whether or not someone is trying to hide something which can't really be a good thing for a consumer product which is arguably becoming a commodity these days under any circumstances.
Slashdot Mirror
" I don't remember if this is default behavior..."
Yes, it is. I have a PowerBook with 10.4.x but don't boot to OSX too often. So it is an out-of-the-box + any update configuration and I just looked and the box was checked.
" Sharepoint could also be quite useful."
Currently, Sharepoint specifically relies on the OWC (MS Office Web Component) ActiveX controls. So that's fine in an office environment full of MS boxes with IE but it doesn't look like a good idea for the Internet with unknown connecting clients, IMHO. And I see MS wants to introduce it as a web tool. Is this going to be yet another method of introducing incompatabliity on the Internet?
"If I remember right, that was part of the reason encryption on OpenBSD was done in Canada."
Read about it here: http://www.openbsd.org/crypto.html
From the link:
"The cryptographic software components which we use currently were written in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, Norway, and Sweden."
"When we create OpenBSD releases or snapshots we build our release binaries in free countries to assure that the sources and binaries we provide to users are free of tainting."
And a summary of Canada's export controls on cryptographic software here: http://www.efc.ca/pages/doc/crypto-export.html
"Microsoft has rarely (if ever) used the lawsuit as a weapon."
u re_print.html And the best part, he WON all by himself.
Oh, ask David Zamos, a poor college student, who was under attack from Microsoft. http://clevescene.com/issues/2005-03-30/news/feat
-
" There is no way they could know what the weather was like 1200 years ago."
No? Do you think a forcast such as this wouldn't be accurate 1200 years ago?
A winter storm is evolving over the South, sparking heavy rain and thunderstorms with snow increasing across parts of many mountain ranges. The storm will target the East this weekend.
The weekend is not shaping up for the Viking chieftain, Rurik, to led raids on Northern Russia as the storm continues its Eastern advance. And Alfred the Great major victory over the Danes is in for a soggy battle. Don't forget to bring your umbrella and hand warmers.
"...seriously, the technology [DRM] is not bad, it is corporations abusing it to get more power...."
That's right. And let's hope that we, as consumers, can vote with our dollar if it's abused. But my glass is half-empty perspective tells me the consumer is going to get screwed. Time will tell.
"Simply put, hearing loss is a function of volume over time."
I think impulse sounds can cause damage to your hearing too even if it's in the range of OSHA's sound pressure requirements of 9.5 bel. So maybe the type of music was a factor, I wonder.
"I don't see any point in dual-booting a Mac with Linux..."
Maybe you want to test your web pages with different HTTP clients?
"He could never wake up, and $10M will sit for eternity accruing interest"
Nah, not too soon in the future, people will start getting e-mails that say something to the effect:
Dear Mr Foobar
I represent the financial estate of a Mr David Pizer. I manage approximately $10M USD of a frozen Mr Pizer and his account. I'm giving you, of all people, an exclusive opportunity to share a 70/30 cut of this large sum of wasted, frozen money. But you must act fast! 419 other people were given this same offer to become rich over night without having to do ANYTHING!
All you have to do...
Please, Mr. Foobar, you must maintain absolute confidentiality to ensure success...
Sincerely,
Mr. Scamee Nigerianez
"Sounds like a self-correcting problem to me!"
Did you RTFA?
The new study, in contrast, looks at what would happen to the amount of space junk if no rocket bodies or spacecraft were launched in the next 200 years.
Apparently, the current junk out there will create more junk by colliding with itself. How long for it all to be gone? Dunno. I imagine it's a function of each objects size, speed and orbit.
That's the worst poem I've ever heard! Okay, just stick to the commentary. 8-)
"Why is it that naive, idealistic comments get modded up, but harsh realistic comments get modded down?"
Judging by your uid, I can't say you must be new here. 8-)
This CLI/GUI argument is old as the hills. If you can't see the value in both of these interfaces, you have spent too much time in only one, IMHO.
"for some stupid ramp up the courthouse steps for a few old farts in wheelchairs???? "
One day that will be you. You don't stay young forever as you know. And what will your words be then?
" This constant, unwavering anti-Microsoft fanaticism of Slashdot is really getting tedious.
I think if you went to a Republican Convention, you wouldn't find many people who support the Democratic party, now would you. Why? Same thing here. This is a site that promotes Open Source. And naturally, you find Open Source minded people here, duh. And my observations is that Open Source people don't like the control-freak nature of Microsoft. So they aren't going to speak highly of them, now are they.
" Why does the title give me a mental image of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail..."
Me too. After reading what Ballmer said, I almost soiled my armor because I was so scared. He looks like a harmless little bunny rabbit. But nevertheless and regardless of the warnings heeded by the wizard to look at all of the bones of the dead companies and his big, sharp, pointy teeth, I deployed an OSS solution anyway while all the others ran away from it. Now, they are looking for the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch to save them from the resulting lock-in and artificial restrictions that entrap them.
"Freedom as in beer."
That should be free as in beer. You know, like when your friend gives you a beer when you come over. It's free to you but he paid for it.
"Freedom as in speech".
That would be free as in libre.
"Oh, and I've never had one bit of spyware nor any viruses infect my Windows system. Ever. Maybe I just know how to take care of my system?"
That's a good point. And it demonstrates that really any general purpose operating system needs an experienced, knowledgeable user to keep it safe and secure these days. I find that task is easier when you don't have an operating system with a big, fat bulls-eye target painted on it though.
"The OASIS OpenDocument format is, was, and always will be centered around OpenOffice.org. It is as much OOo's format as Microsoft's XML formats are Microsoft's."
BFD. It doesn't matter. Microsoft can have its special,more advanced XML format too. Just add the simple option of SAVE AS->OpenDocument to their Office suite. Now the user has a choice.
"Web standards are fine and good, but people still code to the 'one true standard' for the majority of web users, which is still IE. "
That, I believe, is because people don't intentionally code for just IE. It ends up that way because they developed with Microsoft tools. If you develop web stuff without Microsoft products, you will be hard-pressed to create an IE only web page.
Remember, the WWW in the URL line means World Wide Web; not MWW (Microsoft Wide Web).
" but everyone know[sic] the standard is the Word 2000 format."
I don't share your interpretation of a standard, And at best it's a self-proclaimed standard. And most definitely it's a standard for paying members of a private club. The reverse engineering efforts you mention are not the way one goes about interfacing to a "standard" for interoperability.
Excellent link! Thanx.
"...they'll explain this is why they want to work with the OSDL to create an objective report covering a large number of scenarios where there may not be an overall winning OS, but rather a number of good suggestions where OSS and Windows work best."
I can't share your rational optimism of what Microsoft wants from this so-called competition because my tinfoil hat (darn thing) isn't tuned for those frequencies. But I do believe Microsoft's marketing department will not see it that way. And Microsoft will never even consider the comparison of EULAs in this study.
By that I mean, if Microsoft products have an edge in a particular scenario, why would someone who has a mixed environment want something that only wants to lock you in, lock others out, impose artificial constraints (number of processors, number of clients in your cost) and not interoperate with your other non Microsoft products? I think the edge would have to be a big one to out-way those factors for me.
LOL! But that's okay. I read the pitcures and look at the articles too.
Is reading their EULA.
When you install Windows, you are presented with their EULA and asked to accept it. But their is a problem. Most people can't, completely anyway, because it is encrypted with legalese.
So, I wondered, why would such an important, legal-binding license agreement that's intended to be read, understood, accepted or rejected by John Q. Public be written so only a lawyer could understand it? I mean not all of Microsoft's customers are lawyers are they? I know I'm not. In fact I don't think most people even know a lawyer whom they could ask to come over and decrypt the ELUA for them while they wait to install the OS. It's not very user friendly to the consumer - Microsoft's customers.
I have read unencrypted software EULAs before so I know it can be done. In fact, legalese encryption is a good measure, IMHO, of whether or not someone is trying to hide something which can't really be a good thing for a consumer product which is arguably becoming a commodity these days under any circumstances.