"They don't have laws such as the DMCA making it a crime to sell region free players"
However (albeit offtopic) the Apple Computers sold in the UK have region-coding enabled. Luckily I don't buy encrypted DVDs anyway, but that was a nasty surprise.
"The man and his family has shown more support for worthwhile causes than I'm sure some small countries have."
What's that got to do with trusting Microsoft?
Remember the "open letter to software enthusiasts". Stating the ideology that Free Software is stealing, and is evil? They're still espousing that position today, and it shows in the software purchase cost at most companies.
"Seriously...would YOU allow your hardware to accept random files from random people on the street?"
Absolutely -- it was a central feature of Konspire2B, which I still think is one of the most elegant/efficient transportion methods for various types of data. Kind of like a bittorrent/TV-station mix, where the users help out with bandwidth. Or like multicast except that it actually works on the internet.
Use wireless aswell as the internet for connections, and it becomes even more robust, with better availability, bandwidth, etc. That will be useful with video blogs, web and software (subscribe to this channel for wiki video news, software updates or slashdot stories from someone who's plugged-into a landline more recently than you, but check the sender's signature) as well as the obvious copyright-infringing uses. So maybe it has elements of a mesh network too. Some useful privacy aspects too (no ISP involved)
As you say, you need to be sure that your computer can handle malformed files safely (whether video, image, html, etc) and the client needs to be provably secure.
So software that can play an MPEG (etc.) without getting a virus is a prerequisite for systems like this. I think such software is probably needed anyway, even if you don't accept content from "unknown" sources.
Is a law designed to prevent disputes amongst owners of the first 20 printing presses in the 1500's best suited to arbitrating the flow of data between ubiquitous digital wireless devices?
It [power station] wasn't internet-connected. Some IT dude brought the virus in on his laptop.
I suspect we may be arguing similar things here, but:
"Internet connected" in the virus-containment sense, means things which process data which originated on the internet. Whether that happens via a router, or ethernet cable, or firewall, or laptop, or USB key, or someone typing it in, is somewhat irrelevant, so long as data can travel from one to the other.
Maybe "indirectly internet-connected" would be a better term.
And as for it being "difficult", well that's exactly the type of problem which viruses/worms are designed to solve. Travelling from the internet to a LAN to a laptop to another LAN to a target, is trivial for a worm. The only obvious difference, is that viruses which rely on direct internet connectivity (e.g. IRC) to transmit their payload, will be stopped when someone transfers it manually from network to network.
"How many oracle db's are connected directly to the internet?"
Shouldn't that be "how many oracle db's are connected directly to computers which might get infected with a virus"?
e.g. plenty of firewalled LANs got CodeRed, Sasser, etc. (including that nuclear power station which nobody thought was internet-connected)
Re:The only point I would disagree..
on
Insider Threat
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· Score: 1
"I would want access in case, for whatever reason"
That's far too sensible. What's supposed to happen is, you find out that some vital system is broken and the two people who have passwords necessary to fix it are on holiday or at a conference.
Even better if it's something like desktop OS or firewall upgrades needing authorisation, when a new virus comes out.
"Geeks wonder why people don't want to go into these fields [of IT and Computer Science]."
Seeing what IT and computer science enthusiasts have to endure as children at school makes it painfully obvious why there aren't more people wanting to persue that option.
I'm constantly surprised that "geeks" make it to age 16 (especially in the US) without Columbine-style incidents.
"Marquette cherishes its right and duty to seek and retain personnel who will make a positive contribution to its religious character, goals, and mission in order to enhance the Jesuit, Catholic tradition."
That said, if universities believe that anything not illegal is A-OK in the academic world, then they can STFU about plagarism and other "unethical but not illegal" activities by students.
"Also, some people spend less than 5 seconds deleting spam emails and some people spend more."
Most people don't spend 24 hours/day working though. And add the download time to that figure (not just deletion time), and the cost of sorting-out problems when you accidentally delete a legitimate email.
Another foreign government branch switches to an open source solution. Wow. How about "American corporation XYZ switches N hundred thousand employees to Firefox". That would be news!
Meanwhile, as the Pentagon continues to use Microsoft products, there are unconfirmed reports of torture and rape of civilians at the Redmond headquarters of that company. Not all military jokes are funny, even if they're historically accurate.
"If you are a businessman, have no illusions that your papers and files are safe in your hotel room in China. There have been documented cases of government-sponsored spies following businessmen and bugging or entering their hotel rooms to scour their belongings for useful trade secrets and intellectual property."
The most amusing thing is you make out this is unusual.
e.g. imagine being a UN delegate in a New York hotel and believing that secrets are safe in your hotel room...
I'll leave you to look up the "documented cases" of spying, bugging, and illicit taking of trade secrets that you seem to think only happen in foreign countries.
"Err... no. In 99% of situations, the user hasn't even realised they can change the default font"
Or does know, but only has the 3 or 4 fonts which can be redistributed by Ubuntu/Debian/whatever.
Most slashdot readers might not appreciate this because they either work for Microsoft, or dual-boot Windows and make a copy of Times New Roman every time they install something, but if you're not into paying royalties to a 1940's swiss designer just to read a web page, then you don't have much choice of good fonts.
For reference, Bitstream Vera and Gentium are the only "serious" ones I know, but if you've found a Free Software font which works well, do reply to this comment...
Slashdot Mirror
"Windows Media player for Mac was a joke anyway. Very buggy, playback would stop/hang randomly."
Our focus really is in delivering the Windows experience to customers...
"They don't have laws such as the DMCA making it a crime to sell region free players"
However (albeit offtopic) the Apple Computers sold in the UK have region-coding enabled. Luckily I don't buy encrypted DVDs anyway, but that was a nasty surprise.
"The man and his family has shown more support for worthwhile causes than I'm sure some small countries have."
What's that got to do with trusting Microsoft?
Remember the "open letter to software enthusiasts". Stating the ideology that Free Software is stealing, and is evil? They're still espousing that position today, and it shows in the software purchase cost at most companies.
"Just where does US jurisdiction end?"
Well it doesn't end at the Antarctic for one...
"Seriously...would YOU allow your hardware to accept random files from random people on the street?"
Absolutely -- it was a central feature of Konspire2B, which I still think is one of the most elegant/efficient transportion methods for various types of data. Kind of like a bittorrent/TV-station mix, where the users help out with bandwidth. Or like multicast except that it actually works on the internet.
Use wireless aswell as the internet for connections, and it becomes even more robust, with better availability, bandwidth, etc. That will be useful with video blogs, web and software (subscribe to this channel for wiki video news, software updates or slashdot stories from someone who's plugged-into a landline more recently than you, but check the sender's signature) as well as the obvious copyright-infringing uses. So maybe it has elements of a mesh network too. Some useful privacy aspects too (no ISP involved)
As you say, you need to be sure that your computer can handle malformed files safely (whether video, image, html, etc) and the client needs to be provably secure.
So software that can play an MPEG (etc.) without getting a virus is a prerequisite for systems like this. I think such software is probably needed anyway, even if you don't accept content from "unknown" sources.
"Having random people push random stuff on to my hardware? Not a chance."
TiVO users accept it. Radio listeners accept it. iRate users desire it. Aren't the same type of people buying music devices too?
"Illegal content? Copyright infringement?"
Is a law designed to prevent disputes amongst owners of the first 20 printing presses in the 1500's best suited to arbitrating the flow of data between ubiquitous digital wireless devices?
It [power station] wasn't internet-connected. Some IT dude brought the virus in on his laptop.
I suspect we may be arguing similar things here, but:
"Internet connected" in the virus-containment sense, means things which process data which originated on the internet. Whether that happens via a router, or ethernet cable, or firewall, or laptop, or USB key, or someone typing it in, is somewhat irrelevant, so long as data can travel from one to the other.
Maybe "indirectly internet-connected" would be a better term.
And as for it being "difficult", well that's exactly the type of problem which viruses/worms are designed to solve. Travelling from the internet to a LAN to a laptop to another LAN to a target, is trivial for a worm. The only obvious difference, is that viruses which rely on direct internet connectivity (e.g. IRC) to transmit their payload, will be stopped when someone transfers it manually from network to network.
It seems that any "valuable database" would be sufficiently backed up in non-attackable media.
Unless the worm modified some data which got backed-up. A week later, the untainted backups would be history.
(And even if you kept monthly backups, who's going to try restoring them without losing a month's work for the whole company?)
"But what about Klingon?"
Don't forget Polish...
"How many oracle db's are connected directly to the internet?"
Shouldn't that be "how many oracle db's are connected directly to computers which might get infected with a virus"?
e.g. plenty of firewalled LANs got CodeRed, Sasser, etc. (including that nuclear power station which nobody thought was internet-connected)
"I would want access in case, for whatever reason"
That's far too sensible. What's supposed to happen is, you find out that some vital system is broken and the two people who have passwords necessary to fix it are on holiday or at a conference.
Even better if it's something like desktop OS or firewall upgrades needing authorisation, when a new virus comes out.
"God I'd hate to live in the world you would create."
Indeed. Who needs to do a google search for their programming problems anyway, when you could just spend 3 weeks trying to solve it by yourself?
"Even Identical twins have different finger prints. They aren't exactly identical, despite sharing the same DNA"
That's why we have genetic fingerprinting -- for when you absolutely must convince a jury that two things are related.
"Geeks wonder why people don't want to go into these fields [of IT and Computer Science]."
Seeing what IT and computer science enthusiasts have to endure as children at school makes it painfully obvious why there aren't more people wanting to persue that option.
I'm constantly surprised that "geeks" make it to age 16 (especially in the US) without Columbine-style incidents.
Well, the chance approaches 1 as the school takes legal action.
Not just private, but religious too:
"Marquette cherishes its right and duty to seek and retain personnel who will make a positive contribution to its religious character, goals, and mission in order to enhance the Jesuit, Catholic tradition."
That said, if universities believe that anything not illegal is A-OK in the academic world, then they can STFU about plagarism and other "unethical but not illegal" activities by students.
"Also, some people spend less than 5 seconds deleting spam emails and some people spend more."
Most people don't spend 24 hours/day working though. And add the download time to that figure (not just deletion time), and the cost of sorting-out problems when you accidentally delete a legitimate email.
Another foreign government branch switches to an open source solution. Wow. How about "American corporation XYZ switches N hundred thousand employees to Firefox". That would be news!
;-)
Actually, that would be foreign news
BTW - GP was a joke; lighten up!
Meanwhile, as the Pentagon continues to use Microsoft products, there are unconfirmed reports of torture and rape of civilians at the Redmond headquarters of that company. Not all military jokes are funny, even if they're historically accurate.
Now the company just has to make BMWs available to the "general population"!
How about these?
"If you are a businessman, have no illusions that your papers and files are safe in your hotel room in China. There have been documented cases of government-sponsored spies following businessmen and bugging or entering their hotel rooms to scour their belongings for useful trade secrets and intellectual property."
The most amusing thing is you make out this is unusual.
e.g. imagine being a UN delegate in a New York hotel and believing that secrets are safe in your hotel room...
I'll leave you to look up the "documented cases" of spying, bugging, and illicit taking of trade secrets that you seem to think only happen in foreign countries.
"Err... no. In 99% of situations, the user hasn't even realised they can change the default font"
Or does know, but only has the 3 or 4 fonts which can be redistributed by Ubuntu/Debian/whatever.
Most slashdot readers might not appreciate this because they either work for Microsoft, or dual-boot Windows and make a copy of Times New Roman every time they install something, but if you're not into paying royalties to a 1940's swiss designer just to read a web page, then you don't have much choice of good fonts.
For reference, Bitstream Vera and Gentium are the only "serious" ones I know, but if you've found a Free Software font which works well, do reply to this comment...
"actually i have never noticed the slowdown, so that must be gnome ;)"
/usr/bin on a 700MHz computer?
It could also be the computer -- performance problems with a system are unlikely to show-up on development computers.
e.g. How many KDE or GNOME regression tests involve testing the file dialog box on
"I guess thats a good reason to start using encrypted proxies."
Or to make 50 connections per second to random addresses
"store that, fuckers!"
Make it popular enough, then we can send BT offline as they realise they'll need 500TB/day of storage.