Er, well, you're right that Russians tend to turn the Western "H" into their equivalent of a "G", but they don't do this with the Cyrillic transliteration of Pizza Hut, which is "Pitsa Khat". Although, in Russian, Harry Potter's first name is "Gari."
Tor is a good idea, and maybe even a step in the right direction, but it is by no means a "solution" for true Net anonymity and/or privacy. In fact, it is a better tool for attack anonymity than it is for privacy.
Call me paranoid, but I don't trust anyone other than the intended recipient to decrypt any sensitive data. The way I understand the program to work (correct me if I'm wrong) is that a "trusted" server on the end decrypts your packets and acts as the "proxy" between the tor network and the Internet. What if those trusted servers is compromised? Being so centralized, they make a good way to glean a lot of personal info.
Now, if you don't care about your data privacy, and just care about a hard to trace connection (i.e., for an attack, but there are plenty of other legitimate reasons), then Tor is pretty cool. However, since there are presently so few servers, and a lot of people DO seem to use Tor to crapflood IRC/forums/etc, it seems like more and more people are just banning the Tor IP addresses.
Also the luser-friendliness of Mac means fewer calls to tech support.
I have always thought this was a myth, especially in an "switch" environment that used to exclusively run a different platform. Since most employees aren't tech savvy, "user friendliness" has to do with what they learned on. If they were trained on, say, Windows, I would say that the differences in the UI would, at first anyway, cause more calls to tech support.
'Companies that were considering Linux are now buying Mac OS X instead.'
Of course they are. Why? Because there are a lot of legacy applications that write closed format documents with versions for Mac and Windows, but not Linux. This means that if a company wants to get the benefits that Mac and Linux offer over Windows, it will either have to buy Mac, or find some way to port its library of legacy documents over to an open format.
There are certaintly ways to do this in many cases, but going the Mac route would probably be easier, and maybe even cheaper or at least as expensive if you take man hours into consideration. Plus you have a strong corporate label backing your Mac setup, which you don't necessarily have with Linux, and this is very important to people.
"Unceasing warfare gives rise to its own social conditions which have been similar in all epochs. People enter a permanent state of alertness to ward off attacks. You see the absolute rule of the autocrat. All new things become dangerous frontier districts--new economic areas to exploit, new ideas or new devices, visitors--everything suspect. Feudalism takes firm hold, sometimes disguised as a polit-bureau or some similar structure, but always present." --Frank Herbert
Who wants to make a bet that they'll just keep on turning up the heat in this pot of water we're all sitting in? Er, what's that? It's already boiling?!
So let's jump out already. Seriously, we're being cooked alive.
I think this has to do with the fact that "offshoring" is seen as a really serious issue in the field. I heard someone the other day call Software Engineering the manual labor of the computer world. This, I think, coupled with the fact that you don't necessarily need a tough engineering degree to work with computers, makes a lot of people not go the Computer Science route at the university.
More likely, the open-source approach, meaning the pride developers take in making good (or at least decent) code, the peer review of said code, and quick fixing when a bug is found, will prevent a decline.
Or so one would hope. However, one must also take into consideration the fact that open source has a way of uncovering a lot more vulnerabilities. Granted, many of them as of late, at least with Firefox, haven't been very serious, were nit-picky, and were fixed rather quickly.
I have noticed, however, that a lot of people will just look at the number of vulnerabilities and make ill-formed opinions about open source products. They won't look at the severity or how quickly it was fixed, but they'll definitely look down on the product if they have to update it a "lot."
More than one of my clients has said something along the lines of, "Firefox/Linux/OSS? Isn't that really just as vulnerable as Microsoft stuff, but the community downplays the problem?"
So, in this way, the open source model can be a two-edged sword when it comes to persuading other people to go that route. The FUD seems to be working, at least from what I've seen.
In my opinion, this is the best scifi series to come out in a very long time. The characters are rough, flawed, and real. The acting isn't terrible, and neither is the dialogue, though, I could do without hearing "frak" or whatever every other word.
I've gotta say, though, that I don't like this timeslot at all. I can't speak for everyone, but I am not usually sitting around at home on Friday nights. I don't have any sort of recording device, so if it stays in this time slot, I won't be watching it very often.
I guess there's always bit torrent. I'll just buy the DVD set when it comes out. Yeah, that's it.
I like the Riga Veda UK opening theme better anyway.;)
OK, according to the article, it is totally, 100% the guy's fault for not understanding what he signed up for. Even so, the Slashdot blurb makes Wired sound like the freakin' mob or something. I have been a subscriber to Wired for a long time, and have never had any problems with them at all. It kind of irks me to see them protrayed so negatively for no good reason.
Editors, you really need to be a little more responsible with what you print, because this could have a really negative impact on Wired.
You know, I never believed the "official" story about the finger in the chili. I think the meat grinder just sort of choked and no one caught the mishap.
Wendy's beef is people.
I see that you are trying to run a non-Microsoft branded application! A Clippy 2.0: Terminator Edition helper cyborg has been dispatched to your location to assist you with your problem. (And it is a problem. Trust us.)
Upon his arrival, you can: a.) Choose to serve in a mining colony for twelve years b.) Pay the fine of "firstborn son or daughter" c.) Take a bullet in the brain
Call me pedantic, but I can't stand it when people capitalize every letter of the word "Mac," as if it's some sort of acronym. This seems to be happening more often for some reason. Cut it out!
I'm curious: how exactly would you suggest, in a purely capitalist system, that the creator of a thing which can be copied (and thus re-sold without any money going to the creator) protect his product? Put differently, how would support the people who innovate?
By "purely capitalist," I am assuming you mean "no state invervention in the market." In such a system, DRM backed by legislation would not be an issue, since there could be none. I would see two results from this scenario: the development of "perfect" DRM; or a change in the present business model.
You seem to be lumping DRM with copyright. DRM is an attempt to enforce copyright through technical means. Most forms of DRM presently achieve this at the expense of the end user's rights. This is why legislation made to enforce DRM is wrong.
In short, legislation to enforce copyright != legislation to enforce DRM.
...it doesn't surprise me in the least that companies - which exist in a capitalist system for the sole purpose of taking money from people - are stomping all over people's rights for the purpose of fattening their wallets.
Except that DRM enforced by legislation is about as far from capitalist as you can get. Let us not make a habit of associating free market capitalism with pro-corporate authoritarianism, if that is indeed what you were doing. The two are polar opposites.
If you want it gone, let them piss consumers off enough that there's a backlash and the distributors and producers have no choice but to strike a reasonable compromise between fair use and protection against theivery.
I am positive that they won't actually push consumers that far. They always stop right before the breaking point, let people get used to it, and keep going. The problem is that they have been allowed to go too far already, and as people become accustomed to the rising temperatures, they are willing to stomach even hotter waters.
Slashdot Mirror
Er, well, you're right that Russians tend to turn the Western "H" into their equivalent of a "G", but they don't do this with the Cyrillic transliteration of Pizza Hut, which is "Pitsa Khat". Although, in Russian, Harry Potter's first name is "Gari."
Call me paranoid, but I don't trust anyone other than the intended recipient to decrypt any sensitive data. The way I understand the program to work (correct me if I'm wrong) is that a "trusted" server on the end decrypts your packets and acts as the "proxy" between the tor network and the Internet. What if those trusted servers is compromised? Being so centralized, they make a good way to glean a lot of personal info.
Now, if you don't care about your data privacy, and just care about a hard to trace connection (i.e., for an attack, but there are plenty of other legitimate reasons), then Tor is pretty cool. However, since there are presently so few servers, and a lot of people DO seem to use Tor to crapflood IRC/forums/etc, it seems like more and more people are just banning the Tor IP addresses.
I have always thought this was a myth, especially in an "switch" environment that used to exclusively run a different platform. Since most employees aren't tech savvy, "user friendliness" has to do with what they learned on. If they were trained on, say, Windows, I would say that the differences in the UI would, at first anyway, cause more calls to tech support.
Of course they are. Why? Because there are a lot of legacy applications that write closed format documents with versions for Mac and Windows, but not Linux. This means that if a company wants to get the benefits that Mac and Linux offer over Windows, it will either have to buy Mac, or find some way to port its library of legacy documents over to an open format.
There are certaintly ways to do this in many cases, but going the Mac route would probably be easier, and maybe even cheaper or at least as expensive if you take man hours into consideration. Plus you have a strong corporate label backing your Mac setup, which you don't necessarily have with Linux, and this is very important to people.
"New OSS Project crafted by U.S. Government" or something similar would have been less confusing.
"Unceasing warfare gives rise to its own social conditions which have been similar in all epochs. People enter a permanent state of alertness to ward off attacks. You see the absolute rule of the autocrat. All new things become dangerous frontier districts--new economic areas to exploit, new ideas or new devices, visitors--everything suspect. Feudalism takes firm hold, sometimes disguised as a polit-bureau or some similar structure, but always present." --Frank Herbert
Who wants to make a bet that they'll just keep on turning up the heat in this pot of water we're all sitting in? Er, what's that? It's already boiling?!
So let's jump out already. Seriously, we're being cooked alive.
Not sure about the 'forever' part. You can't have highs without lows, after all.
I think this has to do with the fact that "offshoring" is seen as a really serious issue in the field. I heard someone the other day call Software Engineering the manual labor of the computer world. This, I think, coupled with the fact that you don't necessarily need a tough engineering degree to work with computers, makes a lot of people not go the Computer Science route at the university.
Or so one would hope. However, one must also take into consideration the fact that open source has a way of uncovering a lot more vulnerabilities. Granted, many of them as of late, at least with Firefox, haven't been very serious, were nit-picky, and were fixed rather quickly.
I have noticed, however, that a lot of people will just look at the number of vulnerabilities and make ill-formed opinions about open source products. They won't look at the severity or how quickly it was fixed, but they'll definitely look down on the product if they have to update it a "lot."
More than one of my clients has said something along the lines of, "Firefox/Linux/OSS? Isn't that really just as vulnerable as Microsoft stuff, but the community downplays the problem?"
So, in this way, the open source model can be a two-edged sword when it comes to persuading other people to go that route. The FUD seems to be working, at least from what I've seen.
Maybe Fox will improve the site's layout. As it stands, Myspace is a very poorly designed website, especially compared to The Facebook.
Seven Ninja Kids. I am not kidding. After watching this film, you'll murder babies.
Pardon my ignorance, but are these statistics significant enough to warrant attention? What is the margin of error?
In my opinion, this is the best scifi series to come out in a very long time. The characters are rough, flawed, and real. The acting isn't terrible, and neither is the dialogue, though, I could do without hearing "frak" or whatever every other word.
;)
I've gotta say, though, that I don't like this timeslot at all. I can't speak for everyone, but I am not usually sitting around at home on Friday nights. I don't have any sort of recording device, so if it stays in this time slot, I won't be watching it very often.
I guess there's always bit torrent. I'll just buy the DVD set when it comes out. Yeah, that's it.
I like the Riga Veda UK opening theme better anyway.
You don't think that Apple will do something similar?
Boot time? Huh? I haven't rebooted my machine in over a month.
Editors, you really need to be a little more responsible with what you print, because this could have a really negative impact on Wired.
You know, I never believed the "official" story about the finger in the chili. I think the meat grinder just sort of choked and no one caught the mishap. Wendy's beef is people.
Is it just me, or does this picture from the simulation look a hell of a lot like this picture of a bunch of neurons? Hm... ;)
Upon his arrival, you can:
a.) Choose to serve in a mining colony for twelve years
b.) Pay the fine of "firstborn son or daughter"
c.) Take a bullet in the brain
I suppose that would be where a keylogger would come in handy.
Call me pedantic, but I can't stand it when people capitalize every letter of the word "Mac," as if it's some sort of acronym. This seems to be happening more often for some reason. Cut it out!
This is MAC. This is Mac.
It's not that hard, people.
By "purely capitalist," I am assuming you mean "no state invervention in the market." In such a system, DRM backed by legislation would not be an issue, since there could be none. I would see two results from this scenario: the development of "perfect" DRM; or a change in the present business model.
You seem to be lumping DRM with copyright. DRM is an attempt to enforce copyright through technical means. Most forms of DRM presently achieve this at the expense of the end user's rights. This is why legislation made to enforce DRM is wrong.
In short, legislation to enforce copyright != legislation to enforce DRM.
Except that DRM enforced by legislation is about as far from capitalist as you can get. Let us not make a habit of associating free market capitalism with pro-corporate authoritarianism, if that is indeed what you were doing. The two are polar opposites.
If you want it gone, let them piss consumers off enough that there's a backlash and the distributors and producers have no choice but to strike a reasonable compromise between fair use and protection against theivery.
I am positive that they won't actually push consumers that far. They always stop right before the breaking point, let people get used to it, and keep going. The problem is that they have been allowed to go too far already, and as people become accustomed to the rising temperatures, they are willing to stomach even hotter waters.
I'm getting those too. Crazy.