This guy is losing his lifeline because of the overreaction of a bunch of teenagers with nothing better to do and no concept of responsability. You people honestly scare the hell out of me sometimes. This guy could quite possibly file a suit against andover.net (depending on the wording of the original article filed on here) for defamation of character with malicious intent. That's right - if you made it out to seem like this guy was being a coward, and the mindless hordes of slashdot followed suit, then that is malicious. I sincerely hope that he does not file suit, but I hope that his business is not destroyed by this - and that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the honchos of slashdot will learn a major lesson. -- Matt Singerman
bravo for pointing out the mistake that I was going to point out myself. Just because this is a different medium does not mean that you are not responsible for your actions. -- Matt Singerman
Microsoft wants the WTO to impose a permanant ban on tariffs for online transactions of services and digital items. In other words, the tariffs that normally apply when you buy an online service (such as a monthly subscription to www.nudybar.com) do not cirrently exist. In theory, there should be a tariff. But because this is a digital service, it is not regulated at this time. See? -- Matt Singerman
Probably not. But a continuation of the temporary ban could actually be beneficial for developing countries (who, remember, the WTO is supposed to benefit the most) by allowing them more unrestricted access to items - items with heavy duties tend not to make their way into countries with poor distribution networks or a small demand. However, in the end, the ban should be lifted, and the items should be taxed in the same manner as all international trades are. -- Matt Singerman
Easier said than done. This is the problem with prorietary protocol systems - non-interoperatability. Someone (not me of course, I'm busy) needs to come up with a single standard protocol, get is approved by ISO or whoever else cares, and put that forward. Pressure messaging software makers to include this protocol in their service, even if they want to keep their own proprietary stuff, too.
Of course, that'll happen about the same time windows is voluntarily open-sourced. -- Matt Singerman
...it still doesn't come close to the US using the language of the Navajo people to send out encoded messages. This was the only US code the Japanese never cracked. And tragically, it may soon be lost to us, too. There is somewhere around 50 or 60 speakers of Navajo left in the world. -- Matt Singerman
Actually, you ninnies, it is because the Justice Department is a manifestation of the Executive Branch of the US Government. The White House has had somewhat of an involvement in almost all anti-trust suits and settlements, and Gore is probably just going to MS to see what they may need from the White House - namely, an Executive Order to help facilitate any breakup (such as, waiving certain penalties) or possible tax exemptions that would give MS more of a reason to free up source code.
Honestly, people, if you don't know anything about a subject, please please PLEASE refrain from posting about it. -- Matt Singerman
Perl is gentler on servers than C/C++ are. The require more computational power, plain and simple. It may not be much, but it is there. And when you have a server than is simultaneously serving up, say, 10,000 scripts, it can really add up. -- Matt Singerman
That was exactly what I was thinking. All this post -- and many of the comments -- proved is that geeks are just as fucking stupid as other guys are. Show women some respect, you bastards. They're human beings, just like you. -- Matt Singerman
Come on, so a large number of the people reading/. can't get laid; that does not make this news. A new filter idea, Rob: "Useless love crap" -- Matt Singerman
I would say it is pretty doubtful that this would be an immediate consequence, since the technology to do so AND make it profitable AND make it relatively cheap (say, less than $25,000) is just not there yet. On the other hand, it would open up the market for people to TRY. And the idea of there being scores of private launch pads (coordinated by NASA, of course) is definately a good one - competition will lower prices by and of itself. -- Matt Singerman
"Compaq... supporting the Linux open source community since 1994"
Eh? How have they been serciving the open source community since 1994?
At any rate... I think this is a rairly good thing. At the very least, it gives average folks at home who may thing that *nix is too complicated a chance to see it. And this may be the only chance for a whole bunch of people, who are afraid to commit to using it, and who don't have access to it anywhere else (work, school, etc.). -- Matt Singerman
Viruses can exist on any operating system -- most just do on Windows because (1) it is th emost popular and commonly used OS, and (2) it is such an easy target. There have been several cases of "trojan horses" turning up in OSS projects. Could these be the viruses of the future? -- Matt Singerman
Company A is growing at a good clip, has a stable bottom line, and wants to expland. To do so, they issue an Initial Public Offering - stock. They sell this stock at a certain initial price in order to raise cash to fund expansion. Also, company founders hold on to a fair amount of the stock, and as the company does well and the price goes up, the owners become very well off. Red Hat, for instance, raised roughly $84 million with its IPO; Mr. Young is now worth aro0und $1 billion (at least, on paper).
There are LOTS of publicly traded companies; there have just been a lot of big-name tech IPOs lately. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you -- this doesn't affect you in any way, unless you own the stock. -- Matt Singerman
Even if all the software in the world was open-source, there would still be upgrades. Anyone who taked Programming 101 knows that there will always be a bug somewhere. Yes, prices will drop dramatically in the future, especially as open-source projects become more prevalent in everyday computer usage, and not because there will be no more upgrading.
I really liked what he had to say about customization and embedded devices. Perhaps he is thinking of this all together -- you won't upgrade your software, but it maybe will detect when upgrades are available by itself and take care of it for you? An interesting idea... -- Matt Singerman
When this movie first came out, the Air Force was able to put enough pressure on the production company to include the warning message at the beginning. Even so, the movie disturbed enough people to force a change in the chain of command, so that only the President could authorize a launch of a nuclear weapon.
A movie changed a very major part of the military and federal beauracracies. Never understimate the power of movies. -- Matt Singerman
Just how does one pay for something this big? Presumeably, the government will be picking up a large portion of the bill, but even still, the country's GDP is only around $110 billion... Considering that they already run an account deficit of roughly 25% annually, it's gonna be a tight budget... -- Matt Singerman
I would say that Microsoft is more interested in actually ENCOURAGING more companies like Interix... They want to show that the high-end UNIX apps (3D rendering and modelling program, industrial layout programs, etc.) that have been developed for years and years will not have to be rebuilt from the ground up, thusly increasing the market for NT. The conversion tools market is a relatively small market, and I think MS has more interest in encouraging it to grow, and thusly giving the illusion that this growth is because many companies want to port to NT from UNIX, because so many more people like NT over UNIX! (See where the MS marketing spin comes in?) -- Matt Singerman
Well, the ice shell would not always have a source of light, or more importantly, a source of heat energy... While it is facing Jupiter, there is be some elecrtomagnetic intereference with the huge planet that will cause some heat to be released on Europa's surface... And we all know that it is warmer during the day than at night. So, it may be possible that when Europa is facing the sun and is close enough to Jupiter, parts of its surface may heat up enough so that a liquid sea underneath the crust could break through, if even just a little bit. And on a very large moon covered completely with water, 98 feet is just a little bit:) -- Matt Singerman
Intel really has nothing to worry about as of right now. Assuming that they start selling the product before any law is passed, they will almost certainly not be able to face any sort of charges, because it will be considered grandfathered -- old technology that was legal before new laws.
Of course, the good lord knows Intel isn't going to do anything that isn't 100% risk-free, so I would not be terribly suprised if there is at the very least the potential for a back door that can be switched on at a later date. You'd have to look very closely at the technical specs to find it, I would imagine, though. -- Matt Singerman
Re:About "tapping" the Internet...
on
CALEA update
·
· Score: 1
Haha, the first, not the latter. I'm all about geeks breaking the law. -- Matt Singerman
Re:About "tapping" the Internet...
on
CALEA update
·
· Score: 1
I do not have the specific statistics in front of me, but in a three year period in the mid-90s, the government asked for roughly 15 THOUSAND wiretaps, and was granted all but one - ironically, the one they were denied was for Wen Ho Lee, suspected of giving nuclear secrets to China. Under the current law, the agencey requestion court permission to wiretap need not present hard evidence, like in an actual court proceeding, but must (in theory) have a solid basis for the need for the wiretap - suspicious behavior, previous criminal activity either at the location or with the individuals involved, the person is a suspect in a criminal case, etc. I say in theory because, more often than not, simple heresay and conjecture are used to get a court order to wiretap. Elected judges, much like politicians, are afraid of looking soft on crime, and are often not willing to go against something such as a wiretap, usually justifying it with the arguement that, if it bears no fruit, the agencey tapping will simply stop. -- Matt Singerman
This is a 10 year prediction map. Given the pace at which new technologies arise and can be implemented, I am sure that much of their plans are strictly tentative. The question is, will they change for the better (faster speeds sooner) or the worse (faster speeds later)?
Also, what does IBM have to say about this map?
All that said and done... Spare a dime to buy a guy a G4? -- Matt Singerman
Re:About "tapping" the Internet...
on
CALEA update
·
· Score: 1
Haha, I am gonna lose karma for being offtopic, but...
I totally agree with you on this - while I personally do not use drugs, and I strongly encourage all people I know not to use them, I believe that many illegal substances, such as hemp, marijuana, and ecstacy should be legal and controlled. It was just a hypothetical situation. -- Matt Singerman
Slashdot Mirror
This guy is losing his lifeline because of the overreaction of a bunch of teenagers with nothing better to do and no concept of responsability. You people honestly scare the hell out of me sometimes. This guy could quite possibly file a suit against andover.net (depending on the wording of the original article filed on here) for defamation of character with malicious intent. That's right - if you made it out to seem like this guy was being a coward, and the mindless hordes of slashdot followed suit, then that is malicious. I sincerely hope that he does not file suit, but I hope that his business is not destroyed by this - and that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the honchos of slashdot will learn a major lesson.
--
Matt Singerman
bravo for pointing out the mistake that I was going to point out myself. Just because this is a different medium does not mean that you are not responsible for your actions.
--
Matt Singerman
Microsoft wants the WTO to impose a permanant ban on tariffs for online transactions of services and digital items. In other words, the tariffs that normally apply when you buy an online service (such as a monthly subscription to www.nudybar.com) do not cirrently exist. In theory, there should be a tariff. But because this is a digital service, it is not regulated at this time. See?
--
Matt Singerman
Probably not. But a continuation of the temporary ban could actually be beneficial for developing countries (who, remember, the WTO is supposed to benefit the most) by allowing them more unrestricted access to items - items with heavy duties tend not to make their way into countries with poor distribution networks or a small demand. However, in the end, the ban should be lifted, and the items should be taxed in the same manner as all international trades are.
--
Matt Singerman
Easier said than done. This is the problem with prorietary protocol systems - non-interoperatability. Someone (not me of course, I'm busy) needs to come up with a single standard protocol, get is approved by ISO or whoever else cares, and put that forward. Pressure messaging software makers to include this protocol in their service, even if they want to keep their own proprietary stuff, too.
Of course, that'll happen about the same time windows is voluntarily open-sourced.
--
Matt Singerman
...it still doesn't come close to the US using the language of the Navajo people to send out encoded messages. This was the only US code the Japanese never cracked. And tragically, it may soon be lost to us, too. There is somewhere around 50 or 60 speakers of Navajo left in the world.
--
Matt Singerman
Actually, you ninnies, it is because the Justice Department is a manifestation of the Executive Branch of the US Government. The White House has had somewhat of an involvement in almost all anti-trust suits and settlements, and Gore is probably just going to MS to see what they may need from the White House - namely, an Executive Order to help facilitate any breakup (such as, waiving certain penalties) or possible tax exemptions that would give MS more of a reason to free up source code.
Honestly, people, if you don't know anything about a subject, please please PLEASE refrain from posting about it.
--
Matt Singerman
cheapbytes should offer a DVD which includes SuSe, Red Hat, and Debian on it. Mmmmm.
--
Matt Singerman
Perl is gentler on servers than C/C++ are. The require more computational power, plain and simple. It may not be much, but it is there. And when you have a server than is simultaneously serving up, say, 10,000 scripts, it can really add up.
--
Matt Singerman
That was exactly what I was thinking. All this post -- and many of the comments -- proved is that geeks are just as fucking stupid as other guys are. Show women some respect, you bastards. They're human beings, just like you.
--
Matt Singerman
Come on, so a large number of the people reading /. can't get laid; that does not make this news. A new filter idea, Rob: "Useless love crap"
--
Matt Singerman
I would say it is pretty doubtful that this would be an immediate consequence, since the technology to do so AND make it profitable AND make it relatively cheap (say, less than $25,000) is just not there yet. On the other hand, it would open up the market for people to TRY. And the idea of there being scores of private launch pads (coordinated by NASA, of course) is definately a good one - competition will lower prices by and of itself.
--
Matt Singerman
"Compaq ... supporting the Linux open source community since 1994"
Eh? How have they been serciving the open source community since 1994?
At any rate... I think this is a rairly good thing. At the very least, it gives average folks at home who may thing that *nix is too complicated a chance to see it. And this may be the only chance for a whole bunch of people, who are afraid to commit to using it, and who don't have access to it anywhere else (work, school, etc.).
--
Matt Singerman
Viruses can exist on any operating system -- most just do on Windows because (1) it is th emost popular and commonly used OS, and (2) it is such an easy target. There have been several cases of "trojan horses" turning up in OSS projects. Could these be the viruses of the future?
--
Matt Singerman
Company A is growing at a good clip, has a stable bottom line, and wants to expland. To do so, they issue an Initial Public Offering - stock. They sell this stock at a certain initial price in order to raise cash to fund expansion. Also, company founders hold on to a fair amount of the stock, and as the company does well and the price goes up, the owners become very well off. Red Hat, for instance, raised roughly $84 million with its IPO; Mr. Young is now worth aro0und $1 billion (at least, on paper).
There are LOTS of publicly traded companies; there have just been a lot of big-name tech IPOs lately. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you -- this doesn't affect you in any way, unless you own the stock.
--
Matt Singerman
Even if all the software in the world was open-source, there would still be upgrades. Anyone who taked Programming 101 knows that there will always be a bug somewhere. Yes, prices will drop dramatically in the future, especially as open-source projects become more prevalent in everyday computer usage, and not because there will be no more upgrading.
I really liked what he had to say about customization and embedded devices. Perhaps he is thinking of this all together -- you won't upgrade your software, but it maybe will detect when upgrades are available by itself and take care of it for you? An interesting idea...
--
Matt Singerman
When this movie first came out, the Air Force was able to put enough pressure on the production company to include the warning message at the beginning. Even so, the movie disturbed enough people to force a change in the chain of command, so that only the President could authorize a launch of a nuclear weapon.
A movie changed a very major part of the military and federal beauracracies. Never understimate the power of movies.
--
Matt Singerman
Just how does one pay for something this big? Presumeably, the government will be picking up a large portion of the bill, but even still, the country's GDP is only around $110 billion... Considering that they already run an account deficit of roughly 25% annually, it's gonna be a tight budget...
--
Matt Singerman
I would say that Microsoft is more interested in actually ENCOURAGING more companies like Interix... They want to show that the high-end UNIX apps (3D rendering and modelling program, industrial layout programs, etc.) that have been developed for years and years will not have to be rebuilt from the ground up, thusly increasing the market for NT. The conversion tools market is a relatively small market, and I think MS has more interest in encouraging it to grow, and thusly giving the illusion that this growth is because many companies want to port to NT from UNIX, because so many more people like NT over UNIX! (See where the MS marketing spin comes in?)
--
Matt Singerman
Well, the ice shell would not always have a source of light, or more importantly, a source of heat energy... While it is facing Jupiter, there is be some elecrtomagnetic intereference with the huge planet that will cause some heat to be released on Europa's surface... And we all know that it is warmer during the day than at night. So, it may be possible that when Europa is facing the sun and is close enough to Jupiter, parts of its surface may heat up enough so that a liquid sea underneath the crust could break through, if even just a little bit. And on a very large moon covered completely with water, 98 feet is just a little bit :)
--
Matt Singerman
Intel really has nothing to worry about as of right now. Assuming that they start selling the product before any law is passed, they will almost certainly not be able to face any sort of charges, because it will be considered grandfathered -- old technology that was legal before new laws.
Of course, the good lord knows Intel isn't going to do anything that isn't 100% risk-free, so I would not be terribly suprised if there is at the very least the potential for a back door that can be switched on at a later date. You'd have to look very closely at the technical specs to find it, I would imagine, though.
--
Matt Singerman
Haha, the first, not the latter. I'm all about geeks breaking the law.
--
Matt Singerman
I do not have the specific statistics in front of me, but in a three year period in the mid-90s, the government asked for roughly 15 THOUSAND wiretaps, and was granted all but one - ironically, the one they were denied was for Wen Ho Lee, suspected of giving nuclear secrets to China. Under the current law, the agencey requestion court permission to wiretap need not present hard evidence, like in an actual court proceeding, but must (in theory) have a solid basis for the need for the wiretap - suspicious behavior, previous criminal activity either at the location or with the individuals involved, the person is a suspect in a criminal case, etc. I say in theory because, more often than not, simple heresay and conjecture are used to get a court order to wiretap. Elected judges, much like politicians, are afraid of looking soft on crime, and are often not willing to go against something such as a wiretap, usually justifying it with the arguement that, if it bears no fruit, the agencey tapping will simply stop.
--
Matt Singerman
This is a 10 year prediction map. Given the pace at which new technologies arise and can be implemented, I am sure that much of their plans are strictly tentative. The question is, will they change for the better (faster speeds sooner) or the worse (faster speeds later)?
Also, what does IBM have to say about this map?
All that said and done... Spare a dime to buy a guy a G4?
--
Matt Singerman
Haha, I am gonna lose karma for being offtopic, but...
I totally agree with you on this - while I personally do not use drugs, and I strongly encourage all people I know not to use them, I believe that many illegal substances, such as hemp, marijuana, and ecstacy should be legal and controlled. It was just a hypothetical situation.
--
Matt Singerman