Interesting. I'd say three parties have been harmed here: 1) Intel customers - harmed by buying into an architecture that is comparatively less than it appears to be - and governed by a company with a market position gained through cheating. Ultimately these people payed too much. 2) AMD customers - their time was wasted / equipment crippled by Intel compilers. Time = Money, therefore they also deserve a rebate. 3) AMD were damaged by appearing worse than they are.
Surely all three injured parties deserve compensation?
You know what... You're absolutely right. But I've just had a brainwave as to how to use this to our advantage...
Mildly offtopic I know, but on the topic of harnessing the power corporations.
Step 1: Create Zombie Malware that pops up with the message 'This product has been shown to cause cancer in lab rats!' whenever your browser opens a popup window. Step 2: Watch gleefully as big corporates sue the crap out of malware companies and lobby politicians to get malware banned, bigger fines etc. Step 3: Smoke a fat cigar as bevvies of beautiful tech-savvy girls (wearing very little) wave palm fronds and bring in sherbert and peeled grapes. (Ok, so I invested my profit in fantasy already:p)
Don't break up Microsoft. Just whenever they do this stuff, take the money they have to pay in fines, and divide it amongst realistic competitors and Ad Agencies who can publicize those competitors.
It seems that companies are incredibly concerned about employees wasting time emailing, when they should be concerned about what those employees are there to do.
If I was running a big company and deadlines were being met I wouldn't care less how many personal emails were happenning. If not, I'd take a look at the numbers and have a quiet 'cool it a bit please' email sent out to culprits.
Naturally you do have to worry about company secrets leaving, but I suspect you'll find that happy, well remunerated employees are less likely to do that than people who have to jump through hoops to send an email.
I work for a big company, and they're very very clockwise. Very concerned about emails, PC lockdowns and that sort of thing. They don't seem terribly bothered with people sitting around talking about football, having long conversations on their phones or other random activities.
And, most of all, they don't seem very concerned at all about what those employees are SUPPOSED to be doing. Miss project deadlines - no worries. Miss extensions - no worries. Just don't send a personal email.
Honestly PHBs - keep your eye on the ball and let your staff work for you. Gestapo tactics will just make you unpopular and decrease morale and productivity.
I mean - even if they get 'the code' for the breathaliser they still don't know for sure that that Specific breathaliser was using that code. Nothing is really proven at all - especially given the amount of use the device will have seen by the time the case gets to court.
There needs to be a organization that is allowed to win public trust by being staffed by people who don't take bribes (or lobbying or whatever blooming euphamism you like) that makes sure that 'gauges of justice' do, in fact, accurately follow the scientific methods they're supposed to follow.
I have it!
What we need here are Nuns! Big, Scary, Techie Nuns!!!
Shouldn't all of us responsible/.ers write in with clear and reasonable suggestions to the questions they pose? I'm sure they'd welcome our feedback...;>
There needs to be a central repository of scientific methods (the patent office or something similar) and a body which guarantees that such devices follow the specified method sufficiently for use in law enforcement.
That way you have you answer to 'How does it work' AND you have your closed source option.
I don't know about that one. I have both a 6800 Ultra and an XBox. Right now, I spend a lot more time playing games on the PC because the sort of thing that comes out on the PC has a quite different feel to it.
Console => Twiddly controls and stupid load times. Future consoles will fix the load times - sure - but they still appear to be going for twiddly controllers and games pitched at slow 3 year olds.
For me I really couldn't give a rat's butt about the combo for the 43 step super ninja uppercut.
PC = cheaper games (and at £10 cheaper per game - one game per month - that's another £120 a year to put towards a really good graphics card)
and bottom line - most people these days want a PC ANYWAY... Why?
Because you'd look like a right tit downloading music or pr0n onto your XXX-Box.
If people are smart they'll 1) Buy a PC. 2) Buy a subsidised console. Get games for the console only if they really really want them.
Criminal intent... possibly more to the point is conscious knowledge of willful wrongdoing.
If you're a paedophile you're probably pretty sick in the head. However, if you're a paedophile who encrypts his (or indeed her) stash then you obviously know you're doing something wrong and want to avoid being punished for it.
It'd be pretty hard to plead insanity to such a calculated and premeditated action.
On the other hand, if the encryption software hasn't actually been used for that purpose... then nothing much has been proved at all.
So - I suppose the answer is - yes - it may be relevant. If it isn't (hasn't been used specifically for that coverup) it'll be a bit of a gift to the insanity plea defence.
Of course spyware needs to be defined - and a definition can do a lot - IMO it should be something along the lines of this:
"Any and each piece of software that gathers information related to the usage of a computer without specifically notifying the user of that computer of its exact purpose and intended recipients as the first, underlined, in bold, succinct and sufficiently persistant, to be easily readable, installation message - to which the user must agree in order for installation to continue. Further, non-spyware must notify the user at each instance at which it transmits collected data (which it must display in readable form) to its recipients."
Personally I think an appropriate punishment for repeat offenders would be tattooing '1 pWn j00 d4t4' or something similar diagonally across their smug little faces - and quietly removing the penality for anyone who kicks them in the knackers ( or whatever ) with a sufficiently long runup.
There used to be a certain amount of respect attached to being an IT Professional.
I can't imagine battery farms of lawyers in India or China. (As much as I'd really like to... )
I can't imagine accountants being subjected to 3 hours worth of 'turn your head and cough' tests every time they go for a job interview.
The oversupply (and probably the geek image) cost us our dignity by introducing a lot of people who shouldn't have been in the market. (Don't get me wrong - anyone can learn at any time, but there are Great Programmers, Average Programmers, and 'I did a 2 day course on making money in IT, once' programmers.)
The way I figure it, Capitalism will always correct itself. Move the money away from American IT - supply decreases. Move it to India. Indian IT increases - bringing in so much money that eventually the Indian Economy becomes too expensive and the market moves elsewhere until there is nowhere else to go that is cheaper.
What does that mean for America?
I guess it means that the people in vital in country positions will start earning more... and for everyone else... it'll be a long wait till the rest of the world reaches equilibrium (which - given that chaos tends to happen - will never happen).
Personally I've never seen a project work as planned in which the people involved couldn't meet in the same room at fairly regular intervals. I'd like to see a study that documented the Quality of the finished product (measured by how well it did the desired task) against the location and dispersal of those involved. I think that could be quite enlightening.
You know, a friend of mine once took a great deal of offense at Terry Pratchett. pTerry apparently said in his presence that Fantasy 'isn't just about travelling 1000 miles to throw a ring into a volcano any more.'
My friend was a Tolkien fan (like any sane person). The thing is, IMO he was wrong, Pratchett was right.
However good the lotr was/is - Fantasy isn't JUST about that anymore. Don't JUST stick with a winning formula.
That's Hollywood's real problem - they're not prepared to challenge a winning formula - especially when they believe it appeals to the lowest common denominator.
Psychology shows that we will often confuse the familiar with the pleasant. But Sci-Fi / Fantasy isn't JUST about that - it's about ideas and 'what ifs'.
and I for one hail the coming of something more than time space anomalies causing us to shoot ourselves in the ass - saved only by doing something clever with the deflector dish.
It strikes me that the Dutch politicians are being quite cunning here.
They know that Holland is a small country. They know that since their download laws are quite lax they need to do something to appease the various recording industries and the various countries they've bought.
Solution... Give the industry what it wants - a large tax on downloaders. (and take their money - Cha-Ching!)
Give the people what they want - the ability to sidestep the tax with a nice day trip to Hamburg/European city of choice.
The only people they're really annoying are the 5 people who actually sell iPods IN Holland.
Slashdot Mirror
"I'm sure Virgin Galactic is hiding an International Virgin Rescue company somewhere in their corporate structure."
/.
No need for one of those on
To India.
See how they like it!
And for our next trick - LAWYERS!
Interesting. I'd say three parties have been harmed here:
1) Intel customers - harmed by buying into an architecture that is comparatively less than it appears to be - and governed by a company with a market position gained through cheating. Ultimately these people payed too much.
2) AMD customers - their time was wasted / equipment crippled by Intel compilers. Time = Money, therefore they also deserve a rebate.
3) AMD were damaged by appearing worse than they are.
Surely all three injured parties deserve compensation?
You know what... You're absolutely right. But I've just had a brainwave as to how to use this to our advantage...
:p)
Mildly offtopic I know, but on the topic of harnessing the power corporations.
Step 1: Create Zombie Malware that pops up with the message 'This product has been shown to cause cancer in lab rats!' whenever your browser opens a popup window.
Step 2: Watch gleefully as big corporates sue the crap out of malware companies and lobby politicians to get malware banned, bigger fines etc.
Step 3: Smoke a fat cigar as bevvies of beautiful tech-savvy girls (wearing very little) wave palm fronds and bring in sherbert and peeled grapes. (Ok, so I invested my profit in fantasy already
Since they still can't decide whether butter is better for you than margarine I'm inclined to agree.
Any chance this won't work without proper bloodflow through your hand? I'm guessing IR will have problems if a hand is severed or some something.
Nothing wrong with a bit more security - provided someone's willing to foot the bill... But if they're intelligent they'll keep the passwords too.
Crikey - imagine if the iPod was patented this way...
Don't break up Microsoft. Just whenever they do this stuff, take the money they have to pay in fines, and divide it amongst realistic competitors and Ad Agencies who can publicize those competitors.
Simple.
It seems that companies are incredibly concerned about employees wasting time emailing, when they should be concerned about what those employees are there to do.
If I was running a big company and deadlines were being met I wouldn't care less how many personal emails were happenning. If not, I'd take a look at the numbers and have a quiet 'cool it a bit please' email sent out to culprits.
Naturally you do have to worry about company secrets leaving, but I suspect you'll find that happy, well remunerated employees are less likely to do that than people who have to jump through hoops to send an email.
I work for a big company, and they're very very clockwise. Very concerned about emails, PC lockdowns and that sort of thing. They don't seem terribly bothered with people sitting around talking about football, having long conversations on their phones or other random activities.
And, most of all, they don't seem very concerned at all about what those employees are SUPPOSED to be doing. Miss project deadlines - no worries. Miss extensions - no worries. Just don't send a personal email.
Honestly PHBs - keep your eye on the ball and let your staff work for you. Gestapo tactics will just make you unpopular and decrease morale and productivity.
I don't know about that...
I mean - even if they get 'the code' for the breathaliser they still don't know for sure that that Specific breathaliser was using that code. Nothing is really proven at all - especially given the amount of use the device will have seen by the time the case gets to court.
There needs to be a organization that is allowed to win public trust by being staffed by people who don't take bribes (or lobbying or whatever blooming euphamism you like) that makes sure that 'gauges of justice' do, in fact, accurately follow the scientific methods they're supposed to follow.
I have it!
What we need here are Nuns! Big, Scary, Techie Nuns!!!
Shouldn't all of us responsible /.ers write in with clear and reasonable suggestions to the questions they pose? I'm sure they'd welcome our feedback... ;>
There needs to be a central repository of scientific methods (the patent office or something similar) and a body which guarantees that such devices follow the specified method sufficiently for use in law enforcement.
That way you have you answer to 'How does it work' AND you have your closed source option.
I don't know about that one. I have both a 6800 Ultra and an XBox. Right now, I spend a lot more time playing games on the PC because the sort of thing that comes out on the PC has a quite different feel to it.
Console => Twiddly controls and stupid load times. Future consoles will fix the load times - sure - but they still appear to be going for twiddly controllers and games pitched at slow 3 year olds.
For me I really couldn't give a rat's butt about the combo for the 43 step super ninja uppercut.
PC = cheaper games (and at £10 cheaper per game - one game per month - that's another £120 a year to put towards a really good graphics card)
and bottom line - most people these days want a PC ANYWAY... Why?
Because you'd look like a right tit downloading music or pr0n onto your XXX-Box.
If people are smart they'll 1) Buy a PC. 2) Buy a subsidised console.
Get games for the console only if they really really want them.
But then people aren't smart are they...
Criminal intent... possibly more to the point is conscious knowledge of willful wrongdoing.
If you're a paedophile you're probably pretty sick in the head. However, if you're a paedophile who encrypts his (or indeed her) stash then you obviously know you're doing something wrong and want to avoid being punished for it.
It'd be pretty hard to plead insanity to such a calculated and premeditated action.
On the other hand, if the encryption software hasn't actually been used for that purpose... then nothing much has been proved at all.
So - I suppose the answer is - yes - it may be relevant. If it isn't (hasn't been used specifically for that coverup) it'll be a bit of a gift to the insanity plea defence.
would they have found this if they hadn't been testing yanks?!?! ;p
Of course spyware needs to be defined - and a definition can do a lot - IMO it should be something along the lines of this:
"Any and each piece of software that gathers information related to the usage of a computer without specifically notifying the user of that computer of its exact purpose and intended recipients as the first, underlined, in bold, succinct and sufficiently persistant, to be easily readable, installation message - to which the user must agree in order for installation to continue. Further, non-spyware must notify the user at each instance at which it transmits collected data (which it must display in readable form) to its recipients."
Personally I think an appropriate punishment for repeat offenders would be tattooing '1 pWn j00 d4t4' or something similar diagonally across their smug little faces - and quietly removing the penality for anyone who kicks them in the knackers ( or whatever ) with a sufficiently long runup.
There used to be a certain amount of respect attached to being an IT Professional.
I can't imagine battery farms of lawyers in India or China. (As much as I'd really like to... )
I can't imagine accountants being subjected to 3 hours worth of 'turn your head and cough' tests every time they go for a job interview.
The oversupply (and probably the geek image) cost us our dignity by introducing a lot of people who shouldn't have been in the market. (Don't get me wrong - anyone can learn at any time, but there are Great Programmers, Average Programmers, and 'I did a 2 day course on making money in IT, once' programmers.)
The way I figure it, Capitalism will always correct itself. Move the money away from American IT - supply decreases. Move it to India. Indian IT increases - bringing in so much money that eventually the Indian Economy becomes too expensive and the market moves elsewhere until there is nowhere else to go that is cheaper.
What does that mean for America?
I guess it means that the people in vital in country positions will start earning more... and for everyone else... it'll be a long wait till the rest of the world reaches equilibrium (which - given that chaos tends to happen - will never happen).
Personally I've never seen a project work as planned in which the people involved couldn't meet in the same room at fairly regular intervals. I'd like to see a study that documented the Quality of the finished product (measured by how well it did the desired task) against the location and dispersal of those involved. I think that could be quite enlightening.
So - how are the spammers going to respond to this one? 100 billion AI Bots using GWA to find www.wesleycrusherdoesvenus.com?
You know, a friend of mine once took a great deal of offense at Terry Pratchett. pTerry apparently said in his presence that Fantasy 'isn't just about travelling 1000 miles to throw a ring into a volcano any more.'
My friend was a Tolkien fan (like any sane person). The thing is, IMO he was wrong, Pratchett was right.
However good the lotr was/is - Fantasy isn't JUST about that anymore. Don't JUST stick with a winning formula.
That's Hollywood's real problem - they're not prepared to challenge a winning formula - especially when they believe it appeals to the lowest common denominator.
Psychology shows that we will often confuse the familiar with the pleasant. But Sci-Fi / Fantasy isn't JUST about that - it's about ideas and 'what ifs'.
and I for one hail the coming of something more than time space anomalies causing us to shoot ourselves in the ass - saved only by doing something clever with the deflector dish.
+ the borg were boring.
It strikes me that the Dutch politicians are being quite cunning here.
They know that Holland is a small country.
They know that since their download laws are quite lax they need to do something to appease the various recording industries and the various countries they've bought.
Solution... Give the industry what it wants - a large tax on downloaders. (and take their money - Cha-Ching!)
Give the people what they want - the ability to sidestep the tax with a nice day trip to Hamburg/European city of choice.
The only people they're really annoying are the 5 people who actually sell iPods IN Holland.