Hmm good point, but at least in this case USA's paranoia / imperialism / big-brotherism generates something useful for the rest of the world. I'd prefer if the Americans pour money into peaceful ways to "detect WMD" instead of sending armies to crush third-world countries, especially if these ways can be applied to useful stuff like medicine.
Then again, right now, we don't have much defense against biological weapons, whether they come from "terrorists," lunatics or enemy countries. So any developments in that direction is a good thing.
"The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act makes this clearly illegal; if this were a 17-year-old instead of AOL, the FBI would be investigating."
This is a load of crap. AOL makes the change through their self-update program, and as mentioned in the article "For software to change computer settings on its own isn't unprecedented."
This is totally different from what a 17-year-old would do, unless said teenager has sold you some software. There is nothing illegal about AOL's actions. The problem here, as in many cases, is that on home versions of Windows (and other OS's?), the single user is also the Administrator, and any program run by the Administrator can change anything.
"I doubt very highly that your instructors will tell you how to handle all the nasty little things that can occur when humans work in groups..."
That's the problem right there. Every student getting a degree in computers should take a mandatory class covering office politics, hiring legals, and how to deal with various peers, managers and devil^H^H^H^H^Hmarketing people.
Sure, we can read/., dilbert and userfriendly to get the same instructions, but usually we start reading these only after we've learned about this stuff the hard way.
Such a plant would also have enough excess power to create hydrogen gas, proponents say. They envision Galena as a demonstration center for the highly vaunted hydrogen economy...
This is the coolest part imho. If we can put a whole bunch of these in remote areas, we won't have a NIMBY problem anymore. Then we can use them to produce and distribute hydrogen and fuel-cells. And they won't need much supervision.
The only problem left is waste-disposal, which is still quite a big problem.
Or you could use the feature to play a personalized message like "phone call for {unique-name}" so you know it's your phone ringing. That is, until your friends program their cell with the same mp3 and make you answer non-existent calls.
I've always wanted to put this as my ring tone: "bug-eyed, phone call for you... {pause} bug-eyed, please answer your phone! {pause} bug-eyed!! telephone!!!! {pause} BUG-EYED! PICK UP THE DAM PHONE!!!"
On the other hand, this can make Linux work with more hardware which will make Linux more popular (e.g. with more government agencies considering using Linux, Linuxant can make the lack of device drivers one less excuse to avoid adoption). The increased popularity in turn will compel companies to write native Linux drivers.
We should kill of Linuxant before they hurt anyone.
I hope this was written in jest. Otherwise, we'd be stooping to some of the same tactics that made Microsoft so infamous. Let people produce what they want and let the chips fall where they may.
Along the way, it becomes clear that piracy was as much a different political system as a violent crime against property.
For some reason, this article's author is trying to compare (equate?) sea piracy of old to today's computer piracy. The above quote explains why that's a Bad Thing. Sea pirates were violent people, killing, hurting, destroying. Computer "piracy" is usually reduced to making and distributing copies, limiting the supplier's income. Unlike sea pirates, computer pirates don't storm Microsoft's or RIAA-members' buildings killing the employees.
As far as companies being fined for copyright infringement... In Canada the rule of thumb was (maybe still is, not sure) that piracy by individuals was a soft ok since it was for private use, whereas piracy by businesses was bad since it was for financial gain. That always made sense to me.
they are BROKEN products that violate my right to freely make copies for personal use.
You have no such right. The law permits you to make copies for personal use, but it doesn't give you the right.
Basically, if you can make copies for fair use, go for it. But the author/manufacturer is allowed to distribute the work in a manner that makes it hard or impossible to make copies, in that case if you can't make copies, tough luck.
I'm surprised EULAs have any legality at all. Software (at least when used by individuals) should be like any other consumer product, the terms of its use should be covered by a consumer protection act that definitely and finally determines the responsibilities of both the maker and the user.
You don't have to agree to a EULA when you buy a TV or a car, you shouldn't have to do it either for software. And in an ideal world, if a vendor tried to sneak in spyware (or obtrusive DRMs) with their main software, as a matter of law the government would step in and hang them by their corporate balls up.
Sure, we can do pretty much all accounting, filing, and other clerical work on paper. We can also write letters instead of emailing and phoning, whee. The point is, technology is here to make our lives easier, and I find it much more rewarding to use computer/internet technology to turn a stressful task like tax-filing into a pleasant one.
Last year, I started filing my taxes on paper, calculating and recalculating and wondering if I've missed something, then I went to ufile.ca, took me half an hour to do everything and I was done with little stress. Some of the best dollars I've spent.
There is an SVG plugin for IE
on
GIMP goes SVG
·
· Score: 1
Adobe has one here. Furthermore, if you've installed any of the latest versions of Acrobat Reader (or one of many other Adobe products), it has quietly installed the SVG plugin for you.
If a driver tries to change lanes while another car is in that lane, there is no clippy that jumps up and explains that such an action can cause a crash and perhaps severe injuries.
If a tire blows up at high speed, there is a good chance that you end up in the ditch (at best).
A malicious person can hide a bomb inside your car that blows up when the engine starts, killing you outright....
Platform style guides to the rescue once again (since they tend to be written by a collection of UI experts): As outlined in Apple's HI Guidelines, implement the options that are useful to 80 percent of the users, present simple configuration dialogs with UI elements that take users to progressively more advanced configurations.
In a system such as Gnome, one can ship the system with a configuration tailored for the casual user, provide unobtrusive mechanisms to tweek the advanced options (e.g. an "Advanced..." button in the main Preferences dialog, or a user-editable config file), and even furnish pre-defined alternative configurations for advanced users.
There is a lot going on in computer programming and user interface design: logic, problem-solving, aesthetics, creativity, etc.
Problem-solving is a major part of programming, and IMHO what makes programming so much fun. Of course, sometimes one has to get rather creative to solve a problem.
Logic is a major part of UI design, because one wants the UI to behave in a uniform and familiar way. Aesthetics makes a program easy on the eyes, but doesn't necessarily make it easy to use.
I believe the point of that sentence was, a lot of programmers think that every good program's UI design must be a creative new way of doing things, whereas it should be the opposite. Most programmers will easily come up with a usable interface if only they read and (logically) follow their target platform's styleguide, combined with some basic UI design rules.
It is useful and healthy to create new improved ways of interfacing programs, but one doesn't want to attempt that with every single new system. If you try to become creative with every new implementation, you make every one of your programs a UI testbed, which has the potential of making them unusable even if the problems solved by the programs are useful.
Examples of good use of logic in real world: accelerate/clutch/brake pedals in cars, horizontal door handles to convey "push." Examples of good use of creativity: automatic doors and heads up displays, but only after they've been perfected. Examples of bad use of creativity and aesthetics: different locations of light switch in some cars, vertical handles on both sides of a glass door.
Why not try implementing a better email? Right now, the spammer blacklists are taking the lazy approach of blocking ISPs that support spammers. Basically they're saying if you want to send us email you must first stop spammers.
If blacklisters weren't lazy, they would write a replacement for SMTP (or email), then tell the ISPs if you want to send us email you must start using this better system.
Over and over again, we see/. yelling at RIAA for trying to fight song copiers with lawsuits, instead of changing their business model. Yet at the same time, they refuse to change their email and prefer to fight spammers with blacklists... Spamming is nothing new, it's been around for years. The problem is not spammers, the problem is the industry not coming up with a better email system.
Well, the hard-drive is being marketed as "LindowsHD" not "blank" If you buy a HD marked as "LindowsHD" expecting it to be blank you should not be using computers anyway, especially if they are connected to the internet:P
Basically, the HD with Lindows preloaded is an option, you can still buy truly blank HDs. Also, from the article it sounds like they're pushing the HD towards manufacturers (not consumers) so they can use it to make PCs that run right out of the box, without having to mess around with software.
I pretty much stop listening when people say stuff like "a project done" without defining what they mean by "done." Does it mean that the program compiles and runs? Does it mean it's been QA'd and has no severity 1 defects? Severity n? Of course, many "projects" go through at least one cycle of maintenance before they become really useful, so does "done" include any maintenance cycles?
Then there is "project" itself... Are we talking about a system written by a small team of developers? Or a complex system written by several teams who need to eventually integrate their various parts?
Some languages are better at getting your project to the "compiles and runs" phase, while other languages are better in the long-term. Yeah, the article comes out trollish, because the guy throws around all these unsubstantiated numbers in relation to poorly defined terms.
"After all these worms and virii are hitting MS boxen from every angle, there still aren't mentions of alternatives from major news sources."
It's not up to the news media to mention alternatives, they're supposed to report the facts. Likewise, when they report the recall of, say, Ford Explorers, they don't report Cheverolets and Hondas as alternative cars. They can mention alternatives in editorials, and last I looked, they do.
Hmm the parent post feels like a carfty toll to me, but oh well, it's been modded as interesting...
Software engineers should know better than anybody that redundancy, competition, is good. Aren't the open source some of the most vocal when it comes to Microsoft's monopoly?
Right now, the US has a monopoly on GPS. Good for USA, bad for the rest of the world. Having a second GPS system not only creates competition, but prevents possible disasters if the American GPS is disabled, say with a virus.
Same goes with missions to Mars, Space Stations, reusable spacecrafts, etc. You're right that we should share data, but we should also work in parallel to devise systems and missions that are different enough that a single flaw doesn't turn the entire program into a standstill.
Unfortunately, right now, space-related projects are so big they can only be sponsored by nations (or groups of nations), and that's why flags are in them.
And I find it interesting that you advocate dropping flags, yet you say "whether you think your country would work with the United States in a joint space mission" [emphasis mine]. Shouldn't you be saying something like "whether you think people from all over the world would work in a joint space mission?"
The next step for all ISPs (and website providers etc) is to actively discourage people registering.com and.net domains. Tell the customers that Verisign, the registrar, is hard to work with, and that other TLDs such as.ws are becoming much more popular.
The goal is to make Verisign lose more and more revenue. Blocking this service doesn't cost Verisign much, and lawsuits are just a temporary expense. We should make a point that nobody on the internet can get away with this kind of crap.
You're right, but the news article also seems to have conveniently forgotten to give us that number. If a high percentage of contaminated phones lead to infections, then my point stands, where are all the people dropping dead after visits to ICUs? If a low percentage, then why worry so much about contaminated cellphones? Just give them a good wipe on the way out and you're done.
The article says 12% of cellphones are contaminated, and 50% of infected people die. Adding these up, we must conclude that 6% of people carrying a cellphone into ICUs will die.
6% is nothing to laugh at. I'm guessing somewhere, somebody inflated a number just to make it into the news.
In most countries outside the Western hemisphere, there are still few immigrants from non-neighboring countries (unless of course they come from the colonizing countries). So the idea of nationality is still very strong and significant. Al Jazeera would have mentioned the nationalities even if the researchers were Chinese and French.
Also, outside North America the Pentagon is the symbol of American military and people use "Pentagon" and "American army" interchangeably, most of them haven't even heard of "DOD." You say potehto I say potahto...
Basically, the contrasts you see are simply due to differences in cultures. Peace.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm good point, but at least in this case USA's paranoia / imperialism / big-brotherism generates something useful for the rest of the world. I'd prefer if the Americans pour money into peaceful ways to "detect WMD" instead of sending armies to crush third-world countries, especially if these ways can be applied to useful stuff like medicine.
Then again, right now, we don't have much defense against biological weapons, whether they come from "terrorists," lunatics or enemy countries. So any developments in that direction is a good thing.
"The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act makes this clearly illegal; if this were a 17-year-old instead of AOL, the FBI would be investigating."
This is a load of crap. AOL makes the change through their self-update program, and as mentioned in the article "For software to change computer settings on its own isn't unprecedented."
This is totally different from what a 17-year-old would do, unless said teenager has sold you some software. There is nothing illegal about AOL's actions. The problem here, as in many cases, is that on home versions of Windows (and other OS's?), the single user is also the Administrator, and any program run by the Administrator can change anything.
"I doubt very highly that your instructors will tell you how to handle all the nasty little things that can occur when humans work in groups..."
/., dilbert and userfriendly to get the same instructions, but usually we start reading these only after we've learned about this stuff the hard way.
That's the problem right there. Every student getting a degree in computers should take a mandatory class covering office politics, hiring legals, and how to deal with various peers, managers and devil^H^H^H^H^Hmarketing people.
Sure, we can read
Such a plant would also have enough excess power to create hydrogen gas, proponents say. They envision Galena as a demonstration center for the highly vaunted hydrogen economy...
This is the coolest part imho. If we can put a whole bunch of these in remote areas, we won't have a NIMBY problem anymore. Then we can use them to produce and distribute hydrogen and fuel-cells. And they won't need much supervision.
The only problem left is waste-disposal, which is still quite a big problem.
Or you could use the feature to play a personalized message like "phone call for {unique-name}" so you know it's your phone ringing. That is, until your friends program their cell with the same mp3 and make you answer non-existent calls.
I've always wanted to put this as my ring tone: "bug-eyed, phone call for you... {pause} bug-eyed, please answer your phone! {pause} bug-eyed!! telephone!!!! {pause} BUG-EYED! PICK UP THE DAM PHONE!!!"
On the other hand, this can make Linux work with more hardware which will make Linux more popular (e.g. with more government agencies considering using Linux, Linuxant can make the lack of device drivers one less excuse to avoid adoption). The increased popularity in turn will compel companies to write native Linux drivers.
We should kill of Linuxant before they hurt anyone.
I hope this was written in jest. Otherwise, we'd be stooping to some of the same tactics that made Microsoft so infamous. Let people produce what they want and let the chips fall where they may.
Along the way, it becomes clear that piracy was as much a different political system as a violent crime against property.
For some reason, this article's author is trying to compare (equate?) sea piracy of old to today's computer piracy. The above quote explains why that's a Bad Thing. Sea pirates were violent people, killing, hurting, destroying. Computer "piracy" is usually reduced to making and distributing copies, limiting the supplier's income. Unlike sea pirates, computer pirates don't storm Microsoft's or RIAA-members' buildings killing the employees.
As far as companies being fined for copyright infringement... In Canada the rule of thumb was (maybe still is, not sure) that piracy by individuals was a soft ok since it was for private use, whereas piracy by businesses was bad since it was for financial gain. That always made sense to me.
they are BROKEN products that violate my right to freely make copies for personal use.
You have no such right. The law permits you to make copies for personal use, but it doesn't give you the right.
Basically, if you can make copies for fair use, go for it. But the author/manufacturer is allowed to distribute the work in a manner that makes it hard or impossible to make copies, in that case if you can't make copies, tough luck.
It's all defined in the Copyright Act
I'm surprised EULAs have any legality at all. Software (at least when used by individuals) should be like any other consumer product, the terms of its use should be covered by a consumer protection act that definitely and finally determines the responsibilities of both the maker and the user.
You don't have to agree to a EULA when you buy a TV or a car, you shouldn't have to do it either for software. And in an ideal world, if a vendor tried to sneak in spyware (or obtrusive DRMs) with their main software, as a matter of law the government would step in and hang them by their corporate balls up.
Sure, we can do pretty much all accounting, filing, and other clerical work on paper. We can also write letters instead of emailing and phoning, whee. The point is, technology is here to make our lives easier, and I find it much more rewarding to use computer/internet technology to turn a stressful task like tax-filing into a pleasant one.
Last year, I started filing my taxes on paper, calculating and recalculating and wondering if I've missed something, then I went to ufile.ca, took me half an hour to do everything and I was done with little stress. Some of the best dollars I've spent.
Adobe has one here. Furthermore, if you've installed any of the latest versions of Acrobat Reader (or one of many other Adobe products), it has quietly installed the SVG plugin for you.
If a driver tries to change lanes while another car is in that lane, there is no clippy that jumps up and explains that such an action can cause a crash and perhaps severe injuries.
...
If a tire blows up at high speed, there is a good chance that you end up in the ditch (at best).
A malicious person can hide a bomb inside your car that blows up when the engine starts, killing you outright.
Platform style guides to the rescue once again (since they tend to be written by a collection of UI experts): As outlined in Apple's HI Guidelines, implement the options that are useful to 80 percent of the users, present simple configuration dialogs with UI elements that take users to progressively more advanced configurations.
In a system such as Gnome, one can ship the system with a configuration tailored for the casual user, provide unobtrusive mechanisms to tweek the advanced options (e.g. an "Advanced..." button in the main Preferences dialog, or a user-editable config file), and even furnish pre-defined alternative configurations for advanced users.
There is a lot going on in computer programming and user interface design: logic, problem-solving, aesthetics, creativity, etc.
Problem-solving is a major part of programming, and IMHO what makes programming so much fun. Of course, sometimes one has to get rather creative to solve a problem.
Logic is a major part of UI design, because one wants the UI to behave in a uniform and familiar way. Aesthetics makes a program easy on the eyes, but doesn't necessarily make it easy to use.
I believe the point of that sentence was, a lot of programmers think that every good program's UI design must be a creative new way of doing things, whereas it should be the opposite. Most programmers will easily come up with a usable interface if only they read and (logically) follow their target platform's styleguide, combined with some basic UI design rules.
It is useful and healthy to create new improved ways of interfacing programs, but one doesn't want to attempt that with every single new system. If you try to become creative with every new implementation, you make every one of your programs a UI testbed, which has the potential of making them unusable even if the problems solved by the programs are useful.
Examples of good use of logic in real world: accelerate/clutch/brake pedals in cars, horizontal door handles to convey "push." Examples of good use of creativity: automatic doors and heads up displays, but only after they've been perfected. Examples of bad use of creativity and aesthetics: different locations of light switch in some cars, vertical handles on both sides of a glass door.
Why not try implementing a better email? Right now, the spammer blacklists are taking the lazy approach of blocking ISPs that support spammers. Basically they're saying if you want to send us email you must first stop spammers.
/. yelling at RIAA for trying to fight song copiers with lawsuits, instead of changing their business model. Yet at the same time, they refuse to change their email and prefer to fight spammers with blacklists... Spamming is nothing new, it's been around for years. The problem is not spammers, the problem is the industry not coming up with a better email system.
If blacklisters weren't lazy, they would write a replacement for SMTP (or email), then tell the ISPs if you want to send us email you must start using this better system.
Over and over again, we see
Well, the hard-drive is being marketed as "LindowsHD" not "blank" If you buy a HD marked as "LindowsHD" expecting it to be blank you should not be using computers anyway, especially if they are connected to the internet :P
Basically, the HD with Lindows preloaded is an option, you can still buy truly blank HDs. Also, from the article it sounds like they're pushing the HD towards manufacturers (not consumers) so they can use it to make PCs that run right out of the box, without having to mess around with software.
I pretty much stop listening when people say stuff like "a project done" without defining what they mean by "done." Does it mean that the program compiles and runs? Does it mean it's been QA'd and has no severity 1 defects? Severity n? Of course, many "projects" go through at least one cycle of maintenance before they become really useful, so does "done" include any maintenance cycles?
Then there is "project" itself... Are we talking about a system written by a small team of developers? Or a complex system written by several teams who need to eventually integrate their various parts?
Some languages are better at getting your project to the "compiles and runs" phase, while other languages are better in the long-term. Yeah, the article comes out trollish, because the guy throws around all these unsubstantiated numbers in relation to poorly defined terms.
"After all these worms and virii are hitting MS boxen from every angle, there still aren't mentions of alternatives from major news sources."
It's not up to the news media to mention alternatives, they're supposed to report the facts. Likewise, when they report the recall of, say, Ford Explorers, they don't report Cheverolets and Hondas as alternative cars. They can mention alternatives in editorials, and last I looked, they do.
If you're a Star Wars fan and you ever get the chance, go see this show: One Man Star Wars Trilogy. It's simply fantastic.
Hmm the parent post feels like a carfty toll to me, but oh well, it's been modded as interesting...
Software engineers should know better than anybody that redundancy, competition, is good. Aren't the open source some of the most vocal when it comes to Microsoft's monopoly?
Right now, the US has a monopoly on GPS. Good for USA, bad for the rest of the world. Having a second GPS system not only creates competition, but prevents possible disasters if the American GPS is disabled, say with a virus.
Same goes with missions to Mars, Space Stations, reusable spacecrafts, etc. You're right that we should share data, but we should also work in parallel to devise systems and missions that are different enough that a single flaw doesn't turn the entire program into a standstill.
Unfortunately, right now, space-related projects are so big they can only be sponsored by nations (or groups of nations), and that's why flags are in them.
And I find it interesting that you advocate dropping flags, yet you say "whether you think your country would work with the United States in a joint space mission" [emphasis mine]. Shouldn't you be saying something like "whether you think people from all over the world would work in a joint space mission?"
The next step for all ISPs (and website providers etc) is to actively discourage people registering .com and .net domains. Tell the customers that Verisign, the registrar, is hard to work with, and that other TLDs such as .ws are becoming much more popular.
The goal is to make Verisign lose more and more revenue. Blocking this service doesn't cost Verisign much, and lawsuits are just a temporary expense. We should make a point that nobody on the internet can get away with this kind of crap.
You're right, but the news article also seems to have conveniently forgotten to give us that number. If a high percentage of contaminated phones lead to infections, then my point stands, where are all the people dropping dead after visits to ICUs? If a low percentage, then why worry so much about contaminated cellphones? Just give them a good wipe on the way out and you're done.
The article says 12% of cellphones are contaminated, and 50% of infected people die. Adding these up, we must conclude that 6% of people carrying a cellphone into ICUs will die.
6% is nothing to laugh at. I'm guessing somewhere, somebody inflated a number just to make it into the news.
I am proud to be a Canadian... makes you think huh!"
You must be an imposter eh!
In most countries outside the Western hemisphere, there are still few immigrants from non-neighboring countries (unless of course they come from the colonizing countries). So the idea of nationality is still very strong and significant. Al Jazeera would have mentioned the nationalities even if the researchers were Chinese and French.
Also, outside North America the Pentagon is the symbol of American military and people use "Pentagon" and "American army" interchangeably, most of them haven't even heard of "DOD." You say potehto I say potahto...
Basically, the contrasts you see are simply due to differences in cultures. Peace.