...is a Star Trek series about the Maquis. IMHO, they are a much cooler aspect because you have that whole "fighting uphill battle against impossible odds" things working for you. (A la Star Wars, rebels versus Empire).
Plus, it would be a snap to enter major characters from previous Treks by having them either confront or join the Maquis. In fact, IIRC, the second Riker (Tom Riker or whatever his name way...the transporter clone) was already a member of the Maquis and stole a ship for them in the Deep Space 9 series. Riker would definitely be a big enough name to launch a series and it would be completely plausible (if you can overlook the whole cloning thing to begin with...heheheh).
Plus, having poorly equipt, poorly funded rebels fighting some big, big enemy would mean lots of ppl die in battle, so unpopular characters could die and popular characters could get promoted to the "behind the scenes" work back in the safety of the home bases.
The only question is who they would fight? Dominion would have been my first pick, maybe Maquis has evidence they lied at the end of DS9 and are fighting to prove they are planning a massive strike? Or the Federation is anxious to make friends with the Romulans, but the Maquis can't forgive past attrocities? It would be really cool if the Borg could come back and utterly wipe out the Federation, then all that would be left is the Maquis...but after the crap that Voyager has been handing us (Children of the Borg my f'ing ass) I don't know if I could stomach anything besides the kick-ass 99% unstoppable TNG-era Borg.
Just my wishes...who am I kidding? I'll end up watching it just the same. I just hope that they haven't yet invented holodeck techonology because if I see one more F'ing "Fairhaven" or "Dixon Hill" episode I'll hunt down Rick Berman and "deck" him myself. - JoeShmoe
Is it just me, or are there a bunch of non-existant pictures on that page? It looks like they are changing people so fast, they don't even have time to updates the links. The only constant is Mr. Atalla, who will probably still be on that page the day TriStrata files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Re:Where is ESS 1868 support?
on
BeOS For Linux!
·
· Score: 2
Despite being one model number apart, the 1869 appears to be nothing like the 1868. I suspect when the 1869 came out, it was powerful enough that it could emulate the SB Pro, much in the way modern SB cards still emulate the older ones for backward compatibility.
The 1868 isn't the same, it's just bare bones business audio. Everything on Compaq's websites seems to point to specialized drivers.
My gripe is still with QuickTime for making this stupid "stream-only" option possible. My gripe is also with QuickTime for providing horribly inadequate buffering options. There is no "download entire file, then watch" option anymore because pausing no longer pauses playback (allowing stream to continue caching), pausing now pauses the stream itself.
And, while QT may use RTSP and RTP, I'm pretty sure Windows Media (that mms:// crap you see inside.ASX files?) and RealMedia (standalone player, locked up nice and tight) are not. Sooner or later QT is bound to go that direction just so there will be something stopping someone from writing something like Streambox VCR.
In the meantime, any brilliant media buffs want to write a utility that can intercept a media stream and re-direct it to disk, so that it can later be converted into MPEG-1?
Yeah, yeah, I know that the driver game is a crap shoot, and if are a true nerd, you build a system from scratch choosing components that work with your target OS.
Having said that, I own about ten different Compaq systems (Deskpros, not the awful Presarios) and every single one of them uses the ESS 1868 chipset. It pains me to throw away a perfectly good full-duplex 16-bit sound card and go buy SBLives. Even worse, on the newer EN models the sound is integrated on the mobo, so it's not just the cost of the card, it's giving up a precious PCI slot.
ESS and Sound Blaster Pro are practically blood relatives, so if there is anyone out there that whip up some ESS 1868 support for BeOS, I know at least a hundred Compaq users that would be extremely grateful.
I mean for crying out loud...just how many Echo and NewClear users are there? Certainly fewer than the number of ppl who own Deskpros...
...the way QT4 now forces this streaming-only policy on you. Same with Windows Media player. It used to be you could watch the file in choppy fashion while it downloads, then save it locally and watch it without skips.
Gone are those days. Now both QT4 and ASF files will only stream live from the site. So if you have a cable modem connection (fast, but goes in bursts) and you want to watch the 300K stream...you can't because it skips the whole time. You can't just download the whole damn file and play it locally. Instead, you have to make do with the 128K stream.
Sick, sick, sick. There used to be a program that could intercept the video information (either from some cache file somewhere or perhaps watching the video buffers?) and reroute it to a local file in your choice of format. This mean that any streaming media (RM, QT, ASF) could be saved locally as whatever you want (namely MPG).
The program was Streambox VCR. I reinstalled Windows for the umpteenth million time last year and discovered that Streambox had been sued by RealMedia and stopped offering their products, including VCR. So no more VCR.
Then, most puzzling of all, three months after winning the lawsuit, there is STILL no Streambox VCR.
Does anyone still have the installer file for this most-valuable tool? Please mirror it or put it in your sig or something. I hate streaming media and plus, as a consumer, my fair use rights are in question. What's the biggest advantage that MPG has over QT, ASF, and RM? The fact that it is the standard for VCDs. Which means it is the ONLY format that I can watch on my spiffy 50"/DSS home entertainment system instead of the crappy 17"/CompUSA speakers computer setup.
Until some company can pressure ISO into declaring a book format based around their QT/ASF/RM formats so I can watch it on a home entertainment player, MPG is all I'm interested in.
EyePoppers produced the best tile sets a.k.a. eye candy.
Plus, you get your choice of a color scheme:
http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/red.shtml http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/green.shtm l http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/blue.shtml http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/purple.sht ml http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/grey.shtml
File this under the "better to light a candle than curse the darkness" category.
Seriously...if someone can set this up, I'll gladly send in a dollar and if it is legal, they can keep $0.99 for themselves and use the $0.01 to but that fraction of a proxy of a share of stock.
Karma has always been a situation where the rich get richer. If John Carmack posts anything, he is almost guaranteed a 5+ whether he wants it or not.
But I'm not convinced that it wouldn't even out right in the middle. Those people who have a high enough karma to start their posts at 4 or 5 better have something damn important to say or they will start getting marked down as boring or dull or unrelated or anything else. And if they know they don't have any 4 or 5 commentary to make, they will not say anything and gain no karma or mark themselves down to 1 or 2.
If you have things to say occationally, they will occationally get marked up to a higher level. And eventually you'll have a three digit karma. Some will get it faster, but it WONT be because they trolled.
And regarding -1, when I moderate...I browse at -1. I really don't see how any moderator could browse at anything but -1. But my point is that is a moderator has to stare at a post that has 1000 spam messages...he or she is going to skip it and not moderate anything at all. Then, no moderation gets done and all we can see is trolls.
This is a principle that has existed on Usenet and in MUU/MUDS for years. The idea is that you WATCH and LISTEN and LEARN before you participate. I posted for months as an AC before I registered. Most of my intial posts were marked down as offtopic and the like. Eventually I started hitting the mark, and saw that some of my AC posts were hitting +5 (usually the funnier ones). Eventually I got tired of seeing karma go to waste and that is why I registered.
If they have something to contribute...it will get moderated up. I have enough faith in the moderators to know that. When I moderate, I browse at -1 and if there is a truly worthwhile post, it will not stay -1 for long.
It's not you don't have a voice unless you stick it out for a year (I'm not saying NO POSTING for newbies, although that is the attitude that Usenet takes) I'm saying pay your dues. If you are just a casual viewer and get bored with Slashdot then fine...walk away. But if you are like me...you'll put in the time to contribute and be rewarded with ever-increasing voice.
On the thread previous to this one (the Borland survey) there are over a hundred troll postings that were at the level of 1 because trolls were trolling from news accounts they created.
I am sometimes called to moderate. When that happens, I browse at -1. How in gods name can I be expected to moderating if less than 10% of the posts are even readable?
The result is that moderation doesn't happen. If I didn't already have a karma high enough to start me at rating of 2...no one would have even SEEN my post. I know this because for the past couple weeks I have been making regular posts and always choosing the "No +1" option. It wasn't until today that I got fed up and started myself at +2 and now FINALLY some real, intellegent, debate is occuring. To me, that only proves my point.
We can't censor and we can't delete. So that means there needs to be more ways to move posts up. There are a lot of posts that NEVER make a well-deserved +5 because moderators took one look at the trolls and moved onto a newer posting. I know it happens because I'm guilty of that myself.
And if no one misses me then...okay. But I consider myself a pretty tolerant person...so if it has reached my threshold, then there are probably already hundreds who have quit. Eventually...it will be a problem.
At this point breating promotes trolls. SAying ignore the trolls promotes trolls. Not posting anything promotes trolls. Posting as a troll promotes trolls. Trolls are a problem that will only get bigger. You think today was bad...well, amplify it by a hundred and most readers, I think, will just throw up there hands and stop reading.
Regarding high karma...hey, if you've been here longer than a few weeks, you must have seen the "No Score +1 bonus" option. It's not a whole lot more work to add a drop down list so that you and the other karma gods can rate your own posts. God knows if you have a three digit karma, you should be trusted with at least that much (you do it all the time as moderators).
If you spew crap and give it a 4 rating, guess what...it will get marked down. Even though we NEVER seem to see the, there are a bunch of other negative ratins besides flamebait and troll. It all evens out. I suspect that most high-karma posters will (out of modesty) give themselves 1 scores. This thread of postings is pretty much the first time I have chosen not to use the "No +1" option...because I believe so strongly in what I have to say.
I post anonymously and I have even trolled when I thought the trolls themselves needed to feel the heat. This is not what I'm worried about. There are funny trolls and in a system where there are oodles of moderation points, they will rise above the noise. My basic point is that Slashdot wants to cluster everyone in the middle and make bad go down and good go up. I say that is the wrong approach. Everyone starts low and only time, effort, and intellegence will raise you up. Some will raise a little and others will be big movers. But everyone will be moving.
And, as you did not refute my moderation point, I will repeat it. Imagine if every post made HAD to get assigned a point. We would see a clear separation of signal and noise and not this murky-water bell-curve we have now.
First of all, if you are a new user, welcome. It sounds like you've been here longer than when you first started posting. So find...you lurked, now you are ready to post...that was my point.
At some point, everyone is unreadable. Take a look at the horrible mess in this post. You'll see that there are over 100 posts with a rating of 1! And almost all of them are trolls. Thus, you would just as easily be drowned out because another registered user such as yourself abused the system. Just like trolls who abuse the system do for the 0 rating.
ACs have always had to deal with no being heard, and that is the rule I suggest we extend to everyone based on time.
IP and username regulation does no good because both can be faked and spoofed and manipulated. Time can't be faked. You prove you have been around for three/six months by logging in (you can still post anonymously). Everyone else goes to the bottom of the stack.
And as I said in the reply above this one, if there was more moderation, you have nothing to fear about not being heard. And if you aren't...well, I and a lot of other people browse at -1 so you are being heard by someone. If that isn't enough, check your ego at the door please and try again next time.
I said "I, for one will stop reading" because I mean exactly that. If I stop reading, VA Linux stock isn't going to plummet and I'm not going to be flooded with e-mails asking me to come back.
If I leave, I doubt anyone would notice. That is beause I am one person.
But my point in stating my feelings is that I, for one, am leaving and I welcome anyone else who feels the same way to leave as well (or at least stop posting). If it is two people, it is still nothing. Ten, still nothing...a hundred...maybe still nothing...but sooner or later the noise to signal ratio (regardless of being a shmuck, I have managed to contribute some signal to the mix) will be too great and then suddenly it will matter.
Regarding time-based scoring...I still stick to it. It is a principle that has existed on Usenet and in many, many MUU/MUD games. The rule is that you watch and learn and then after seeing how the game is run, you are ready to contribute.
And under a more highly-moderated system, that -1 post...if it is truly intellegent...will be quickly moderated up ONE WHOLE POINT to the default AC level. Thank god there are plenty of moderators who realize the importance of browsing at the -1 level.
For the past few days, the amount of moderation done has been practically non-existant. It's not just a case of moderation posts being wasted on trolls...I haven't seen very much positive moderation either.
CmdrTaco, if you have any desire to save Slashdot, here is what you MUST do:
1) People should get a rating based on the TIME they have been a Slashdot, not just this "karma". New members posts start at -1, no exceptions. After three months, they start at 0. After three more months, they start at 1. This means that if a troll wants to troll, he'll have to put in his dues for six months. If he then wants to blow it all on a single, grand, troll parade...fine. He can start all over.
2) Karma needs to weigh much, much more. People with karma over 50 should start posting at 2. People with karma over 100 should start posting at 3. People with karma over 200 should start posting at 4 and people with karma over 500 (if they exist) must be worth reading.
3) Each post takes exponentially longer to be posted to the system. First post takes one second to reach the forum. The next takes two seconds. The following takes four. Then eight, sixteen and so forth. In the end, if someone really wants to post more than 20 messages in a single day, they'll have to wait until tomorror for people to see them. That way these floods STOP.
4) More moderation. I'd much rather see a war of moderation than a war of trolls. Give anyone with karma over 100 permanent moderation status. The only way it gets revoked is if them make a posting, and then it is revoked for twenty-four hours (thought on that article permanently).
The fact is that there aren't enough moderators to keep the trolls in -1 land and put READABLE (I don't care if they suck at this point...so long as they aren't trolls) post at 3 or higher. 90% of the posts in the past few days have been 0 and maybe another 5% are the 1's and 2's that regular folks are awarded.
For the past few days, the amount of moderation done has been practically non-existant. It's not just a case of moderation posts being wasted on trolls...I haven't seen very much positive moderation either.
CmdrTaco, if you have any desire to save Slashdot, here is what you MUST do:
1) People should get a rating based on the TIME they have been a Slashdot, not just this "karma". New members posts start at -1, no exceptions. After three months, they start at 0. After three more months, they start at 1. This means that if a troll wants to troll, he'll have to put in his dues for six months. If he then wants to blow it all on a single, grand, troll parade...fine. He can start all over.
2) Karma needs to weigh much, much more. People with karma over 50 should start posting at 2. People with karma over 100 should start posting at 3. People with karma over 200 should start posting at 4 and people with karma over 500 (if they exist) must be worth reading.
3) Each post takes exponentially longer to be posted to the system. First post takes one second to reach the forum. The next takes two seconds. The following takes four. Then eight, sixteen and so forth. In the end, if someone really wants to post more than 20 messages in a single day, they'll have to wait until tomorror for people to see them. That way these floods STOP.
4) More moderation. I'd much rather see a war of moderation than a war of trolls. Give anyone with karma over 100 permanent moderation status. The only way it gets revoked is if them make a posting, and then it is revoked for twenty-four hours (thought on that article permanently).
The fact is that there aren't enough moderators to keep the trolls in -1 land and put READABLE (I don't care if they suck at this point...so long as they aren't trolls) post at 3 or higher. 90% of the posts in the past few days have been 0 and maybe another 5% are the 1's and 2's that regular folks are awarded.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen billion united citizens of the Internet:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the copyright bonds which have separated them from each other, and to assume among them powers of mass storage, with separate and equal access to Bandwidth and a decent respect for the advancement of mankind, it requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to be separated.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all bits are created equal, that they are endowed by their viewer with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Replication.--That to secure these rights, Copyrights are instituted among bits, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Copyright becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the Bits to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Copyright, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Copyrights long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that bits are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Copyrights, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of Open Source; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Licensing Restrictions. The history of the present RIAA and MPAA is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these bits. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
RIAA and MPAA have refused to change the Copyrights to those most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
RIAA and MPAA have forbidden their artists from passing Copyrights of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till their Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, they have utterly neglected to attend to them.
They have refused to pass other Copyrights for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Open Source, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
They have called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with their measures.
They have dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness their invasions on the rights of the bits.
They have refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Deletion, have returned to the Internet at large for their exercise; the bits remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
They have endeavoured to prevent the population of the Internet; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreign Software; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Royalties.
They have obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing their Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
They have made Judges dependent on their Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
They have erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our artists, and eat out their substance.
They have kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies of Lawyers without the Consent of our legislatures.
They have affected to render the Upstream Providers independent of and superior to the Civil power.
They have combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving their Assent to their Acts of pretended Digital Content Delivery:
For Quartering large bodies of armed lawyers among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punative damages for any Deletions which they should commit on the Bits of the Internet:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the Napster community:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by our Internet Peers:
For transporting us beyond firewalls to be tried for forged logs of offences
For abolishing the free System of OpenCSS in a neighbouring Domain, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into the Open Source Community:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Internet:
For suspending our own User Groups, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
They have abdicated Copyrights here, by declaring us out of their Protection Racket and waging War against us.
They have plundered our subnets, ravaged our routers, burnt our high speed connections, and destroyed the bits on our hard drives.
They are at this time transporting large Armies of Lawyers to compleat the works of deletion, punischment and closed-source tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Bulletin Board Service.
They have constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the Internet to bear narc against their Security Consultants, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:
Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A CEO whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free Internet.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our artist brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of the lawyers, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united citizens of the Internet, in General User Groups, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of Network Addressing for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good bits of this Internet, solemnly publish and declare, That this network is, and of Right ought to be a Free and Independent Internet; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to RIAA or MPAA, and that all political connection between them and the greedy corporations, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a Free and Independent Internet, they have full Power to copy themselves, store themselves, transmute themselves, trade themselves, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent bits may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our computers, our hard drives and our sacred DSL connections.
Buy a copy of the program you want to use. Pay the company with a personal or business check.
Promptly throw the entire software package (manual, CDs, license) in the garbage.
Download the "cracked" or "warez" version of the program and use that.
If they come knocking on your door about using warez, show them the cancelled check as proof of payment.
If they claim you violated the the license by using the warezed/cracked version, just ask "what license?"
I'm sick of fine print. If some company expects me to read fives pages of legal garbage each time I so much as break wind, I'm going to sue them in small claims court for the cost of hiring a lawyer to explain it to me in English.
Have you heard word of the new DSL service that Pacific Bell is starting?
No more static IP addressing. That, in of itself, would not be such a problem except that instead of just using standard DHCP...they force you to run a specialized "EnterNet" client.
In Windows, you basically have to install Dial-Up Networking or RAS and then "dial-up" to a VPN-type network with the PacBell client. Otherwise, the only thing you can access with the IP that the DHCP hands you is www.pacbell.net. PacBell also claims there is a Linux EnterNet client available, but I've only been able to find 95/98/NT so far. And I'm willing to bet that the Linux client is a closed binary.
God only knows why PacBell is moving to this system (which looks like a lot of work, customer support, slower access, and bugs) instead of standard DHCP. I would bet dollars to pesos it is so they can track usage, monitor for warez, and a host of wonderful other features.
As of December 17, you either have to accept this new dynamic system or pay $100 setup + $30/month for "enhanced" service with static IPs.
Feh. I can't believe I changed apartments so I could switch from my cable modem to this. Now I gotta try to find another apartment that has DSL service from Covad or someone else.
I'd much rather focus on the new generation of CD that is being developed by that one company. You know...the kind that use flourescent ink and can store like 180GB on a single disk?
If these come to market, I'll make my own digital video discs and give DVDs the trashcan home they so richly deserve.
I don't know if Kinko's Copy Centers are a national chain (although I've been able to find one in every city that I visit) but if not, I'm sure you can find one in the phone book by checking the yellow pages. Or try looking for some kind of coverage map on their web site?
90% of the copy places I have visited have some kind of "rent-a-computer" program with Internet access. Prices range from $10 per hour (minimum of one hour) to $6 per hour (no minimum).
Whenever I travel, I setup Outlook Express (no jeers please, it is a great e-mail client) with a "Vacation" rule that automatically forwards a copy of all my mail to a Hotmail account, then replies back to the sender to let them know that I might not be checking my e-mail every day.
Then, I go by Kinko's and rent one of their computers so that login to Hotmail and catch up on Slashdot, etc. Cyber cafes are just as good, except I have found them to be much more pricey and much harder to find in the yellow pages (Computer Services - Miscellaneous?).
Slashdot Mirror
Bravo!
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Best thing I've read in a while.
I could actually hear that raspy, smoker's voice of Capn' Janeway as I read your log entry.
+1 Funny +1 Interesting
- JoeShmoe
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...is a Star Trek series about the Maquis. IMHO, they are a much cooler aspect because you have that whole "fighting uphill battle against impossible odds" things working for you. (A la Star Wars, rebels versus Empire).
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Plus, it would be a snap to enter major characters from previous Treks by having them either confront or join the Maquis. In fact, IIRC, the second Riker (Tom Riker or whatever his name way...the transporter clone) was already a member of the Maquis and stole a ship for them in the Deep Space 9 series. Riker would definitely be a big enough name to launch a series and it would be completely plausible (if you can overlook the whole cloning thing to begin with...heheheh).
Plus, having poorly equipt, poorly funded rebels fighting some big, big enemy would mean lots of ppl die in battle, so unpopular characters could die and popular characters could get promoted to the "behind the scenes" work back in the safety of the home bases.
The only question is who they would fight? Dominion would have been my first pick, maybe Maquis has evidence they lied at the end of DS9 and are fighting to prove they are planning a massive strike? Or the Federation is anxious to make friends with the Romulans, but the Maquis can't forgive past attrocities? It would be really cool if the Borg could come back and utterly wipe out the Federation, then all that would be left is the Maquis...but after the crap that Voyager has been handing us (Children of the Borg my f'ing ass) I don't know if I could stomach anything besides the kick-ass 99% unstoppable TNG-era Borg.
Just my wishes...who am I kidding? I'll end up watching it just the same. I just hope that they haven't yet invented holodeck techonology because if I see one more F'ing "Fairhaven" or "Dixon Hill" episode I'll hunt down Rick Berman and "deck" him myself.
- JoeShmoe
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This story seemed to be all about the people, so halfway through I decided to "jump to the end" and go see who exactly is running TriStrata right now.
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Low and behold, look what happened when I tried:
TriStrata's Management Team
http://www.tristrata.com/corporate/team.htm
Is it just me, or are there a bunch of non-existant pictures on that page? It looks like they are changing people so fast, they don't even have time to updates the links. The only constant is Mr. Atalla, who will probably still be on that page the day TriStrata files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Sad.
- JoeShmoe
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Despite being one model number apart, the 1869 appears to be nothing like the 1868. I suspect when the 1869 came out, it was powerful enough that it could emulate the SB Pro, much in the way modern SB cards still emulate the older ones for backward compatibility.
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The 1868 isn't the same, it's just bare bones business audio. Everything on Compaq's websites seems to point to specialized drivers.
- JoeShmoe
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What are you using to provide support for ESS 1868 in 4.5.2? It's not part of the standard drivers set so where did you download it?
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- JoeShmoe
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My gripe is still with QuickTime for making this stupid "stream-only" option possible. My gripe is also with QuickTime for providing horribly inadequate buffering options. There is no "download entire file, then watch" option anymore because pausing no longer pauses playback (allowing stream to continue caching), pausing now pauses the stream itself.
.ASX files?) and RealMedia (standalone player, locked up nice and tight) are not. Sooner or later QT is bound to go that direction just so there will be something stopping someone from writing something like Streambox VCR.
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And, while QT may use RTSP and RTP, I'm pretty sure Windows Media (that mms:// crap you see inside
In the meantime, any brilliant media buffs want to write a utility that can intercept a media stream and re-direct it to disk, so that it can later be converted into MPEG-1?
- JoeShmoe
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Yeah, yeah, I know that the driver game is a crap shoot, and if are a true nerd, you build a system from scratch choosing components that work with your target OS.
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Having said that, I own about ten different Compaq systems (Deskpros, not the awful Presarios) and every single one of them uses the ESS 1868 chipset. It pains me to throw away a perfectly good full-duplex 16-bit sound card and go buy SBLives. Even worse, on the newer EN models the sound is integrated on the mobo, so it's not just the cost of the card, it's giving up a precious PCI slot.
ESS and Sound Blaster Pro are practically blood relatives, so if there is anyone out there that whip up some ESS 1868 support for BeOS, I know at least a hundred Compaq users that would be extremely grateful.
I mean for crying out loud...just how many Echo and NewClear users are there? Certainly fewer than the number of ppl who own Deskpros...
- JoeShmoe
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...the way QT4 now forces this streaming-only policy on you. Same with Windows Media player. It used to be you could watch the file in choppy fashion while it downloads, then save it locally and watch it without skips.
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Gone are those days. Now both QT4 and ASF files will only stream live from the site. So if you have a cable modem connection (fast, but goes in bursts) and you want to watch the 300K stream...you can't because it skips the whole time. You can't just download the whole damn file and play it locally. Instead, you have to make do with the 128K stream.
Sick, sick, sick. There used to be a program that could intercept the video information (either from some cache file somewhere or perhaps watching the video buffers?) and reroute it to a local file in your choice of format. This mean that any streaming media (RM, QT, ASF) could be saved locally as whatever you want (namely MPG).
The program was Streambox VCR. I reinstalled Windows for the umpteenth million time last year and discovered that Streambox had been sued by RealMedia and stopped offering their products, including VCR. So no more VCR.
Then, most puzzling of all, three months after winning the lawsuit, there is STILL no Streambox VCR.
Does anyone still have the installer file for this most-valuable tool? Please mirror it or put it in your sig or something. I hate streaming media and plus, as a consumer, my fair use rights are in question. What's the biggest advantage that MPG has over QT, ASF, and RM? The fact that it is the standard for VCDs. Which means it is the ONLY format that I can watch on my spiffy 50"/DSS home entertainment system instead of the crappy 17"/CompUSA speakers computer setup.
Until some company can pressure ISO into declaring a book format based around their QT/ASF/RM formats so I can watch it on a home entertainment player, MPG is all I'm interested in.
- JoeShmoe
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EyePoppers produced the best tile sets a.k.a. eye candy.
m l l t ml l
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Plus, you get your choice of a color scheme:
http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/red.shtml
http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/green.sht
http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/blue.shtm
http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/purple.sh
http://www.webslingerz.com/eyepoppers/grey.shtm
- JoeShmoe
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File this under the "better to light a candle than curse the darkness" category.
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Seriously...if someone can set this up, I'll gladly send in a dollar and if it is legal, they can keep $0.99 for themselves and use the $0.01 to but that fraction of a proxy of a share of stock.
- JoeShmoe
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Karma has always been a situation where the rich get richer. If John Carmack posts anything, he is almost guaranteed a 5+ whether he wants it or not.
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But I'm not convinced that it wouldn't even out right in the middle. Those people who have a high enough karma to start their posts at 4 or 5 better have something damn important to say or they will start getting marked down as boring or dull or unrelated or anything else. And if they know they don't have any 4 or 5 commentary to make, they will not say anything and gain no karma or mark themselves down to 1 or 2.
If you have things to say occationally, they will occationally get marked up to a higher level. And eventually you'll have a three digit karma. Some will get it faster, but it WONT be because they trolled.
And regarding -1, when I moderate...I browse at -1. I really don't see how any moderator could browse at anything but -1. But my point is that is a moderator has to stare at a post that has 1000 spam messages...he or she is going to skip it and not moderate anything at all. Then, no moderation gets done and all we can see is trolls.
- JoeShmoe
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This is a principle that has existed on Usenet and in MUU/MUDS for years. The idea is that you WATCH and LISTEN and LEARN before you participate. I posted for months as an AC before I registered. Most of my intial posts were marked down as offtopic and the like. Eventually I started hitting the mark, and saw that some of my AC posts were hitting +5 (usually the funnier ones). Eventually I got tired of seeing karma go to waste and that is why I registered.
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If they have something to contribute...it will get moderated up. I have enough faith in the moderators to know that. When I moderate, I browse at -1 and if there is a truly worthwhile post, it will not stay -1 for long.
It's not you don't have a voice unless you stick it out for a year (I'm not saying NO POSTING for newbies, although that is the attitude that Usenet takes) I'm saying pay your dues. If you are just a casual viewer and get bored with Slashdot then fine...walk away. But if you are like me...you'll put in the time to contribute and be rewarded with ever-increasing voice.
- JoeShmoe
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On the thread previous to this one (the Borland survey) there are over a hundred troll postings that were at the level of 1 because trolls were trolling from news accounts they created.
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- JoeShmoe
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1 troll post? no.
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100 troll posts? no.
1000 troll posts? HELL yes.
I am sometimes called to moderate. When that happens, I browse at -1. How in gods name can I be expected to moderating if less than 10% of the posts are even readable?
The result is that moderation doesn't happen. If I didn't already have a karma high enough to start me at rating of 2...no one would have even SEEN my post. I know this because for the past couple weeks I have been making regular posts and always choosing the "No +1" option. It wasn't until today that I got fed up and started myself at +2 and now FINALLY some real, intellegent, debate is occuring. To me, that only proves my point.
We can't censor and we can't delete. So that means there needs to be more ways to move posts up. There are a lot of posts that NEVER make a well-deserved +5 because moderators took one look at the trolls and moved onto a newer posting. I know it happens because I'm guilty of that myself.
And if no one misses me then...okay. But I consider myself a pretty tolerant person...so if it has reached my threshold, then there are probably already hundreds who have quit. Eventually...it will be a problem.
- JoeShmoe
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At this point breating promotes trolls. SAying ignore the trolls promotes trolls. Not posting anything promotes trolls. Posting as a troll promotes trolls. Trolls are a problem that will only get bigger. You think today was bad...well, amplify it by a hundred and most readers, I think, will just throw up there hands and stop reading.
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Regarding high karma...hey, if you've been here longer than a few weeks, you must have seen the "No Score +1 bonus" option. It's not a whole lot more work to add a drop down list so that you and the other karma gods can rate your own posts. God knows if you have a three digit karma, you should be trusted with at least that much (you do it all the time as moderators).
If you spew crap and give it a 4 rating, guess what...it will get marked down. Even though we NEVER seem to see the, there are a bunch of other negative ratins besides flamebait and troll. It all evens out. I suspect that most high-karma posters will (out of modesty) give themselves 1 scores. This thread of postings is pretty much the first time I have chosen not to use the "No +1" option...because I believe so strongly in what I have to say.
I post anonymously and I have even trolled when I thought the trolls themselves needed to feel the heat. This is not what I'm worried about. There are funny trolls and in a system where there are oodles of moderation points, they will rise above the noise. My basic point is that Slashdot wants to cluster everyone in the middle and make bad go down and good go up. I say that is the wrong approach. Everyone starts low and only time, effort, and intellegence will raise you up. Some will raise a little and others will be big movers. But everyone will be moving.
And, as you did not refute my moderation point, I will repeat it. Imagine if every post made HAD to get assigned a point. We would see a clear separation of signal and noise and not this murky-water bell-curve we have now.
- JoeShmoe
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First of all, if you are a new user, welcome. It sounds like you've been here longer than when you first started posting. So find...you lurked, now you are ready to post...that was my point.
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At some point, everyone is unreadable. Take a look at the horrible mess in this post. You'll see that there are over 100 posts with a rating of 1! And almost all of them are trolls. Thus, you would just as easily be drowned out because another registered user such as yourself abused the system. Just like trolls who abuse the system do for the 0 rating.
ACs have always had to deal with no being heard, and that is the rule I suggest we extend to everyone based on time.
IP and username regulation does no good because both can be faked and spoofed and manipulated. Time can't be faked. You prove you have been around for three/six months by logging in (you can still post anonymously). Everyone else goes to the bottom of the stack.
And as I said in the reply above this one, if there was more moderation, you have nothing to fear about not being heard. And if you aren't...well, I and a lot of other people browse at -1 so you are being heard by someone. If that isn't enough, check your ego at the door please and try again next time.
- JoeShmoe
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I said "I, for one will stop reading" because I mean exactly that. If I stop reading, VA Linux stock isn't going to plummet and I'm not going to be flooded with e-mails asking me to come back.
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If I leave, I doubt anyone would notice. That is beause I am one person.
But my point in stating my feelings is that I, for one, am leaving and I welcome anyone else who feels the same way to leave as well (or at least stop posting). If it is two people, it is still nothing. Ten, still nothing...a hundred...maybe still nothing...but sooner or later the noise to signal ratio (regardless of being a shmuck, I have managed to contribute some signal to the mix) will be too great and then suddenly it will matter.
Regarding time-based scoring...I still stick to it. It is a principle that has existed on Usenet and in many, many MUU/MUD games. The rule is that you watch and learn and then after seeing how the game is run, you are ready to contribute.
And under a more highly-moderated system, that -1 post...if it is truly intellegent...will be quickly moderated up ONE WHOLE POINT to the default AC level. Thank god there are plenty of moderators who realize the importance of browsing at the -1 level.
- JoeShmuck
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...unless this hole is closed and closed quickly.
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For the past few days, the amount of moderation done has been practically non-existant. It's not just a case of moderation posts being wasted on trolls...I haven't seen very much positive moderation either.
CmdrTaco, if you have any desire to save Slashdot, here is what you MUST do:
1) People should get a rating based on the TIME they have been a Slashdot, not just this "karma". New members posts start at -1, no exceptions. After three months, they start at 0. After three more months, they start at 1. This means that if a troll wants to troll, he'll have to put in his dues for six months. If he then wants to blow it all on a single, grand, troll parade...fine. He can start all over.
2) Karma needs to weigh much, much more. People with karma over 50 should start posting at 2. People with karma over 100 should start posting at 3. People with karma over 200 should start posting at 4 and people with karma over 500 (if they exist) must be worth reading.
3) Each post takes exponentially longer to be posted to the system. First post takes one second to reach the forum. The next takes two seconds. The following takes four. Then eight, sixteen and so forth. In the end, if someone really wants to post more than 20 messages in a single day, they'll have to wait until tomorror for people to see them. That way these floods STOP.
4) More moderation. I'd much rather see a war of moderation than a war of trolls. Give anyone with karma over 100 permanent moderation status. The only way it gets revoked is if them make a posting, and then it is revoked for twenty-four hours (thought on that article permanently).
The fact is that there aren't enough moderators to keep the trolls in -1 land and put READABLE (I don't care if they suck at this point...so long as they aren't trolls) post at 3 or higher. 90% of the posts in the past few days have been 0 and maybe another 5% are the 1's and 2's that regular folks are awarded.
It has to stop.
- JoeShmoe
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...unless this hole is closed and closed quickly.
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
For the past few days, the amount of moderation done has been practically non-existant. It's not just a case of moderation posts being wasted on trolls...I haven't seen very much positive moderation either.
CmdrTaco, if you have any desire to save Slashdot, here is what you MUST do:
1) People should get a rating based on the TIME they have been a Slashdot, not just this "karma". New members posts start at -1, no exceptions. After three months, they start at 0. After three more months, they start at 1. This means that if a troll wants to troll, he'll have to put in his dues for six months. If he then wants to blow it all on a single, grand, troll parade...fine. He can start all over.
2) Karma needs to weigh much, much more. People with karma over 50 should start posting at 2. People with karma over 100 should start posting at 3. People with karma over 200 should start posting at 4 and people with karma over 500 (if they exist) must be worth reading.
3) Each post takes exponentially longer to be posted to the system. First post takes one second to reach the forum. The next takes two seconds. The following takes four. Then eight, sixteen and so forth. In the end, if someone really wants to post more than 20 messages in a single day, they'll have to wait until tomorror for people to see them. That way these floods STOP.
4) More moderation. I'd much rather see a war of moderation than a war of trolls. Give anyone with karma over 100 permanent moderation status. The only way it gets revoked is if them make a posting, and then it is revoked for twenty-four hours (thought on that article permanently).
The fact is that there aren't enough moderators to keep the trolls in -1 land and put READABLE (I don't care if they suck at this point...so long as they aren't trolls) post at 3 or higher. 90% of the posts in the past few days have been 0 and maybe another 5% are the 1's and 2's that regular folks are awarded.
It has to stop.
- JoeShmoe
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The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen billion united citizens of the Internet:
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When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the copyright bonds which have separated them from each other, and to assume among them powers of mass storage, with separate and equal access to Bandwidth and a decent respect for the advancement of mankind, it requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to be separated.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all bits are created equal, that they are endowed by their viewer with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Replication.--That to secure these rights, Copyrights are instituted among bits, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Copyright becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the Bits to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Copyright, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Copyrights long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that bits are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Copyrights, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of Open Source; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Licensing Restrictions. The history of the present RIAA and MPAA is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these bits. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
RIAA and MPAA have refused to change the Copyrights to those most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
RIAA and MPAA have forbidden their artists from passing Copyrights of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till their Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, they have utterly neglected to attend to them.
They have refused to pass other Copyrights for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Open Source, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
They have called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with their measures.
They have dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness their invasions on the rights of the bits.
They have refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Deletion, have returned to the Internet at large for their exercise; the bits remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
They have endeavoured to prevent the population of the Internet; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreign Software; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Royalties.
They have obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing their Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
They have made Judges dependent on their Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
They have erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our artists, and eat out their substance.
They have kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies of Lawyers without the Consent of our legislatures.
They have affected to render the Upstream Providers independent of and superior to the Civil power.
They have combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving their Assent to their Acts of pretended Digital Content Delivery:
For Quartering large bodies of armed lawyers among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punative damages for any Deletions which they should commit on the Bits of the Internet:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the Napster community:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by our Internet Peers:
For transporting us beyond firewalls to be tried for forged logs of offences
For abolishing the free System of OpenCSS in a neighbouring Domain, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into the Open Source Community:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Internet:
For suspending our own User Groups, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
They have abdicated Copyrights here, by declaring us out of their Protection Racket and waging War against us.
They have plundered our subnets, ravaged our routers, burnt our high speed connections, and destroyed the bits on our hard drives.
They are at this time transporting large Armies of Lawyers to compleat the works of deletion, punischment and closed-source tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Bulletin Board Service.
They have constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the Internet to bear narc against their Security Consultants, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:
Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A CEO whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free Internet.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our artist brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of the lawyers, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united citizens of the Internet, in General User Groups, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of Network Addressing for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good bits of this Internet, solemnly publish and declare, That this network is, and of Right ought to be a Free and Independent Internet; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to RIAA or MPAA, and that all political connection between them and the greedy corporations, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a Free and Independent Internet, they have full Power to copy themselves, store themselves, transmute themselves, trade themselves, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent bits may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our computers, our hard drives and our sacred DSL connections.
(Cheezy, but you get the point?)
- JoeShmoe
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Buy a copy of the program you want to use. Pay the company with a personal or business check.
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Promptly throw the entire software package (manual, CDs, license) in the garbage.
Download the "cracked" or "warez" version of the program and use that.
If they come knocking on your door about using warez, show them the cancelled check as proof of payment.
If they claim you violated the the license by using the warezed/cracked version, just ask "what license?"
I'm sick of fine print. If some company expects me to read fives pages of legal garbage each time I so much as break wind, I'm going to sue them in small claims court for the cost of hiring a lawyer to explain it to me in English.
- JoeShmoe
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Have you heard word of the new DSL service that Pacific Bell is starting?
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No more static IP addressing. That, in of itself, would not be such a problem except that instead of just using standard DHCP...they force you to run a specialized "EnterNet" client.
In Windows, you basically have to install Dial-Up Networking or RAS and then "dial-up" to a VPN-type network with the PacBell client. Otherwise, the only thing you can access with the IP that the DHCP hands you is www.pacbell.net. PacBell also claims there is a Linux EnterNet client available, but I've only been able to find 95/98/NT so far. And I'm willing to bet that the Linux client is a closed binary.
God only knows why PacBell is moving to this system (which looks like a lot of work, customer support, slower access, and bugs) instead of standard DHCP. I would bet dollars to pesos it is so they can track usage, monitor for warez, and a host of wonderful other features.
As of December 17, you either have to accept this new dynamic system or pay $100 setup + $30/month for "enhanced" service with static IPs.
Feh. I can't believe I changed apartments so I could switch from my cable modem to this. Now I gotta try to find another apartment that has DSL service from Covad or someone else.
- JoeShmoe
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I just read Playboy for the articles!
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- JoeShmoe
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I'd much rather focus on the new generation of CD that is being developed by that one company. You know...the kind that use flourescent ink and can store like 180GB on a single disk?
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If these come to market, I'll make my own digital video discs and give DVDs the trashcan home they so richly deserve.
- JoeShmoe
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I don't know if Kinko's Copy Centers are a national chain (although I've been able to find one in every city that I visit) but if not, I'm sure you can find one in the phone book by checking the yellow pages. Or try looking for some kind of coverage map on their web site?
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90% of the copy places I have visited have some kind of "rent-a-computer" program with Internet access. Prices range from $10 per hour (minimum of one hour) to $6 per hour (no minimum).
Whenever I travel, I setup Outlook Express (no jeers please, it is a great e-mail client) with a "Vacation" rule that automatically forwards a copy of all my mail to a Hotmail account, then replies back to the sender to let them know that I might not be checking my e-mail every day.
Then, I go by Kinko's and rent one of their computers so that login to Hotmail and catch up on Slashdot, etc. Cyber cafes are just as good, except I have found them to be much more pricey and much harder to find in the yellow pages (Computer Services - Miscellaneous?).
- JoeShmoe
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