Bizzarely enough, someone drew my attention to this site last week, and I communicated with the guy who wrote it. Here is his response:
"Peet,
The whole thing is just a joke - see the surrounding articles and the rest of the web site. It was never meant to be taken seriously. What was really scary was that a couple of years ago the 'information' on that page was included in a school science site!
I thoroughly understand how mobile phones operate - I spend 25 years in radio communications & electronics.
...ever since they started bundling it with the "Free" QuickTime for Windows 2000 - you couldn't play a QuickTime movie unless you agreed to the iTunes EULA, and you couldn't uninstall it seperately afterwards.
Depends on your point of view; if the "other side" has them it could *increase* your losses in urban combat, since they'll know which buildings it's worth lobbing a grenade in to.
"This is a free service, and it's theirs. You have absolutely NO right to complain about their business practices."
Ah, so freedom of speech was finally stamped out while I wasn't looking, then. You're saying that if a crack dealer sets up outside my house under my bedroom window that I have no right to complain about their business practices because providing crack is "their service"?
AIM was the biggest reason I removed all trace of Netscape's browser from my computer; from v6.0 onwards there was no option to install the browser without installing that. It's unpleasant and intrusive. If I want to chat, I run an IRC client *when I choose to*. I *don't* let it pop up in front of my browser whenever some stranger with something to sell spots my name as being online.
When this story first came out the last line was "All the faulty capacitors have the letter 'X' engraved in the top."
I posted a comment to the effect that *all* modern electrolytic capacitors have a cross cut into the top - it gives them a point where they can safely rupture rather than just exploding if something goes wrong.
Now that line seems to have disappeared from the story, and so has my comment...
But remember, it's also possible that Google will lobby to have unworkable copyright/intellectual property laws revoked, break up the teleco's stranglehold over cheap bandwidth, prevent the movie industry from dictating what you do with the DVD player you just bought or a myriad of other things that the US Gov't currently votes on without being particularly well-informed on the subject.
Me, I'll wait and see what happens before I start complaining.:)
I was willing to spend the money to get the 60 days of "Support". On the second day I found what was (for me) an insurmountable printer problem... Basically, you couldn't set a top margin greater than one inch.
I contacted them, and basically they said "Yup, we can duplicate that. It is a problem. We'll get back to you."
It's been over 80 days now; other than confirming the original report they haven't responded to *any* of my emails. As things are, I can't use this for what I bought it for, and am seeking a refund. But, they're based in Canada, and unless they stop "blanking" me I'm going to have to go via the Office of Fair Trading International & UK Liason...:(
The moral? If you can support it yourself, go for it, but if you think you may need support I'd suggest you look elsewhere.
Slashdot Mirror
Bizzarely enough, someone drew my attention to this site last week, and I communicated with the guy who wrote it. Here is his response:
"Peet,
The whole thing is just a joke - see the surrounding articles and
the rest of the web site. It was never meant to be taken seriously.
What was really scary was that a couple of years ago the
'information' on that page was included in a school science site!
I thoroughly understand how mobile phones operate - I spend 25 years
in radio communications & electronics.
Cheers!
Charlie."
...ever since they started bundling it with the "Free" QuickTime for Windows 2000 - you couldn't play a QuickTime movie unless you agreed to the iTunes EULA, and you couldn't uninstall it seperately afterwards.
Depends on your point of view; if the "other side" has them it could *increase* your losses in urban combat, since they'll know which buildings it's worth lobbing a grenade in to.
"This is a free service, and it's theirs. You have absolutely NO right to complain about their business practices."
Ah, so freedom of speech was finally stamped out while I wasn't looking, then. You're saying that if a crack dealer sets up outside my house under my bedroom window that I have no right to complain about their business practices because providing crack is "their service"?
AIM was the biggest reason I removed all trace of Netscape's browser from my computer; from v6.0 onwards there was no option to install the browser without installing that. It's unpleasant and intrusive. If I want to chat, I run an IRC client *when I choose to*. I *don't* let it pop up in front of my browser whenever some stranger with something to sell spots my name as being online.
When this story first came out the last line was "All the faulty capacitors have the letter 'X' engraved in the top."
I posted a comment to the effect that *all* modern electrolytic capacitors have a cross cut into the top - it gives them a point where they can safely rupture rather than just exploding if something goes wrong.
Now that line seems to have disappeared from the story, and so has my comment...
Hold that thought...
:)
But remember, it's also possible that Google will lobby to have unworkable copyright/intellectual property laws revoked, break up the teleco's stranglehold over cheap bandwidth, prevent the movie industry from dictating what you do with the DVD player you just bought or a myriad of other things that the US Gov't currently votes on without being particularly well-informed on the subject.
Me, I'll wait and see what happens before I start complaining.
I was willing to spend the money to get the 60 days of "Support". On the second day I found what was (for me) an insurmountable printer problem... Basically, you couldn't set a top margin greater than one inch.
:(
I contacted them, and basically they said "Yup, we can duplicate that. It is a problem. We'll get back to you."
It's been over 80 days now; other than confirming the original report they haven't responded to *any* of my emails. As things are, I can't use this for what I bought it for, and am seeking a refund. But, they're based in Canada, and unless they stop "blanking" me I'm going to have to go via the Office of Fair Trading International & UK Liason...
The moral? If you can support it yourself, go for it, but if you think you may need support I'd suggest you look elsewhere.