I would like to know what would happen if this code (and others which the US courts have seen fit to ban) is placed on a web site outside the US. US lawyers can send me as many cease and desist letters as they please, I live in Holland.
What I would like to see is an article or interview on how Intellectual Property law is handled across national boundaries. If something is illegal in the US, can we just post the information in Holland, or Thailand, or China, or Hong Kong, or Australia, etc? It seems to me that many of the problems the Open Source community is facing with respect to Copyright, IP, etc, could be resolved by placing the information outside of the jurisdiction of the complaining authority.
Can anyone say data haven?
One of the things which annoys me most about Slashdot is that everyone assumes that the world consists of a) The United States of America b) Canada c) Some other places. Obviously, the US plays a leading role in the software industry, and Slashdot is based in the US. But honestly, go look at a map of the world, you'll find there are actually other countries as well, some of them with their own capital cities and everything! Some of them even have their own legal systems!
Although I strongly suspect this is a troll, it is entirely correct. Microsoft products tend to range from the OK (Excel) to the truly suckworthy (Visual Basic). However, they manage to dominate in just about every single field they enter.
How?
Branding. For clueless C[IT]Os and other such top management material, choosing Microsoft is a safe bet. No one ever got fired for selecting a Microsoft product. No matter how much they deserved to.
Now, the book by Bill Gates *I'd* like to see is not the dire 'The Road Ahead', but 'Bill's Big Book of Marketing, or how to steal the world'. If there's one thing he knows about, it's how to dispose of the competition.
The book 'MicroSerfs' was written by Douglas Coupland, and can be found here. I bought this book when I first went to work at a software company, so I would know what to expect. But reality was different. And worse.
It's not the compiler as such, just the environment. I've used Delphi in various versions, and am using C++Builder to learn C++, and they are great environments for flinging graphical applications together. Do you _really_ want to spend your time calling window handles? Or do you want to leave that to the RAD tool and get on with coding the cool engine?
Sure, if all you want to do is write device drivers, or hack kernel code, then these are not the tools for you. But if you want to put a nifty X interface on that cool config tool, the Linux tools are going to be a great improvement.
An AC wrote: > not everything is a plot by the M$ cabal (much of it is Murdoch's fault)
Damn right. Mr Murdoch (or is it Sir Rupert) makes Bill look like the girl scout winner of the Wet Blanket of the Millennium Award. Here is a man who decides national elections, by dictating editorial policy to his (many) media outlets. Bill really can't measure up.
Rupert Murdoch is the kind of person you might expect to find stroking a white cat and saying "So, Mr Bond, you have discovered my little nuclear weapons cache....". Bill Gates would be in Whitehall, handing out the ordinary-looking briefcase containing a tuna sandwich and a copy of Penthouse, but which explodes when you enter the combination "MSFT", only it turns out that it will actually work if you enter any combination of four letters... "with hilarious consequences"! (As they used to say in the TV Times)
The post was indeed deeply offensive (though I must admit to laughing, being surrounded by Mac lusers all day), but I would take issue with this 'respect for the dead' remark. The same was said to me after I complained that they took the usual Sunday repeat of the Archers off BBC radio 4 after Princess Diana and her Arab Boyfriend parked in that tunnel. When she was alive, I regarded Princess Diana as a silly, self-obsessed, manipulative, evil, bitch. Then she died. So now I'm supposed to like her? I think not.
If we are to 'show some respect for the dead', then we had better stop referring to Adolf Hitler as 'perhaps the most evil man in history', and start referring to him as 'someone who, although apparently misguided, did a great deal to improve the transport infrastructure of Germany, and was very kind to children and animals. Oh, and he started the second world war. And ordered the murder of 10 million people.'
Now I have no wish to judge the relative moral worth of MZB (and no, I am not comparing her to Hitler). But if someone loathes Mac users, then they shouldn't have to love them after they die.
I personally loathe the use of 'passed on'. The close friends I lost, have died. Calling it 'passing on' doesn't make the harsh reality any different, that someone you knew, respected and loved is no longer here.
I regard this usage as something belonging with 'downsized' for sacked, 'reengineered' for sacked, 'employee attrition program' for sacking people, 'collateral damage' for dead civilians, etc.
Someone quoted MZB below as saying that the 20th century will be remembered as the time we ignored reincarnation. Personally, I think the 20th century will be rememberes as the time we ignored the fact of death. (Until we get the hang of telomerase).
I think just about the definitive word on how death should be handled was written by Orson Scott Card in Ender's Game. When my father-in-law died, his son spoke of his life in the spirit of Ender's Game, and it was one of the most moving moments of my life. Disguising a person's death does nothing to soften the blow for friends and relatives. Accepting their death and celebrating their life does, in my experience.
Please note, this post has no bearing on the good lady's death, which seems to me to be a sad affair, as so many people enjoyed her books. But saying she has 'passed on' will neither soften the blow or alter the fact.
I'm sorry, but this sounds like: "I went to see MyAmazingBand when they were playing the Civic Hall in Bumfork, Manitoba, and there was just me and my best friend and his pet llama, and they were _amaaazing_, and now they've got a record contract, and their single is at number 4 in the charts, and they're playing to 20000 in Madison Square Gardens, and now I don't like them any more...."
I once remember seeing a rant on Minsky's worst of the web, from some hairy hippy complaining about the Macintosh, how it had made it possible for "women and laypeople" (sic) to use computers, instead of having to learn whole reams of arcane commands. On the same page, the HH also said that he was looking to meet a woman who would understand him.
Slashdot Mirror
I've got the wool.... Seriously, somewhere to post all of that 'disputed' code would be fantastic. David
I would like to know what would happen if this code (and others which the US courts have seen fit to ban) is placed on a web site outside the US. US lawyers can send me as many cease and desist letters as they please, I live in Holland.
What I would like to see is an article or interview on how Intellectual Property law is handled across national boundaries. If something is illegal in the US, can we just post the information in Holland, or Thailand, or China, or Hong Kong, or Australia, etc? It seems to me that many of the problems the Open Source community is facing with respect to Copyright, IP, etc, could be resolved by placing the information outside of the jurisdiction of the complaining authority.
Can anyone say data haven?
One of the things which annoys me most about Slashdot is that everyone assumes that the world consists of a) The United States of America b) Canada c) Some other places. Obviously, the US plays a leading role in the software industry, and Slashdot is based in the US. But honestly, go look at a map of the world, you'll find there are actually other countries as well, some of them with their own capital cities and everything! Some of them even have their own legal systems!
David
How?
Branding. For clueless C[IT]Os and other such top management material, choosing Microsoft is a safe bet. No one ever got fired for selecting a Microsoft product. No matter how much they deserved to.
Now, the book by Bill Gates *I'd* like to see is not the dire 'The Road Ahead', but 'Bill's Big Book of Marketing, or how to steal the world'. If there's one thing he knows about, it's how to dispose of the competition.
The book 'MicroSerfs' was written by Douglas Coupland, and can be found here. I bought this book when I first went to work at a software company, so I would know what to expect. But reality was different. And worse.
Sure, if all you want to do is write device drivers, or hack kernel code, then these are not the tools for you. But if you want to put a nifty X interface on that cool config tool, the Linux tools are going to be a great improvement.
Damn right. Mr Murdoch (or is it Sir Rupert) makes Bill look like the girl scout winner of the Wet Blanket of the Millennium Award. Here is a man who decides national elections, by dictating editorial policy to his (many) media outlets. Bill really can't measure up.
Rupert Murdoch is the kind of person you might expect to find stroking a white cat and saying "So, Mr Bond, you have discovered my little nuclear weapons cache....". ... "with hilarious consequences"! (As they used to say in the TV Times)
Bill Gates would be in Whitehall, handing out the ordinary-looking briefcase containing a tuna sandwich and a copy of Penthouse, but which explodes when you enter the combination "MSFT", only it turns out that it will actually work if you enter any combination of four letters
David
The post was indeed deeply offensive (though I must admit to laughing, being surrounded by Mac lusers all day), but I would take issue with this 'respect for the dead' remark. The same was said to me after I complained that they took the usual Sunday repeat of the Archers off BBC radio 4 after Princess Diana and her Arab Boyfriend parked in that tunnel. When she was alive, I regarded Princess Diana as a silly, self-obsessed, manipulative, evil, bitch. Then she died. So now I'm supposed to like her? I think not.
If we are to 'show some respect for the dead', then we had better stop referring to Adolf Hitler as 'perhaps the most evil man in history', and start referring to him as 'someone who, although apparently misguided, did a great deal to improve the transport infrastructure of Germany, and was very kind to children and animals. Oh, and he started the second world war. And ordered the murder of 10 million people.'
Now I have no wish to judge the relative moral worth of MZB (and no, I am not comparing her to Hitler). But if someone loathes Mac users, then they shouldn't have to love them after they die.
David
I personally loathe the use of 'passed on'. The close friends I lost, have died. Calling it 'passing on' doesn't make the harsh reality any different, that someone you knew, respected and loved is no longer here.
I regard this usage as something belonging with 'downsized' for sacked, 'reengineered' for sacked, 'employee attrition program' for sacking people, 'collateral damage' for dead civilians, etc.
Someone quoted MZB below as saying that the 20th century will be remembered as the time we ignored reincarnation. Personally, I think the 20th century will be rememberes as the time we ignored the fact of death. (Until we get the hang of telomerase).
I think just about the definitive word on how death should be handled was written by Orson Scott Card in Ender's Game. When my father-in-law died, his son spoke of his life in the spirit of Ender's Game, and it was one of the most moving moments of my life. Disguising a person's death does nothing to soften the blow for friends and relatives. Accepting their death and celebrating their life does, in my experience.
Please note, this post has no bearing on the good lady's death, which seems to me to be a sad affair, as so many people enjoyed her books. But saying she has 'passed on' will neither soften the blow or alter the fact.
David
I'm sorry, but this sounds like:
"I went to see MyAmazingBand when they were playing the Civic Hall in Bumfork, Manitoba, and there was just me and my best friend and his pet llama, and they were _amaaazing_, and now they've got a record contract, and their single is at number 4 in the charts, and they're playing to 20000 in Madison Square Gardens, and now I don't like them any more...."
I once remember seeing a rant on Minsky's worst of the web, from some hairy hippy complaining about the Macintosh, how it had made it possible for "women and laypeople" (sic) to use computers, instead of having to learn whole reams of arcane commands.
On the same page, the HH also said that he was looking to meet a woman who would understand him.
David