Google security staffers responded by scolding Bekrar for disregarding users' privacy and called him an "ethically challenged opportunist."
Bekrar shrugs off the insults. "We don't work as hard as we do to help multibillion-dollar software companies make their code secure," he says. "If we wanted to volunteer, we'd help the homeless."
It is pretty hypocritical for somebody at Google to be challenging someone else for users' privacy.
[Fracking] is one of those technologies we can't afford not to exploit.
Then it should be done right. No "trust us" and "our ingredients our secret" bullshit. Mandatory testing of water supplies both before and after should be done, and all materials used in fracking should have a chemical signature added unique to the site to make identification of leaks easy.
No, it isn't, and that's probably why you picked a simple mathematical function like max() that has the same interface on almost any language. Try comparing instead the date and time, I/O, or network utilities.
Really, you're going to go with max()? It's a basic mathematical function that looks the same in just about any language, whereas you claim 90% of the Java API is derivative of C.
Do you know how I know you can't back up what you say? Because you can't point to the similarities, and make a specious claim of 90%. While there are C libs underneath many of the Java libraries, the Java class library is large and not a slavish copy of the C libs.
"In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is a currently unknown type of matter hypothesized to account for a large part of the total mass in the universe. Dark matter neither emits nor absorbs light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly seen with telescopes.[1] Dark matter is estimated to constitute 83% of the matter in the universe and 23% of the mass-energy.[2]
Dark matter came to the attention of astrophysicists due to discrepancies between the mass of large astronomical objects determined from their gravitational effects, and mass calculated from the "luminous matter" they contain [..] Although the existence of dark matter is generally accepted by the mainstream scientific community, several alternative theories have been proposed to try to explain the anomalies that dark matter is intended to account for."
Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.
Was that American propaganda, Taliban propaganda, or some local bullshitter? Before he was killed by the Seals, whether Osama was dead or not was largely a matter of speculation with contradictory stories. I don't see any evidence that this was American propaganda.
Most people just call it a "Virus", although the Pedants call it Malware.
The Mac fanboys use the distinction to claim that the Mac has never gotten a virus, despite hundreds of thousands of machines being infected. Technically, they are right, but practically, it's spin.
It's a bigger deal than that because the Java APIs are clearly derivative of C and C++ libraries.
Then perhaps you can point out the clear similarities, because in my experience they aren't. First off, Java is an object-oriented language; C is not. Second, Java doesn't have pointers, manual memory management, or operator overloading.
That said, I don't believe an API should be subject to copyright. It's pretty well established case law that interfaces cannot be copyrighted.
So a reasonable few million bucks to Oracle for their trouble seems fair.
This is a court of law. It's not a matter of what is "fair", it is a matter of what is legally required. Furthermore, Oracle, the supposed beneficiary in this case, is a ruthless business and does not operate on the principle of what is "fair".
So, it made more sense to base the technology on Java yet make it legally different and not sign any contracts with Sun/Oracle to use the Java trademark.
If you read the PDF email archive, initially Google wanted to license Java from Sun and have the result be called Java. The problem is that Google and Sun could never come to terms, so Google ended up doing an end-around.
You think dictatorship requires that one person stays in power and does whatever he wants. What you fail to understand is that that is not true.
What you fail to do is provide a citation for your pet definitions. Here's an actual dictionary definition:
"1: the office of dictator 2: autocratic rule, control, or leadership 3a: a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in a dictator or a small clique
b: a government organization or group in which absolute power is so concentrated
c: a despotic state"
and for dictator:
"a: a person granted absolute emergency power; especially : one appointed by the senate of ancient Rome b: one holding complete autocratic control c: one ruling absolutely and often oppressively"
Now compare the powers of the US government with actual dictators. Remember SOPA? Would that even have been an issue up for discussion in a dictatorship? No, it would have just been handed down by government and expected to be followed without protest.
"With a war against Iraq perhaps days away, Americans are backing President Bush but remain split over launching an attack without United Nations support, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows.
By a 2-to-1 ratio, Americans favor invading Iraq with U.S. ground troops to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Not since November 2001 have they approved so overwhelmingly. Nearly six in 10 say they're ready for such an invasion "in the next week or two."
But that support drops off if the U.N. backing being sought by the United States, Britain and Spain Monday is not obtained. If the U.N. Security Council rejects a resolution paving the way for military action, only 54% of Americans favor a U.S. invasion. And if the Bush administration does not seek a final Security Council vote, support for a war drops to 47%."
An experienced C programmer costs more than an experienced C++ or Java programmer these days, simply because C is no longer taught by default.
That statement is hard to verify. I looked and the best I could come up with is this, which shows that C programmers are actually cheaper. Maybe you can find some other numbers that back up your claim.
Of course, you might ask yourself why the market moved away from C, when it was initially neither cheaper or readily available to do so. The simple facts are that C is error-prone and low-level, and people have moved on to more productive languages.
The closest software analogue of such a "work" is a user interface, and user interfaces are, in fact, subject to copyright.
Some aspects are, especially creative graphics, but see Lotus v. Borland for limitations, at least for a US ruling. The text and layout of the menus was deemed non-copyrightable.
The question is too broad and subject to interpretation. If they want the real answer they should ask the people who know the specific details and in what scenarios Java is "free" and what the limitations are. This line of questioning is courtroom theater, not justice.
The problem is that Oracle is saying that although the code is GPL, the API is proprietary
Google didn't release Dalvik (the implementation of their Java-derivative) under the GPL, so this statement isn't accurate. If Google had released it under the GPL, then it would have been a different story and it's likely Oracle wouldn't even have a case.
Most businesses are interested in getting the job done, and will use whatever is readily and cheaply available.
You can't argue that C isn't readily or cheaply available -- it is. Businesses switched away from C and C++ because they are too error prone and low-level, meaning programmers aren't as productive.
Now what usually happens is to blame the programmers, or not hiring smart enough programmers, as if the programmers are there to serve the language rather than the other way around.
How about, 10% of TARP, which was magically produced overnight, with nary a quibble, on the supposition that if we didn't do it, a few very wealthy bank CEO's would wet their pants with fear, and debt-ratings companies would be outed for the frauds that they so obviously were.
They were talking about the collapse of the banking system, which underpins the economy. I'm not saying how the problem was solved was correct, but the problem was a lot bigger than some wealthy CEOs wetting their pants.
People should know and defend their rights!! Everyone (utility providers, eye doctor, dentists, etc) will ask you for a social security number by default. NONE of them are entitled to it and will suck it up if you refuse.
"If a business or other enterprise asks you for your SSN, you can refuse to give it. However, that may mean doing without the purchase or service for which your number was requested."
Actually, my understanding from wikipediaing is that monetizing is the process of converting some property in some sort of currency.
The dictionaries I checked are slow in catching up on the new usage, but I did find one:
"3: to utilize (something of value) as a source of profit"
The word "monetize" became popular during and after the dotcom boom, as in how do we make money on all these services we are giving away for free? Before there was advertising on YouTube, there was a lot of speculation in the press on how they were going to "monetize" it.
In this case, Louis CK is making a profit by offering his videos for sale online, hence it is "monetized".
Well, when someone actually takes them up on it, someone else calls it "fragmentation." Can't win?
It's both fragmentation and choice. Which word you use to describe it depends on what aspects you want to highlight. As is often the case, it's about tradeoffs, and not a black and white issue.
Slashdot Mirror
I like their entrepreneurial spirit:
Google security staffers responded by scolding Bekrar for disregarding users' privacy and called him an "ethically challenged opportunist."
Bekrar shrugs off the insults. "We don't work as hard as we do to help multibillion-dollar software companies make their code secure," he says. "If we wanted to volunteer, we'd help the homeless."
It is pretty hypocritical for somebody at Google to be challenging someone else for users' privacy.
Every engineer worth his weight in salt
You're mixing up the phrase "worth its weight in gold" with "worth his salt".
Is he actually getting compensation? I read the article and I didn't see anything stating that.
"The board also directed Cooksey to remove a link offering one-on-one support, a personal-training type of service he offered for a small fee."
[Fracking] is one of those technologies we can't afford not to exploit.
Then it should be done right. No "trust us" and "our ingredients our secret" bullshit. Mandatory testing of water supplies both before and after should be done, and all materials used in fracking should have a chemical signature added unique to the site to make identification of leaks easy.
But it's almost all like that.
No, it isn't, and that's probably why you picked a simple mathematical function like max() that has the same interface on almost any language. Try comparing instead the date and time, I/O, or network utilities.
Really, you're going to go with max()? It's a basic mathematical function that looks the same in just about any language, whereas you claim 90% of the Java API is derivative of C.
Do you know how I know you can't back up what you say? Because you can't point to the similarities, and make a specious claim of 90%. While there are C libs underneath many of the Java libraries, the Java class library is large and not a slavish copy of the C libs.
Dark matter is the name of the problem, not the solution.
No, it's a hypothesized solution to various problems seen in astronomy. You might have figured that out from the name itself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter
"In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is a currently unknown type of matter hypothesized to account for a large part of the total mass in the universe. Dark matter neither emits nor absorbs light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly seen with telescopes.[1] Dark matter is estimated to constitute 83% of the matter in the universe and 23% of the mass-energy.[2]
Dark matter came to the attention of astrophysicists due to discrepancies between the mass of large astronomical objects determined from their gravitational effects, and mass calculated from the "luminous matter" they contain [..] Although the existence of dark matter is generally accepted by the mainstream scientific community, several alternative theories have been proposed to try to explain the anomalies that dark matter is intended to account for."
Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.
Was that American propaganda, Taliban propaganda, or some local bullshitter? Before he was killed by the Seals, whether Osama was dead or not was largely a matter of speculation with contradictory stories. I don't see any evidence that this was American propaganda.
Most people just call it a "Virus", although the Pedants call it Malware.
The Mac fanboys use the distinction to claim that the Mac has never gotten a virus, despite hundreds of thousands of machines being infected. Technically, they are right, but practically, it's spin.
It's a bigger deal than that because the Java APIs are clearly derivative of C and C++ libraries.
Then perhaps you can point out the clear similarities, because in my experience they aren't. First off, Java is an object-oriented language; C is not. Second, Java doesn't have pointers, manual memory management, or operator overloading.
That said, I don't believe an API should be subject to copyright. It's pretty well established case law that interfaces cannot be copyrighted.
So a reasonable few million bucks to Oracle for their trouble seems fair.
This is a court of law. It's not a matter of what is "fair", it is a matter of what is legally required. Furthermore, Oracle, the supposed beneficiary in this case, is a ruthless business and does not operate on the principle of what is "fair".
So, it made more sense to base the technology on Java yet make it legally different and not sign any contracts with Sun/Oracle to use the Java trademark.
If you read the PDF email archive, initially Google wanted to license Java from Sun and have the result be called Java. The problem is that Google and Sun could never come to terms, so Google ended up doing an end-around.
You think dictatorship requires that one person stays in power and does whatever he wants. What you fail to understand is that that is not true.
What you fail to do is provide a citation for your pet definitions. Here's an actual dictionary definition:
"1: the office of dictator
2: autocratic rule, control, or leadership
3a: a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in a dictator or a small clique
b: a government organization or group in which absolute power is so concentrated
c: a despotic state"
and for dictator:
"a: a person granted absolute emergency power; especially : one appointed by the senate of ancient Rome
b: one holding complete autocratic control
c: one ruling absolutely and often oppressively"
Now compare the powers of the US government with actual dictators. Remember SOPA? Would that even have been an issue up for discussion in a dictatorship? No, it would have just been handed down by government and expected to be followed without protest.
Not to mention the fact that something like 80% of the American public was totally against the Iraq war before it even started
[emphasis mine]
No, that's bullshit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_opinion_in_the_United_States_on_the_invasion_of_Iraq
Which in particular cites: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-03-16-poll-iraq_x.htm
"With a war against Iraq perhaps days away, Americans are backing President Bush but remain split over launching an attack without United Nations support, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows.
By a 2-to-1 ratio, Americans favor invading Iraq with U.S. ground troops to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Not since November 2001 have they approved so overwhelmingly. Nearly six in 10 say they're ready for such an invasion "in the next week or two."
But that support drops off if the U.N. backing being sought by the United States, Britain and Spain Monday is not obtained. If the U.N. Security Council rejects a resolution paving the way for military action, only 54% of Americans favor a U.S. invasion. And if the Bush administration does not seek a final Security Council vote, support for a war drops to 47%."
An experienced C programmer costs more than an experienced C++ or Java programmer these days, simply because C is no longer taught by default.
That statement is hard to verify. I looked and the best I could come up with is this, which shows that C programmers are actually cheaper. Maybe you can find some other numbers that back up your claim.
Of course, you might ask yourself why the market moved away from C, when it was initially neither cheaper or readily available to do so. The simple facts are that C is error-prone and low-level, and people have moved on to more productive languages.
The closest software analogue of such a "work" is a user interface, and user interfaces are, in fact, subject to copyright.
Some aspects are, especially creative graphics, but see Lotus v. Borland for limitations, at least for a US ruling. The text and layout of the menus was deemed non-copyrightable.
The question is too broad and subject to interpretation. If they want the real answer they should ask the people who know the specific details and in what scenarios Java is "free" and what the limitations are. This line of questioning is courtroom theater, not justice.
The problem is that Oracle is saying that although the code is GPL, the API is proprietary
Google didn't release Dalvik (the implementation of their Java-derivative) under the GPL, so this statement isn't accurate. If Google had released it under the GPL, then it would have been a different story and it's likely Oracle wouldn't even have a case.
Most businesses are interested in getting the job done, and will use whatever is readily and cheaply available.
You can't argue that C isn't readily or cheaply available -- it is. Businesses switched away from C and C++ because they are too error prone and low-level, meaning programmers aren't as productive.
Now what usually happens is to blame the programmers, or not hiring smart enough programmers, as if the programmers are there to serve the language rather than the other way around.
How about, 10% of TARP, which was magically produced overnight, with nary a quibble, on the supposition that if we didn't do it, a few very wealthy bank CEO's would wet their pants with fear, and debt-ratings companies would be outed for the frauds that they so obviously were.
They were talking about the collapse of the banking system, which underpins the economy. I'm not saying how the problem was solved was correct, but the problem was a lot bigger than some wealthy CEOs wetting their pants.
That's good reading. Thanks for the link.
People should know and defend their rights!!
Everyone (utility providers, eye doctor, dentists, etc) will ask you for a social security number by default. NONE of them are entitled to it and will suck it up if you refuse.
Or they might just refuse you service:
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/78/~/legal-requirements-to-provide-your-ssn
"If a business or other enterprise asks you for your SSN, you can refuse to give it. However, that may mean doing without the purchase or service for which your number was requested."
Actually, my understanding from wikipediaing is that monetizing is the process of converting some property in some sort of currency.
The dictionaries I checked are slow in catching up on the new usage, but I did find one:
"3: to utilize (something of value) as a source of profit"
The word "monetize" became popular during and after the dotcom boom, as in how do we make money on all these services we are giving away for free? Before there was advertising on YouTube, there was a lot of speculation in the press on how they were going to "monetize" it.
In this case, Louis CK is making a profit by offering his videos for sale online, hence it is "monetized".
Well, when someone actually takes them up on it, someone else calls it "fragmentation." Can't win?
It's both fragmentation and choice. Which word you use to describe it depends on what aspects you want to highlight. As is often the case, it's about tradeoffs, and not a black and white issue.