I work for an ISP, I can see getting *tons* of calls for this. "How do I stop these commercials?"... "You can't if you run widows. You'll have to install Linux."
Oh, so all these proprietary commercial licenses are null and void until they've been tried in court? I can ignore any EULAs because they haven't been tried in court? Great!
If some Linux guru could answer this quickly: I thought SCO was saying that only Linux kernel 2.4.x+ infringed on SCO's intellectual property. But don't the files SCO shows as evidence exist in previous kernels? Thanks.
I believe you're right. SCO's gamble is that the majority of people would listen to law and lawyers as their "proof" rather than listen to the hairy-scary magicological technical people.
...I should just shell out the $699 for my "license". By the time they're done compiling all the different options I want for my kernel(s) (applying patches, maintenance, testing kernels, new features, etc), I bet they'd lose that $699 in manhours in the first week! And that'd only be for one cpu!
I try not to be a troll... but how much spam/viruses/spyware can we contribute to commercial software? Would you say the money lost on recent viruses like Blaster would compare to the bloodiest war in US history? It might come close...
I'm not saying Free Software is the cure, the answer. But it is an alternative.
I can see where he is going with this. But before much of this can happen, other things have to happen. I recently changed my sig to compare RMS to Abraham Lincoln. I did some (quick, incomplete) research on the emancipation proclimation. One site describes is as "The first of many documents that slowly freed human slaves in the United States." The operative word here being "slowly". Much of the tech industry is still in its infancy. The best we can hope for right now is a "melting pot" effect. As people become more tech-aware and tech-savvy, maybe they'll embrace free software more, and even contribute to it. All it takes is enough of proprietary software, commercial entities and monopolies to get on the nerves of most people before radical change can take effect. I just believe that RMS is really ahead of his time. He could very well be the "first of his kind that slowly freed people from technical constraints."
I always evaluate licenses before I download things at work. I have a linux box where just about everything is GPL, and on my (xp) laptop, I can run Belarc Advisor to see what I have installed. This keeps me and my company out of hot water. I'm probably more laxed at home. In fact, only thing I can think of on my work machine that is commercial that wasn't given to me by work, is X-Win32, which I purchased a license for...
My wife and I won a cruise (!) this last past year, in October, to the western carribean. On the ship, internet access was 50 cents a minute (!) but while we were in Jamaica, I wanted to say hi to some friends. There was this outdoor bar in Ochos Rios with about 6 machines setup... I think I paid $2.50 for 15 mins, which figures out to the $10/hr rate. I thought it was fair. I guess it depends on what you wanna do... I hopped on IRC, instant messenger, said hey to some friends (most were working anyhow!) and checked webmail, and of course, slashdot.
So I guess my point is, sure, why not? I paid close to the $10/hr rate for *wired* access, it would be fair enough for wireless. Also, most of the places I can think of getting online away from home (airports, hotels, etc) why would someone want to be online for a few hours? Unless you're addicted to Everquest or something...
Yea, same thing happened to me. Except I didn't have EZ-Pass at the time. In fact, we got a warning from the NYS Thruway athority, that we went through an EZ-Pass lane without having an EZ-Pass one year on valentines day. Yup, while my wife and I were at the eye doctors with our pupils dialated, we quickly drove our car partway across the state at about 10pm at night.
So they promptly sent us a.50 cent fine in the mail. I disputed it. Never got to talk to a human being. Then it went to $10.50. I tried disputing again, still no human contact. Then it went to $50 and "we'll take your license away". So enough was enough. I got in touch with friends who had friends who worked for the thruway athority (social engineering works everytime), and they informed me that I had the right to request the photo taken of our car, to make sure it was our car. Come to find out, they didn't have one (or couldn't readily produce it), so it got thrown out.
I now have an EZ-Pass, but at least I'm familiar with parts of the process, should some matter of concern arise...
For those playing at home who don't understand the technojumbo, here's a summary of the SCO case:
Hi, We're SCO and we're a company that used to make software called Unix. Nowadays we can't do crap, our company has crossed hands so many times its pathetic, and we're actually looking at going bankrupt, so we need to do something and fast to save our butts from getting lynched by our shareholders.
Then there's this thing called Linux, that a bunch of hardworking people decided to make in their spare time, to "do the right thing" and make it openly free and completely legal. They're so good at it, that we want to take credit for it! Yes, it's such an outrageous plan that involves lawsuits against everyone, while we suck a rather micro and soft genitalia for money. (Hey they want us to take the fall for doing something that would kill their PR, but that's what we're here for!
Oh you say? The SEC? They won't do squat. Not only are our micro and soft benefactors funding our insanity, they have the federal government in the palm of their hands too! Yes, the US govt is so completely ignorant when it comes to things like IP law, or technology law, that we actually can get away with this. (I mean, c'mon, see how long it took for them to get a SPAM law passed?).
So in a nutshell, we're going to sue IBM, google, aol, novell, HP, hell just about anyone who says the word "Linux" because it looks somewhat like Unix.
RIAA Subordinate: "Sir, we have word that Micheal Jackson, who makes us millions a year, has been accused of child molestation."
RIAA Chief: "Oh? Do we have any other details?"
RIAA Subordinate: "The accusations come from a 12 year old boy."
RIAA Cheif: "Well then, we do have a serious situation on our hands. Then we must find out the truth to the most heinous question of all. Do you think that boy was sharing music on the Internet?"
So exactly how do I remove the viruses that don't reside on my computer? These are the ones that generate all the crap traffic. I can drop at my router, but why should I clog my pipe. For the matter why would an ISP want to deal with traffic congestion on their core due to crap traffic? My providor has placed traffic shaping on my stream before, both on their own because they were so congested (and they notified me), and also at my request. The police patrol the street not my house on a regular basis, think about it!
Very true! I must debunk my first statement... (It was a knee-jerk reaction to the implications of the post... after reading the article, it was rather vague.) Cisco believes in three layers for routing devices: The Core, Distribution and Access layers. I'm concerned about putting this equipment in the core or distribution layers. This actually might work if it's closest to the desktops, at the access level. The basic principle being... "deny any infected user access to the network". Again though, it doesn't solve the root cause of viruses, it only offers a way to contend with the cascade of effects viruses cause.
... and got my CCNA in June. We have a saying... "Let routers route and servers serve." Anti-virus is clearly a IT problem, but it's also a server responsibility. Not a router responsibility. I can't imagine supporting this. Every once in a while, we get someone (customer, whomever) who says "Oh! This new virus works on port 7654! Please block port 7654!"... then I say "What happens if I run my website on port 7654? You can't get to it?". Limiting the function of a routing device because it might carry malicious code on an application level is a bad idea. This isn't a solution to the problem, this is another band-aid.
... it's only in the uk? Maybe I missed something? I am a huge fan of google news. I am not a fan of MS and their divisions. But I will give it a try. It still bothers me... why only in the uk? Would others tend to trust this more? Isn't most of Europe really critical of MS and their monopolistic behavior?
I think I'll try it for a week and see what happens. Reading a few of the other posts here, we can't tell if it's truely biased or not, but also, we probably shoulnd't judge until we've seen repeating patterns. Most folks here *know* what to expect from google, and slashdot, and other news sources. And we can, for the most part we can trust google to be non-biased.
Ok, I had one mod point left but screw it. I saw a few people hinting towards it.
Let's slashdot spammers. Ya know, someone paste a link up here and we can all click on it a few hundred times. When the spammers hosting provider gets a nice big spike (or gets taken down completely ) the spammer might think twice...
Hell, make it a special part of the site where you can get your daily spam revenge.
This is your typical "Tech vs. Non-Tech" argument. The manufacturer did something to appeal to Non-Techs, and it offended many Techs. Hmm.. wonder if the whole Windows vs Linux thing falls into this category...
I just wish Belkin would offer firmwares/hardware *without* the "feature". Any hijacking of routed packets is wrong. Sort of like saying... well, when you first buy your car, at some point it will drive itself to McDonalds, unless you tell it "no thanks". Oh and it might randomly do this in the future unless you turn the feature off. Regardless of wether you like McDonalds or not, we had added the feature out of popular demand...
... sounds like she got off a lot easier than those caught sharing music via p2p programs. Either the FBI should hire the MPAA or anyone swapping music online should start credit card fraud, it sounds like the lesser offense.
Slashdot Mirror
...shit hitting the fan sound like? Oh wait, nevermind.
No. ;) To be completely honest, I don't speak with residential. I do corporate support. (Not that their any better).
I work for an ISP, I can see getting *tons* of calls for this. "How do I stop these commercials?" ... "You can't if you run widows. You'll have to install Linux."
Who said this wasn't the year of desktop Linux?
...uhh ... anyone wanna enlighten BSD users on bandwidth?
...can you say "go f#ck yourself"?
Oh, so all these proprietary commercial licenses are null and void until they've been tried in court? I can ignore any EULAs because they haven't been tried in court? Great!
I believe you're right. SCO's gamble is that the majority of people would listen to law and lawyers as their "proof" rather than listen to the hairy-scary magicological technical people.
...I should just shell out the $699 for my "license". By the time they're done compiling all the different options I want for my kernel(s) (applying patches, maintenance, testing kernels, new features, etc), I bet they'd lose that $699 in manhours in the first week! And that'd only be for one cpu!
Just goes to show how rediculous it all is.
I try not to be a troll... but how much spam/viruses/spyware can we contribute to commercial software? Would you say the money lost on recent viruses like Blaster would compare to the bloodiest war in US history? It might come close...
I'm not saying Free Software is the cure, the answer. But it is an alternative.
I can see where he is going with this. But before much of this can happen, other things have to happen. I recently changed my sig to compare RMS to Abraham Lincoln. I did some (quick, incomplete) research on the emancipation proclimation. One site describes is as "The first of many documents that slowly freed human slaves in the United States." The operative word here being "slowly". Much of the tech industry is still in its infancy. The best we can hope for right now is a "melting pot" effect. As people become more tech-aware and tech-savvy, maybe they'll embrace free software more, and even contribute to it. All it takes is enough of proprietary software, commercial entities and monopolies to get on the nerves of most people before radical change can take effect. I just believe that RMS is really ahead of his time. He could very well be the "first of his kind that slowly freed people from technical constraints."
Just my $.02.
I always evaluate licenses before I download things at work. I have a linux box where just about everything is GPL, and on my (xp) laptop, I can run Belarc Advisor to see what I have installed. This keeps me and my company out of hot water. I'm probably more laxed at home. In fact, only thing I can think of on my work machine that is commercial that wasn't given to me by work, is X-Win32, which I purchased a license for ...
My wife and I won a cruise (!) this last past year, in October, to the western carribean. On the ship, internet access was 50 cents a minute (!) but while we were in Jamaica, I wanted to say hi to some friends. There was this outdoor bar in Ochos Rios with about 6 machines setup... I think I paid $2.50 for 15 mins, which figures out to the $10/hr rate. I thought it was fair. I guess it depends on what you wanna do... I hopped on IRC, instant messenger, said hey to some friends (most were working anyhow!) and checked webmail, and of course, slashdot.
So I guess my point is, sure, why not? I paid close to the $10/hr rate for *wired* access, it would be fair enough for wireless. Also, most of the places I can think of getting online away from home (airports, hotels, etc) why would someone want to be online for a few hours? Unless you're addicted to Everquest or something...
...of these tech cases, and we might just see some legislative reform!
Yea, same thing happened to me. Except I didn't have EZ-Pass at the time. In fact, we got a warning from the NYS Thruway athority, that we went through an EZ-Pass lane without having an EZ-Pass one year on valentines day. Yup, while my wife and I were at the eye doctors with our pupils dialated, we quickly drove our car partway across the state at about 10pm at night.
.50 cent fine in the mail. I disputed it. Never got to talk to a human being. Then it went to $10.50. I tried disputing again, still no human contact. Then it went to $50 and "we'll take your license away". So enough was enough. I got in touch with friends who had friends who worked for the thruway athority (social engineering works everytime), and they informed me that I had the right to request the photo taken of our car, to make sure it was our car. Come to find out, they didn't have one (or couldn't readily produce it), so it got thrown out.
So they promptly sent us a
I now have an EZ-Pass, but at least I'm familiar with parts of the process, should some matter of concern arise...
For those playing at home who don't understand the technojumbo, here's a summary of the SCO case:
Hi, We're SCO and we're a company that used to make software called Unix. Nowadays we can't do crap, our company has crossed hands so many times its pathetic, and we're actually looking at going bankrupt, so we need to do something and fast to save our butts from getting lynched by our shareholders.
Then there's this thing called Linux, that a bunch of hardworking people decided to make in their spare time, to "do the right thing" and make it openly free and completely legal. They're so good at it, that we want to take credit for it! Yes, it's such an outrageous plan that involves lawsuits against everyone, while we suck a rather micro and soft genitalia for money. (Hey they want us to take the fall for doing something that would kill their PR, but that's what we're here for!
Oh you say? The SEC? They won't do squat. Not only are our micro and soft benefactors funding our insanity, they have the federal government in the palm of their hands too! Yes, the US govt is so completely ignorant when it comes to things like IP law, or technology law, that we actually can get away with this. (I mean, c'mon, see how long it took for them to get a SPAM law passed?).
So in a nutshell, we're going to sue IBM, google, aol, novell, HP, hell just about anyone who says the word "Linux" because it looks somewhat like Unix.
RIAA Subordinate: "Sir, we have word that Micheal Jackson, who makes us millions a year, has been accused of child molestation."
RIAA Chief: "Oh? Do we have any other details?"
RIAA Subordinate: "The accusations come from a 12 year old boy."
RIAA Cheif: "Well then, we do have a serious situation on our hands. Then we must find out the truth to the most heinous question of all. Do you think that boy was sharing music on the Internet?"
Very true! I must debunk my first statement... (It was a knee-jerk reaction to the implications of the post... after reading the article, it was rather vague.) Cisco believes in three layers for routing devices: The Core, Distribution and Access layers. I'm concerned about putting this equipment in the core or distribution layers. This actually might work if it's closest to the desktops, at the access level. The basic principle being... "deny any infected user access to the network". Again though, it doesn't solve the root cause of viruses, it only offers a way to contend with the cascade of effects viruses cause.
... and got my CCNA in June. We have a saying... "Let routers route and servers serve." Anti-virus is clearly a IT problem, but it's also a server responsibility. Not a router responsibility. I can't imagine supporting this. Every once in a while, we get someone (customer, whomever) who says "Oh! This new virus works on port 7654! Please block port 7654!" ... then I say "What happens if I run my website on port 7654? You can't get to it?". Limiting the function of a routing device because it might carry malicious code on an application level is a bad idea. This isn't a solution to the problem, this is another band-aid.
... it's only in the uk? Maybe I missed something? I am a huge fan of google news. I am not a fan of MS and their divisions. But I will give it a try. It still bothers me... why only in the uk? Would others tend to trust this more? Isn't most of Europe really critical of MS and their monopolistic behavior?
I think I'll try it for a week and see what happens. Reading a few of the other posts here, we can't tell if it's truely biased or not, but also, we probably shoulnd't judge until we've seen repeating patterns. Most folks here *know* what to expect from google, and slashdot, and other news sources. And we can, for the most part we can trust google to be non-biased.
Let's see how this goes...
Ok, I had one mod point left but screw it. I saw a few people hinting towards it.
Let's slashdot spammers. Ya know, someone paste a link up here and we can all click on it a few hundred times. When the spammers hosting provider gets a nice big spike (or gets taken down completely ) the spammer might think twice...
Hell, make it a special part of the site where you can get your daily spam revenge.
...we had a special place for those who owned asteroids and were anal probed by little green men. It was called the "Psycho Ward".
This is your typical "Tech vs. Non-Tech" argument. The manufacturer did something to appeal to Non-Techs, and it offended many Techs. Hmm.. wonder if the whole Windows vs Linux thing falls into this category...
... well, when you first buy your car, at some point it will drive itself to McDonalds, unless you tell it "no thanks". Oh and it might randomly do this in the future unless you turn the feature off. Regardless of wether you like McDonalds or not, we had added the feature out of popular demand...
I just wish Belkin would offer firmwares/hardware *without* the "feature". Any hijacking of routed packets is wrong. Sort of like saying
Same smell, different orifice. Next time I'll put *AA or perhaps (MP|RI)AA...
... sounds like she got off a lot easier than those caught sharing music via p2p programs. Either the FBI should hire the MPAA or anyone swapping music online should start credit card fraud, it sounds like the lesser offense.
...and I thought MS only had users by the balls.