Just a follow up comment - it's the same strategy as the Disney conglomerate: take public domain stories (Snow White, Beauty & Beast, etc), produce an instance of it, then heavily protect your revenue stream with hoards of lawyers going after anybody who even thinks of makes anything that remotely resembles your instance.
These prisoners were hanging out in the cell when the new guy asks, "Anybody know what time it is?", and one of the older inmates says, "Oh, it's about 2006".
Senator Byrd (D-WV) did that recently with a proposition to amend the constitution to allow school prayer. Of course he knows it doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting anywhere but it sure make him look good to the constituents this election year without actually accomplishing anything at all.
"Sorry, I belong to the Data Base Administrators Union, if you want someone to edit that startup shell script you'll need to get someone from the System Administrators Union."
At least those are the horror stories we used to hear about the old industrial trade-unions, a Carpenter could not touch a pipe, even for a simple job like tightening a joint. You HAD to get a plumber or face industrial action (strike).
What do they say that? - Sound like they go out of their way (advice about firewalls, etc) to let taxpayers "Set Your Computer Clock Via the Internet".
Is silently migrate my legit users to another ntp server and then set the D-Link'ed ones to something like Klingon time or something bizarre, streach 8 hour days to 10 hours, etc. Of course that wouldn't solve the excess traffic, but you can get creative with revenge, especially when you're in the right.
-Monitoring data show that the growth in concentrations of ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere is slowing, consistent with the declining production required by international agreements.
-The maximum ozone depletion (and increase in UV-B radiation) is likely to occur within the next 10 years; thereafter, the ozone layer is expected to slowly recover over the next several decades.
It just occured to me that an ongoing pattern in technological improvements, going back a long way, is seen by business as something that should be of advantage to them only, and consumers should have to keep paying the old 'pre-improvement' way. That is, something is created that lowers the cost or production or distribution - the business types want to keep the extra change generated, naturally, and force consumers to keep paying as they always have. Anyway, all these ideas floated by media companies always have the stench of a business deal - we'll give you seomthing, but we're going to demand something in return so that YOU end up with a net-zero result and the business gets to pocket the profits. Anyway it's encouraging to see enlightened consumers react to the charade of marketing, even though there's a big enough contingent of sheeple out there who'll buy whatever comes down the pike. That should be enough cliche's for one post.
A couple of old joke - this old boy from a farm way up the hollow goes to work in the mines and first day he sees someone with a thermos and asks about it. The fellow was told that it keeps hot thing hot and cold thing cold. The simpleton's eyes get wide in amazement and he asks, 'How do it know'?
Next week the newbie shows up and has himself a thermos this time. The guys start asking him, 'What ya got in the thermos, boy?', and he says, 'A bowl a' hot soup and two popsickles'.
I think as soon as something becomes 'trusted' the advertising jackels and political propagandist quickly move in and use it to their own ends. Then, as it becomes more and more obvious that it is so, they move on to something else. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Could you imagine? Bill Gates announces it's been real but they're closing up shop, laying off all employees, and oh-by-the-way cancelling all software licenses. "That's right - legally the software is our property and we can do what we want with it and frankly, with over $50,000,000,000 in well diversified investments I just don't need the aggravation anymore. Thanks for playing, but you are now required to delete all copies of Microsoft products, from MITS BASIC 3 to preview betas of Windows Vista, you must now turn them off and install something else. Get a Mac. Sun, IBM, Apple can all pick up the slack. You will have to try that Linux thing or whatever on your notebooks now, I don't care anymore. We apologize for the inconvience but there will be no more patches or tech support. In fact, our few remaining employees in the legal department will be vigorously prosecuting anybody caught running a Microsoft product. Tata, good luck, and thanks for all the moolah."
Make something easy to use is a *very* complicated task, just ask Apple and Msft.
However, this is like the current US definition of 'freedom', which basically means 'rich', or 'economic freedom', and most Americans are all too ready and willing to give up other necessary freedoms, and endure an ever tightning set of rules and regulations and taxes and litigation, unemployment, illegal immigration, outsourcing, etc etc etc - all at the behest of the landed gentry to keep their business and THEIR economic freedom, even if it means enslaving others.
That'll likely change when they get enough critial mass from being software and media consumers to producers and then have a financial interest in the development of it, then you want to enforce the law. As someone pointed out, the US was a big book pirating country in the 19th century, publishing Dicken's works withough paying etc, but authors like Mark Twain and others pressured congress to put the brakes on such things. That is, at the time, the US was to Britain like China is to the US today.
"delivers ever increasing value to customers - It enables further uniformity and standardization across applications and distributions that allows quicker deployment of Linux solutions with higher levels of quality"
Now we're speaking the language management can understand. All the stuff about "symmetrical multiprocessing" and "system bus throughput" was just a bunch of incomprehensible gobbledygook.
Names matter a lot to those who don't understand what's behind it. For years I marveled at how you would start Windows 3.1 by typing "win" at a dos box. Very shrewd. If a *nix programmer did it, s/he would probably have made it a short snappy abbv for "Load Operating System and Execute Restart", and not think a thing about what it spells to the laity.
Slashdot Mirror
Just a follow up comment - it's the same strategy as the Disney conglomerate: take public domain stories (Snow White, Beauty & Beast, etc), produce an instance of it, then heavily protect your revenue stream with hoards of lawyers going after anybody who even thinks of makes anything that remotely resembles your instance.
famous strings in XP, c:\windows\system32\finger.exe:
@(#) Copyright (c) 1980 The Regents of the University of California.
All rights reserved.
c:\windows\system32\ftp.exe:
@(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
All rights reserved.
These prisoners were hanging out in the cell when the new guy asks, "Anybody know what time it is?", and one of the older inmates says, "Oh, it's about 2006".
Senator Byrd (D-WV) did that recently with a proposition to amend the constitution to allow school prayer. Of course he knows it doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting anywhere but it sure make him look good to the constituents this election year without actually accomplishing anything at all.
So just use some kind of encryption
It could be that brain tumors cause mobile phone transmitters.
"Anybody object to putting antennas on the roof right above you?"
"Duh, uhhh, nope, ok"
"Sorry, I belong to the Data Base Administrators Union, if you want someone to edit that startup shell script you'll need to get someone from the System Administrators Union."
At least those are the horror stories we used to hear about the old industrial trade-unions, a Carpenter could not touch a pipe, even for a simple job like tightening a joint. You HAD to get a plumber or face industrial action (strike).
What do they say that? - Sound like they go out of their way (advice about firewalls, etc) to let taxpayers "Set Your Computer Clock Via the Internet".
Is silently migrate my legit users to another ntp server and then set the D-Link'ed ones to something like Klingon time or something bizarre, streach 8 hour days to 10 hours, etc. Of course that wouldn't solve the excess traffic, but you can get creative with revenge, especially when you're in the right.
from Anthropogenic Ozone Depletion: Status
-Monitoring data show that the growth in concentrations of ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere is slowing, consistent with the declining production required by international agreements.
-The maximum ozone depletion (and increase in UV-B radiation) is likely to occur within the next 10 years; thereafter, the ozone layer is expected to slowly recover over the next several decades.
I can't wait to see what easter egg porn is in this one.
You know someday Bill Gates is going to turn into an eccentric billionair that'll make Howard Hughes look like Mr Normalperson.
C'mon, man - everybody knows whities ain't got the soul gene.
It just occured to me that an ongoing pattern in technological improvements, going back a long way, is seen by business as something that should be of advantage to them only, and consumers should have to keep paying the old 'pre-improvement' way. That is, something is created that lowers the cost or production or distribution - the business types want to keep the extra change generated, naturally, and force consumers to keep paying as they always have. Anyway, all these ideas floated by media companies always have the stench of a business deal - we'll give you seomthing, but we're going to demand something in return so that YOU end up with a net-zero result and the business gets to pocket the profits. Anyway it's encouraging to see enlightened consumers react to the charade of marketing, even though there's a big enough contingent of sheeple out there who'll buy whatever comes down the pike. That should be enough cliche's for one post.
It's just a step toward the robotic cthulu.
Sure you can: I <3 Judge Edwards!
Well, that coffee's not going to heat itself.
D'oh!
A couple of old joke - this old boy from a farm way up the hollow goes to work in the mines and first day he sees someone with a thermos and asks about it. The fellow was told that it keeps hot thing hot and cold thing cold. The simpleton's eyes get wide in amazement and he asks, 'How do it know'?
Next week the newbie shows up and has himself a thermos this time. The guys start asking him, 'What ya got in the thermos, boy?', and he says, 'A bowl a' hot soup and two popsickles'.
I think as soon as something becomes 'trusted' the advertising jackels and political propagandist quickly move in and use it to their own ends. Then, as it becomes more and more obvious that it is so, they move on to something else. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Could you imagine? Bill Gates announces it's been real but they're closing up shop, laying off all employees, and oh-by-the-way cancelling all software licenses. "That's right - legally the software is our property and we can do what we want with it and frankly, with over $50,000,000,000 in well diversified investments I just don't need the aggravation anymore. Thanks for playing, but you are now required to delete all copies of Microsoft products, from MITS BASIC 3 to preview betas of Windows Vista, you must now turn them off and install something else. Get a Mac. Sun, IBM, Apple can all pick up the slack. You will have to try that Linux thing or whatever on your notebooks now, I don't care anymore. We apologize for the inconvience but there will be no more patches or tech support. In fact, our few remaining employees in the legal department will be vigorously prosecuting anybody caught running a Microsoft product. Tata, good luck, and thanks for all the moolah."
Make something easy to use is a *very* complicated task, just ask Apple and Msft.
However, this is like the current US definition of 'freedom', which basically means 'rich', or 'economic freedom', and most Americans are all too ready and willing to give up other necessary freedoms, and endure an ever tightning set of rules and regulations and taxes and litigation, unemployment, illegal immigration, outsourcing, etc etc etc - all at the behest of the landed gentry to keep their business and THEIR economic freedom, even if it means enslaving others.
That'll likely change when they get enough critial mass from being software and media consumers to producers and then have a financial interest in the development of it, then you want to enforce the law. As someone pointed out, the US was a big book pirating country in the 19th century, publishing Dicken's works withough paying etc, but authors like Mark Twain and others pressured congress to put the brakes on such things. That is, at the time, the US was to Britain like China is to the US today.
"delivers ever increasing value to customers - It enables further uniformity and standardization across applications and distributions that allows quicker deployment of Linux solutions with higher levels of quality"
Now we're speaking the language management can understand. All the stuff about "symmetrical multiprocessing" and "system bus throughput" was just a bunch of incomprehensible gobbledygook.
his job before Sun... at a dog food company
I wonder if they ate their own dog food?
In other words, your next cubicle could well be inside a virtual world.
As long I can access my virtual cube from my yacht, it won't be too awfully bad.
I used to *hate* filling out gobs of paper applications - they'd inevitably have something like
write your entire life history here -> [______]
Do not omit significant details.
in a little 1/2" square box.
Names matter a lot to those who don't understand what's behind it. For years I marveled at how you would start Windows 3.1 by typing "win" at a dos box. Very shrewd. If a *nix programmer did it, s/he would probably have made it a short snappy abbv for "Load Operating System and Execute Restart", and not think a thing about what it spells to the laity.
;)
Or "Load Unix and Start Running"