"I asked the representative if Windows Genuine Advantage had anything to do with it and he categorically told me this was not the case, he added that Windows Update for pre-Vista versions of Windows can now be accessed using Firefox and that the concern at Microsoft had more to do with the possible malicious code that could be redistributed with certified Microsoft updates."
That in and of itself is HUGE news. But alas, total BS. I still get the wonderful W.U message that tells me to go fuck myself for using Firefox. (not exactly in those words but I know that is what they mean)
http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/open_source.html
So what is the problem? I bet the reason the forums have not gotten an answer is because the user never bothered to look for the answer. He wanted it answered for him instead of actually you know doing some of the legwork himself. That or just posting FUD. The code is there for all to see.
For one reason and one reason only. The majority of Dems are in Hollywood's pockets. The corruption in the all 3 branches of Government are unreal at this point. The next President likley to be a democrat will ALSO be in Hollywood's pocket (RIAA, MPAA, etc) Obama and Hillary are one of the likley 2 and both have gotten significant contributions from Hollywood. So expect more of this.
Hollywood is getting bold because they know they have the elections bought and paid for it is fairly certain they have also contributed to the front runners of the Republican side as well to cover their bases. If you want to flame me for this go right ahead. You can waste that energy flaming or you can use it to actually find out who donated to whom. To make it easy here is a list.
http://consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-a merica/contact-information-for-50-politicians-who- take-campaign-money-from-the-riaa-264638.php
The only real solution is to avoid ALL RIAA Artists and listen CC licensed music. The RIAA and MPAA is looking to control content to whatever end (money, populus manipulation, whatever, ect). Well they cannot control content when the artists are not under contract. This is the fundamental flaw that we need to exploit. The funny thing is we will often find more creative music out there than what is being pumped out of Holywood these days. People seem more motivated by money and far less by the actual art. There are plenty of options out there. I am looking to start a CC music only radio station in the near future after reading this.
Oh cmon now...our Government is like google. They can do no evil....umm on second thought maybe you're right. Now we just need a smart slashdot reader to come up with an EM grenade that will essentially destroy all electronics. I am getting the idea for a sci fi novel here....altho it could come off as being factual too:S
Combine this with the British "Skynet" program and then toss the governator into the mix and we have ourselves real life terminators. They will eventually be turned against us by some virus that makes them turn against humanity and decide to terminate.
Well this is interesting. It is the equivalent of asking a Nazi about Jews and expecting objectivity.
Also MS is having trouble having people developing on their platform. They are losing developers for Mac OS and Linux. People know a sinking ship when they see one. Plus the subtle jabs they take at developers claiming that it is their software causing security problems (which is partly but not totally true) why would anyone want to develop for MS when OSS provides full flexibility. People can see the code and not come up with hackish solutions or workarounds to problems they may encounter.
http://www.cio.com/article/122152/Microsoft_Window s_Loses_Ground_With_Developers_Survey_Says
With Vista being a mess of compatibility and DRM/WDM/"Security" laden crap, it makes it hard for any real innovation to happen in the application space. I used to work for MS. One of the biggest gripes I heard was that drivers were always made wrong. Applications were usually buggy which caused problems with the OS. While again that is PARTIALLY true, part of the problem was the fact that I later learned (after I left MS for the real world) that coding for Windows platforms is a PITA. The closed nature makes everything a hackish effort. Workarounds here, hooks there.
Linux, BSD and other open source kernels out there have easy access to the lowest level if necessary of the kernels and OS in general. This makes it extremly easy to integrate with a minimum to intermiediate learning curve (if you are coming off Visual Studio specifically)
This sounds like MS FUD to me. Considering that their aim is to stop virtualization (if they are not doing it on their crippleware). It makes their OS irrelevant. And the increasing amount of reports on how virtualization is helping build leaner more efficient server farms and the like bolster this.
This reeks of MS tactics. No proof yet but I am sure it will come out eventually. It usually does. I would not be surprised if they indirectly had something to do with finding these vulnerabilities. MS Fanbois flame away.
Microsoft has issues as they have not really innovated anything for some time now. It is all updates to previous versions of software they bought or stole (based on the patent lawsuits they are dealing with) Marketing will only carry them so far these days. I think non technical people are starting to wise up. I mean hell even Al Sharpton is advocating the use of Ubuntu.
So the more non techie decision makers are aware of alternatives and their potential benefits the better. Apple or Linux is a good way to go over Vista personally.
Another small fact most people seem to overlook is that MS intentionally crippled the KMS server feature in server 2003 for Vista enterprise. It cannot run in a VM. I assume this is to prevent piracy and all that. The feature works fine in Vista tho. Also related is the fact that a VM for vista enterprise will not count towards the count of licensed machines. This is a limitation that MS is putting in to cripple the market while they get their product to ship, which MS considers "a Feature"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/10/microsoft_ viridian_thinned/
Actually a thought occured that perhaps an apt-get like repository could be setup for the listings. It could help in downloading the latest content listings and such. Or just pick up a TV guide and call it a day.
They are building the other Great Firewall. Altho it may be more like a fence since the firewall outright blocks even the view of the pages. Like the immigration fence. You can see the other side, you just can't cross into it.
OHH Cmon, He missed the most important fact!!! Downloads DO physical harm. Think If you download a movie or a song with a sexy or erotic theme (Barry White or something) (this is after you have have downloaded your porn) and you decide to "relieve" yourself, you kill a kitten. remember every time you masturbate God kills a kitten. http://people.tribe.net/dae8d009-d0b7-4b86-a693-95 41202788fe/photos/24986442-3b22-4cf3-81c4-8b29bfdf c2ee
So yes you are doing someone harm. Not just the kitten but the owner of the kitten who will have emotional distress because of your evil actions.
So in that sense it is MUCH worse than stealing a car. You can replace a car. But little fluffy the cat...you cannot replace a life. Shame on you you evil evil murdering bastards.
Also consider that you potentially harm yourself as well. What if you get a cramp clicking on that mouse using utorrent? Oh yea it happens. Your own fault. Not the RIAA/MPAA.
I suppose I can go on and on about this but those attorneys are on to something. Or just on something but regardless they make an excellent point. I will email them my above suggestions to use in their next informative ad. I think it could really convince people of their wrong doings.
Spread the news. The more mainstream non techie people know about this, the better. This FUD needs to work against MS. There are a good number of larger sites addressing this, such as eweek. But making sure it is addressed as FUD will work against them. People will see that this is an act of desperation from MS. They are not used to being in competition since they normally buy or sue their potential competition out of existence anyway.
The problem is like any organization, putting your hands in too many pies (virtualization, Office suites, browser, online advertising, and on and on) They have spread themselves thin. At the moment it seems they have a very broken development process as well. MS needs to focus on 2 or 3 major products and stick to that. They are too focused on competing with everyone and everything in the software and even the hardware world at times. They have no focus as a company other than marketing. That is the only working part of the company.
But seeing as this comment is likely not to be read by anyone at MS of importance, it will go ignored and they will dig themselves into a hole they will have a difficult time getting themselves from.
Even though you have to pay like 20 bucks a year for it. It is worth t for the customer support you get. Plus they offer some great incentives if you were a flickr user. My advice? Switch. Flickr has started going downhill. www.smugmug.com
He may be republican, but it is evident he at least has the country's best intrest at heart. He is republican. BUT If you are looking at that instead of what he stands for, then all you have proven is how close minded and ignorant you truly are regardless of party. I am SOOOOOO tired of party politics. Ron Paul seems to be too. ronpaul2008.com you can read up a little bit about him there and in many other places.
I have typically voted democrat, but since the way things have been in the last few years it almost seems like voting for the lesser of two evils. Now that the RIAA is aligned with the Dems and all other corporate interests are aligned with Reps, I am not interested in voting for the front runners. All I see are candidates raising millions for private jets and all that crap that they dont need. Ron Paul is running mainly on the internet with limited advertising. Not because of lack of money, but because he sees all the candidates doing these outlandish things with the money that is useless to the overall campaign. It is all flash and no substance.
Anyways look him up. (the smart./ will actually read up on him outside of./ the ones who will flame me here well you will likely not have read anything about him beyond the link I posted)
I can already see the scenario....HMS whatever.
Captain: Fire torpedoes and cannons....
Sailor : We can't!!!
Captain: WHAT!!??
Sailor : The (insert enemy here) has exploited the machine. The cannons are aiming themselves at the deck.
Captain: Abandon Ship. We forgot to patch last Tuesday.....\
BOOOOOM
*ship sinks with BSODs being the last thing the crew sees as they jump ship.
The scientist makes an arrogant assumption based on OUR level of technology. Another race may have much more sophisticated and advanced tech and ergo be able to find us much faster. We could be watched at this point and not even know it. It may take US 10 billion years if you base this conclusion on the current state of technology. But other breakthroughs and new inventions can eventually trump this.
It is another case of Science stating that the world is flat so to speak. The idea that it must be true until proven wrong. Science is not an exact science. A scientist saying things are a certain way based on a theory cannot be right until the theory is proven true and absolutely correct. This declaration is no different. At this point it is just a theory and opinion.
Freedom of speech is great as long as nobody's listening. --Luthor ruling the USA via holographic president in The Dark Knight Strikes Again.--
The point being made is people hear what is said but noone really does anything about it. The machine just rolls along while we here on slashdot and digg and various blogs talk about all this and do nothing about it. The awareness factor is limited only to the tech savvy crowd (many on here) who on allot of levels control information. I have seen very few instances where people are actually posting petitions or doing anything to show the dissatisfaction. Blogs go up but there really is no one united effort to focus the voice of the people toward the Govt to address our grievances. Just a bunch of divided voices and individuals voicing opinions who will often get outed as crazy. Larger numbers make a larger difference.
If we take our voice into one central place and focus it at the Government they WILL listen. We out number them. They want our vote. As long as the 2 of the 3 branches of Govt are reminded that they have the axe of constituency voters hanging over their head they will listen. At this point they are paying lip service and doing under the table deals. We just need show that they have more to fear from us in terms of our voice and the resulting action that just posting on social sites. I am working on a number of petitions that deal with Government issues and laws important to constituencies all over the nation. Once they are finalized and written I will post links up. But I am hoping we can all rally behind that and show the Government we are serious about changes in the things we are seeing now. Corporate influence on Govt in general is no different than what religion was in the dark ages to the Govts of the time. The only difference is the lack of brutality.
To offer tiered service is just an excuse for the corporations to limit what we can see on the premise that the content provider must pay for bandwidth. We just need to fight that tooth and nail with our voice. Make sure the public in general (non techies) are very aware of what that is and HOW it affects them. If they are aware of how bad it will be for them then more people will start to react. Preaching to the choir never gets it done. Preaching to the people who have no clue or don't see the danger has a much better chance of getting the message across and will spread. This is one method of creating a united front./Steps off soap box.
The system is based around one that focuses primarily one one style of teaching. People that are visual or prefer interactivity normally get out in the cold. Often times these are the people who drop out. I went to 3 high schools and all were pretty much the same experience. In my senior year I went to a 4th which was an Alternative school program (no not for drop outs as it is commonly considered to be) Things were radically different there. Teachers were on a first name basis, the curriculum focused on real world skills while focusing on academic requirements for the state. Also there was an internship portion. If there was no available internship you had to create it. This was the case with me. at 17 I was learning how to interview and deal with people in the buisness world.
If those types of things were taught to students early on in high school ( that is get a taste of what is to come) I think it would motivate them to do better. Sadly we use teaching techniques that really have not changed much in the last century. It is still largley text books and facts cramming. College is pretty much the only place you can expect to get the needed education. It is more specialized which is good. But High schools don't do more than provide facts. We do need to know the history of this counrtry, we need to know math, we need to know alot of the things we are taught in high school. But there need to be options to learn real world skills. basic skills that we will need out of high school. Some schools are making the changes toward these practical skills. Alot arent. This is where the problem lies. Most states do not care enough about the educational processes than they do about the financial. We want to produce good laborers? Then our educational system has to improve with it. It needs to focus on Conceptual thinking (not just 2+2=4 but why does it equal that), practical application of learned skills. This is up to educators to figure out and understand what those practical skills are. They need to see the need for something in buisness and industry and adapt accordingly. my.2 cents based on my own experiences.
My own experience was a blend of conventional and unconventional education. This is largely why I feel the way I do. I have seen what can happen when things are different and adapted for the student. When the person is more important than the system then everyone wins.
By reading the article you can tell there is an obvious dislike for RMS there. When is the last time you saw someone from Forbes saying this about anyone else? IMO they basically made him out to be "hippie scum". Any person not knowing who he is will get that impression of the article. I think it is poor journalism on Forbes part. IMO there certainly were some valid points in terms of his actions but commenting on appearance and eating habits is just a low blow. Eccentricities aside he has done a great deal for the free software movement.
It shows that forbes (or at least the article author) is more intrested in judging on the GQ level of a person rather than IQ. If I were a reporter in this case I would certainly refrain from personal eccentricities and focus on the accomplishments and proffessional failings of that person. This person injected way too much personal opinion into the article. Recently I am no big fan of RMS becuase of the GPLv3 DRM issues but he has done alot and is doing alot outside of that and should at least be recoginized for those things.
In case anyone is not aware, you can play some games (very experimental feature) in VMware 5.5 VMs. It supports DX8.1 games. There is even WIP list on the vmware forums to post working games as well. (if you are really intrested google it. not too hard to find) So even still this is a leg up on Parallels and MS/XEN (MS and XEN are partnered up in case you havent read up on that). With limited success you can run an Aqumark3 benchmark with moderate performance. MS and the others in the virtualization space do not have 3d as far along as VMware does at this point. The fact that they are also actively working on a version for the Mac should also say something for the Mac fans out there about 3d support. VMware tools and the SVGA driver is what eneables the 3d ability as well as code in the VMware. A beta for the Mac is due out soon if you go on the VMware page and sign up.
Hopefully once the next version of workstation is out there will be DX9 support meaning alot more games can run on it. Performance aside the fact it can run games is a nice feature.
Adding to my comments I would say that this A: an attempt for the RIAA to see if they can nail people with protected access points. This way they can say see you had an encrypted line. But then again you can always open it up and that excuse is junk... B: This protects people who do encrypt their wireless and can go after hackers who break it. So there are pros and cons to this.
First the law at this point is only for manufacturers to put the warning on there. This is not a law (yet) for the user. People are misinterpreting this law. While it is possible it could lead to a law that screws the user for RIAA lawsuits (as that much is obvious here) that is not the case yet. Fact is it seems to me that the state is regulating something that falls under the dominion of the FCC. FCC controls broadcasts and how they are handled. So it should be them who make this happen not the state. These are my opinions on that anyway. I am not claiming to be an expert but these are certainly things to think about.
This label is about as useful as the Cancer warning on US or even Canadian cigarrete (which are pretty graphic) boxes. If this label causes doubt in the consumer mind then it is likley that WiFi equipment sales will drop and pressure will rise to get rid of this law. Not necessarily but possible. But with my cigarrete box analogy it may not change. We will see.
Slashdot Mirror
"I asked the representative if Windows Genuine Advantage had anything to do with it and he categorically told me this was not the case, he added that Windows Update for pre-Vista versions of Windows can now be accessed using Firefox and that the concern at Microsoft had more to do with the possible malicious code that could be redistributed with certified Microsoft updates."
That in and of itself is HUGE news. But alas, total BS. I still get the wonderful W.U message that tells me to go fuck myself for using Firefox. (not exactly in those words but I know that is what they mean)
http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/open_source.html
So what is the problem? I bet the reason the forums have not gotten an answer is because the user never bothered to look for the answer. He wanted it answered for him instead of actually you know doing some of the legwork himself. That or just posting FUD. The code is there for all to see.
For one reason and one reason only. The majority of Dems are in Hollywood's pockets. The corruption in the all 3 branches of Government are unreal at this point. The next President likley to be a democrat will ALSO be in Hollywood's pocket (RIAA, MPAA, etc) Obama and Hillary are one of the likley 2 and both have gotten significant contributions from Hollywood. So expect more of this. Hollywood is getting bold because they know they have the elections bought and paid for it is fairly certain they have also contributed to the front runners of the Republican side as well to cover their bases. If you want to flame me for this go right ahead. You can waste that energy flaming or you can use it to actually find out who donated to whom. To make it easy here is a list. http://consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-a merica/contact-information-for-50-politicians-who- take-campaign-money-from-the-riaa-264638.php
The only real solution is to avoid ALL RIAA Artists and listen CC licensed music. The RIAA and MPAA is looking to control content to whatever end (money, populus manipulation, whatever, ect). Well they cannot control content when the artists are not under contract. This is the fundamental flaw that we need to exploit. The funny thing is we will often find more creative music out there than what is being pumped out of Holywood these days. People seem more motivated by money and far less by the actual art. There are plenty of options out there. I am looking to start a CC music only radio station in the near future after reading this.
Oh cmon now...our Government is like google. They can do no evil....umm on second thought maybe you're right. :S
Now we just need a smart slashdot reader to come up with an EM grenade that will essentially destroy all electronics. I am getting the idea for a sci fi novel here....altho it could come off as being factual too
Combine this with the British "Skynet" program and then toss the governator into the mix and we have ourselves real life terminators. They will eventually be turned against us by some virus that makes them turn against humanity and decide to terminate.
Well this is interesting. It is the equivalent of asking a Nazi about Jews and expecting objectivity. Also MS is having trouble having people developing on their platform. They are losing developers for Mac OS and Linux. People know a sinking ship when they see one. Plus the subtle jabs they take at developers claiming that it is their software causing security problems (which is partly but not totally true) why would anyone want to develop for MS when OSS provides full flexibility. People can see the code and not come up with hackish solutions or workarounds to problems they may encounter. http://www.cio.com/article/122152/Microsoft_Window s_Loses_Ground_With_Developers_Survey_Says
With Vista being a mess of compatibility and DRM/WDM/"Security" laden crap, it makes it hard for any real innovation to happen in the application space. I used to work for MS. One of the biggest gripes I heard was that drivers were always made wrong. Applications were usually buggy which caused problems with the OS. While again that is PARTIALLY true, part of the problem was the fact that I later learned (after I left MS for the real world) that coding for Windows platforms is a PITA. The closed nature makes everything a hackish effort. Workarounds here, hooks there.
Linux, BSD and other open source kernels out there have easy access to the lowest level if necessary of the kernels and OS in general. This makes it extremly easy to integrate with a minimum to intermiediate learning curve (if you are coming off Visual Studio specifically)
This sounds like MS FUD to me. Considering that their aim is to stop virtualization (if they are not doing it on their crippleware). It makes their OS irrelevant. And the increasing amount of reports on how virtualization is helping build leaner more efficient server farms and the like bolster this.
This reeks of MS tactics. No proof yet but I am sure it will come out eventually. It usually does. I would not be surprised if they indirectly had something to do with finding these vulnerabilities. MS Fanbois flame away.
Microsoft has issues as they have not really innovated anything for some time now. It is all updates to previous versions of software they bought or stole (based on the patent lawsuits they are dealing with) Marketing will only carry them so far these days. I think non technical people are starting to wise up. I mean hell even Al Sharpton is advocating the use of Ubuntu. So the more non techie decision makers are aware of alternatives and their potential benefits the better. Apple or Linux is a good way to go over Vista personally.
Another small fact most people seem to overlook is that MS intentionally crippled the KMS server feature in server 2003 for Vista enterprise. It cannot run in a VM. I assume this is to prevent piracy and all that. The feature works fine in Vista tho. Also related is the fact that a VM for vista enterprise will not count towards the count of licensed machines. This is a limitation that MS is putting in to cripple the market while they get their product to ship, which MS considers "a Feature" http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/10/microsoft_ viridian_thinned/
Actually a thought occured that perhaps an apt-get like repository could be setup for the listings. It could help in downloading the latest content listings and such. Or just pick up a TV guide and call it a day.
They are building the other Great Firewall. Altho it may be more like a fence since the firewall outright blocks even the view of the pages. Like the immigration fence. You can see the other side, you just can't cross into it.
They were "Pleading" with us? Honestly, can you picture Steve Ballmer on the floor pleading? He would be more likely to throw a tantrum or a chair.
OHH Cmon, He missed the most important fact!!! Downloads DO physical harm. Think If you download a movie or a song with a sexy or erotic theme (Barry White or something) (this is after you have have downloaded your porn) and you decide to "relieve" yourself, you kill a kitten. remember every time you masturbate God kills a kitten. http://people.tribe.net/dae8d009-d0b7-4b86-a693-95 41202788fe/photos/24986442-3b22-4cf3-81c4-8b29bfdf c2ee
So yes you are doing someone harm. Not just the kitten but the owner of the kitten who will have emotional distress because of your evil actions.
So in that sense it is MUCH worse than stealing a car. You can replace a car. But little fluffy the cat...you cannot replace a life. Shame on you you evil evil murdering bastards.
Also consider that you potentially harm yourself as well. What if you get a cramp clicking on that mouse using utorrent? Oh yea it happens. Your own fault. Not the RIAA/MPAA.
I suppose I can go on and on about this but those attorneys are on to something. Or just on something but regardless they make an excellent point. I will email them my above suggestions to use in their next informative ad. I think it could really convince people of their wrong doings.
I am guessing the app will misspell all instance of Hamburger. HaaAmmmbwerjer.
Spread the news. The more mainstream non techie people know about this, the better. This FUD needs to work against MS. There are a good number of larger sites addressing this, such as eweek. But making sure it is addressed as FUD will work against them. People will see that this is an act of desperation from MS. They are not used to being in competition since they normally buy or sue their potential competition out of existence anyway. The problem is like any organization, putting your hands in too many pies (virtualization, Office suites, browser, online advertising, and on and on) They have spread themselves thin. At the moment it seems they have a very broken development process as well. MS needs to focus on 2 or 3 major products and stick to that. They are too focused on competing with everyone and everything in the software and even the hardware world at times. They have no focus as a company other than marketing. That is the only working part of the company. But seeing as this comment is likely not to be read by anyone at MS of importance, it will go ignored and they will dig themselves into a hole they will have a difficult time getting themselves from.
Even though you have to pay like 20 bucks a year for it. It is worth t for the customer support you get. Plus they offer some great incentives if you were a flickr user. My advice? Switch. Flickr has started going downhill. www.smugmug.com
He may be republican, but it is evident he at least has the country's best intrest at heart. He is republican. BUT If you are looking at that instead of what he stands for, then all you have proven is how close minded and ignorant you truly are regardless of party. I am SOOOOOO tired of party politics. Ron Paul seems to be too. ronpaul2008.com you can read up a little bit about him there and in many other places. I have typically voted democrat, but since the way things have been in the last few years it almost seems like voting for the lesser of two evils. Now that the RIAA is aligned with the Dems and all other corporate interests are aligned with Reps, I am not interested in voting for the front runners. All I see are candidates raising millions for private jets and all that crap that they dont need. Ron Paul is running mainly on the internet with limited advertising. Not because of lack of money, but because he sees all the candidates doing these outlandish things with the money that is useless to the overall campaign. It is all flash and no substance. Anyways look him up. (the smart ./ will actually read up on him outside of ./ the ones who will flame me here well you will likely not have read anything about him beyond the link I posted)
I can already see the scenario....HMS whatever. Captain: Fire torpedoes and cannons.... Sailor : We can't!!! Captain: WHAT!!?? Sailor : The (insert enemy here) has exploited the machine. The cannons are aiming themselves at the deck. Captain: Abandon Ship. We forgot to patch last Tuesday.....\ BOOOOOM *ship sinks with BSODs being the last thing the crew sees as they jump ship.
The scientist makes an arrogant assumption based on OUR level of technology. Another race may have much more sophisticated and advanced tech and ergo be able to find us much faster. We could be watched at this point and not even know it. It may take US 10 billion years if you base this conclusion on the current state of technology. But other breakthroughs and new inventions can eventually trump this. It is another case of Science stating that the world is flat so to speak. The idea that it must be true until proven wrong. Science is not an exact science. A scientist saying things are a certain way based on a theory cannot be right until the theory is proven true and absolutely correct. This declaration is no different. At this point it is just a theory and opinion.
Freedom of speech is great as long as nobody's listening.
/Steps off soap box.
--Luthor ruling the USA via holographic president in The Dark Knight Strikes Again.--
The point being made is people hear what is said but noone really does anything about it. The machine just rolls along while we here on slashdot and digg and various blogs talk about all this and do nothing about it. The awareness factor is limited only to the tech savvy crowd (many on here) who on allot of levels control information. I have seen very few instances where people are actually posting petitions or doing anything to show the dissatisfaction. Blogs go up but there really is no one united effort to focus the voice of the people toward the Govt to address our grievances. Just a bunch of divided voices and individuals voicing opinions who will often get outed as crazy. Larger numbers make a larger difference.
If we take our voice into one central place and focus it at the Government they WILL listen. We out number them. They want our vote. As long as the 2 of the 3 branches of Govt are reminded that they have the axe of constituency voters hanging over their head they will listen. At this point they are paying lip service and doing under the table deals. We just need show that they have more to fear from us in terms of our voice and the resulting action that just posting on social sites. I am working on a number of petitions that deal with Government issues and laws important to constituencies all over the nation. Once they are finalized and written I will post links up. But I am hoping we can all rally behind that and show the Government we are serious about changes in the things we are seeing now. Corporate influence on Govt in general is no different than what religion was in the dark ages to the Govts of the time. The only difference is the lack of brutality.
To offer tiered service is just an excuse for the corporations to limit what we can see on the premise that the content provider must pay for bandwidth. We just need to fight that tooth and nail with our voice. Make sure the public in general (non techies) are very aware of what that is and HOW it affects them. If they are aware of how bad it will be for them then more people will start to react. Preaching to the choir never gets it done. Preaching to the people who have no clue or don't see the danger has a much better chance of getting the message across and will spread. This is one method of creating a united front.
The system is based around one that focuses primarily one one style of teaching. People that are visual or prefer interactivity normally get out in the cold. Often times these are the people who drop out. I went to 3 high schools and all were pretty much the same experience. In my senior year I went to a 4th which was an Alternative school program (no not for drop outs as it is commonly considered to be) Things were radically different there. Teachers were on a first name basis, the curriculum focused on real world skills while focusing on academic requirements for the state. Also there was an internship portion. If there was no available internship you had to create it. This was the case with me. at 17 I was learning how to interview and deal with people in the buisness world. If those types of things were taught to students early on in high school ( that is get a taste of what is to come) I think it would motivate them to do better. Sadly we use teaching techniques that really have not changed much in the last century. It is still largley text books and facts cramming. College is pretty much the only place you can expect to get the needed education. It is more specialized which is good. But High schools don't do more than provide facts. We do need to know the history of this counrtry, we need to know math, we need to know alot of the things we are taught in high school. But there need to be options to learn real world skills. basic skills that we will need out of high school. Some schools are making the changes toward these practical skills. Alot arent. This is where the problem lies. Most states do not care enough about the educational processes than they do about the financial. We want to produce good laborers? Then our educational system has to improve with it. It needs to focus on Conceptual thinking (not just 2+2=4 but why does it equal that), practical application of learned skills. This is up to educators to figure out and understand what those practical skills are. They need to see the need for something in buisness and industry and adapt accordingly. my .2 cents based on my own experiences.
My own experience was a blend of conventional and unconventional education. This is largely why I feel the way I do. I have seen what can happen when things are different and adapted for the student. When the person is more important than the system then everyone wins.
By reading the article you can tell there is an obvious dislike for RMS there. When is the last time you saw someone from Forbes saying this about anyone else? IMO they basically made him out to be "hippie scum". Any person not knowing who he is will get that impression of the article. I think it is poor journalism on Forbes part. IMO there certainly were some valid points in terms of his actions but commenting on appearance and eating habits is just a low blow. Eccentricities aside he has done a great deal for the free software movement. It shows that forbes (or at least the article author) is more intrested in judging on the GQ level of a person rather than IQ. If I were a reporter in this case I would certainly refrain from personal eccentricities and focus on the accomplishments and proffessional failings of that person. This person injected way too much personal opinion into the article. Recently I am no big fan of RMS becuase of the GPLv3 DRM issues but he has done alot and is doing alot outside of that and should at least be recoginized for those things.
In case anyone is not aware, you can play some games (very experimental feature) in VMware 5.5 VMs. It supports DX8.1 games. There is even WIP list on the vmware forums to post working games as well. (if you are really intrested google it. not too hard to find) So even still this is a leg up on Parallels and MS/XEN (MS and XEN are partnered up in case you havent read up on that). With limited success you can run an Aqumark3 benchmark with moderate performance. MS and the others in the virtualization space do not have 3d as far along as VMware does at this point. The fact that they are also actively working on a version for the Mac should also say something for the Mac fans out there about 3d support. VMware tools and the SVGA driver is what eneables the 3d ability as well as code in the VMware. A beta for the Mac is due out soon if you go on the VMware page and sign up. Hopefully once the next version of workstation is out there will be DX9 support meaning alot more games can run on it. Performance aside the fact it can run games is a nice feature.
Adding to my comments I would say that this A: an attempt for the RIAA to see if they can nail people with protected access points. This way they can say see you had an encrypted line. But then again you can always open it up and that excuse is junk... B: This protects people who do encrypt their wireless and can go after hackers who break it. So there are pros and cons to this.
First the law at this point is only for manufacturers to put the warning on there. This is not a law (yet) for the user. People are misinterpreting this law. While it is possible it could lead to a law that screws the user for RIAA lawsuits (as that much is obvious here) that is not the case yet. Fact is it seems to me that the state is regulating something that falls under the dominion of the FCC. FCC controls broadcasts and how they are handled. So it should be them who make this happen not the state. These are my opinions on that anyway. I am not claiming to be an expert but these are certainly things to think about. This label is about as useful as the Cancer warning on US or even Canadian cigarrete (which are pretty graphic) boxes. If this label causes doubt in the consumer mind then it is likley that WiFi equipment sales will drop and pressure will rise to get rid of this law. Not necessarily but possible. But with my cigarrete box analogy it may not change. We will see.