Unfortunately, you're at the mercy of a guy in India who's making minimum wage (India's minimum wage), and has probably been yelled at 23 times in his last 30 calls. I'm sure that he'll be more than happy to make the process all that much more painful. After all, he's holding the key that you want so desperately and he has little to no emotional investment in your hardware, software, or whether you have a computer to write your term paper on.
Although (and I have done the process described above, twice in the last 6 months) I would love to give them a piece of my mind - it would be completely misdirected at someone who doesn't deserve it, and could very easily make me pay the penalty for it. Fortunately, they probably have just about as much love for Microsoft as they do for me or you.
Hackers will always find a way around whatever scheme MS or any other company devises.
What, do hackers have some kind of history where they enjoy challenges; especially at the expense of large corporations? Do they enjoy pulling things apart to see how they work, even from a young age?!
Surely you don't think that with each new iteration of 'uncrackable' technology, the companies are providing the hackers with vast, unexplored playgrounds with which to have a ball?
*scoff*
We all know, and it's a fact - mind you, that these people are trying to get themselves a free copy of Windows ME, so they can replace that Linus operating system they've been using for the last 12 years. A pack of thieves, and commies, I tell you...
That explains why my 'soundblaster compatible' device sometimes was, and sometimes wasn't.
Ahhh - a full 16 channels of 8 bit sound-blasting my newest speach packs for Wing Commander... and then clean booting by holding down the left shift during boot to have enough memory to play it up until the next crash. We should bring back the good 'ol 'clean boot floppies' and turbo buttons that show your speed, in MHz, in red digital numbers on the front of the case. Actually - that might make a killer retro case mod. Hrm....but, I digress.
I just got home from stopping by work - recieving my "marching orders for the next day"; which I bitterly accepted since I will have to do it 3 more times before my boss is satisfied with the test and data that I have already shown him time after time, with backing from articles, a full working proof of concept (using VMWare on an entirely virtual network - he LOVES to test ideas on the production server, and doesn't understand why I repeatly question this...).
Anyways, I was grumpy on the drive home wondering why he wastes both of our time with me reasearching things, diagramming it out, making it concrete, and implementing, just so he CAN CHANGE HIS *^@&#ing MIND a month later, or GO AND IGNORE MY ENTIRE WORK (Why the $#%* are his personal backups now in a public data folder... Oh, right he doesn't understand FILE PERMISSIONS ON *NIX ("They're just like Windows, you know"), and WHY AREN'T THEY in the place that I documented them to be in, which HE ASKED ME to write up!?) under the guise of, "Well, we don't understand how that works". "You're right, we don't.I do."
This post struck so close to home I nearly fell out of my chair. I think that you have just summed it all up! There is clearly NO reason to do what you do well since those who manage technology don't understand it (regardless of their degrees or self proclamation), and those who understand it don't manage it! I wish I had mod points. I think that this post should be mandatory for every boss to read, and then read again. You've actually made me feel so much better now that I know that I'm not the only one that has this problem day in and day out.
I'm not using lines of code as an indicator of "advanced", I'm just saying that windows 3.1 was a full OS, whereas I pictured this to be more like a collection of specific subsystems without an overall operating system tying them all together. I guess I just assumed seperation of concerns on the software level would dictate that each subsystem is self contained and somewhat small.
It was a computer glitch in the millions of lines of code; somebody made an error in a couple lines of the code and everything goes.
OK - as a software development major, I have issues with this statement. I'm assuming that this is just shooting from the hip on the part of Don Shepperd, which is understandable. OTOH, if he was somehow involved (which I can't tell from the article) in the project and is stating this as a fact, then I have a bit of a problem with this. I don't know the architecture of the chips they use (motorola, or RISC based, I'd assume), but this seems like quite a bit of code. Once you get this much code, unless it is broken down over the various subsystems very well, you are asking for trouble. The fact that they fixed it in 48 hours might be due to a 'blackbox' log or some way of knowing exactly where the code dumped or that the code is much smaller than Don's saying. Anyways, a few million lines of code is very hard to maintain, (the degree of difficulty is probably a function of the language) and seems like a bit much for a fighter's onboard computers. Even if we take into account the code for handling all the geometry, HUDs, and systems monitoring, it still seems like a lot. Windows 3.1 was 6 million lines of code, according to wikipedia.
I'm only speculating since I have no idea the depth or complexity of the onboard computers. Does anyone have any experience with anything like this? Does this seem like a lot to anyone else?
Are you high or something? How the crap is that trolling?
If you consider someone saying that "something un-PC is not flamebait", as a troll, then I have to question your ability to reason. Or, at the least, the ability to reason objectively.
This note will most likely burn more karma, but I have to object to being modded as a troll.
I think you have a very valid point concerning the HTML/CSS thing, but I disagree about your assessment of 700 pages being too large. You compare it to "C programming language", but the fact of the matter is that Bjarne (sp?) was building from the ground up; he didn't have the problems that we now face, being 3 or 4 layers removed from the 'ground'. We are, for better or worse, stuck building on top of existing technology. Even though it affords us the power to leverage the abilities of underlying technologies, it also leaves us dealing with the inherent shortcomings, collectively, of them. Sure, it's just a format specification, but it's going to be built on top of another format, which will be very good solving the problems faced when it was drafted, but probably not so good at handling the problems we now face.
Ergo, when drafting out the spec, it will have to be somewhat larger to accomodate all the 'what ifs' and "(insert underlying spec. here) doesn't natively have an ability to express that - we'll have to extend it"
I've specifically not used HTML/CSS/XML/ETC for examples because I believe that we will be facing this scenario regardless of what standard is used. The only way to avoid it, IMHO, is to do as they did for C and build from the ground up.
I concur. I have yet to see a 'grass roots' campaign (I think I'm using that in the correct context...) that didn't start rag-tag, loose, and ugly. If we are a community, could we please start to act like one? There is nothing more terrifying to a large company than a group that's focused, fast, agile, and close-knit.
The corporate world's motto is "when all is said and done, more is said than done". What have we done lately? Not you alone, telling the world how great FOSS is, but the community. Sure we've written some pretty darn tight code, but you know that the world doesn't know or care that you've implemented a logrithmic self-modifying loop.
Even if it comes to nothing (as is a very likely outcome) at the very least, let's get ourselves together and show how focused, smart, communities can engage and become a force to be reckoned with, even against a company with more money than brains or guts. I'm sure that in the future projects like this will make a "call to arms" all that much more effecient and deadly. How great would it be to be mobilized to the point that when MS breaks an open standard like they said they wouldn't (java, anyone?), to be acting swiftly against them before they start shipping units?
I call a parital Godwin's Law [wikipedia] on this. You have not directly said that the developer is a nazi, but have implied that his actions are headed in that direction. I'm not saying that this invalidates your position, but I would be careful with such analogies 'right out of the gates'.
That developer better hope the court he'll face accepts EULAs as valid and he never travels into a country where they aren't.
Good point. However, most EULA's aren't upheld in court, (I need not cite this, as it is well documented and any research on the topic will validate this position.) which would make him, most likely, liable in both criminal and civil matters. This of course, in the end, is a function of the depth of the pockets of the person/company who were burnt by this software. I'm not even sure that said party would have to prove that they didn't use pirated key. If anyone has more information on this, I would appreciate feedback. From what I understand, the burden is on the accused party to prove that they didn't do what they were accused of, and the allegating party does not have the burden of proving that they didn't bring the problem on themselves.
As always, please correct me if I'm wrong or over-simplifying.
Thanks. I had the mental image in my head and I couldn't help but laugh! I was worried it would ruin my karma, but it was just too funny an image, to me, to let it be!
Who, me? No - I'm a broke college student/intern admin majoring in software development.
My parents were too cool to have the likes of me around. They kept giving me wedgies and calling me 'geek boy'. I'll get them back when they're old and senile and I get to choose whose basement they live in!
Mom, dad, I'd like you to meet your new 'roomie', Mr. John Dvorak. You kids play nice, now!
I'm a slashdotter, as well; I didn't read the article and posted about it anyways.
Never in my life has blindly applying a stereotype yielded such positive results! I laughed at first, and then it hit me. As irony would have it, the double bladed sword in this case is that I just blindly applied a stereotype, that hit the nail on the head through the dark, only to realize that I just made fun of the very guy that the world sees me as.
The hacker in question was referred to as a 'script kiddy' solely for the fact that upon hearing of his success in implicating the former judge, he immediately blogged his victory on myspace under the appropriate title of 'PWN3D!'. Ergo, this title is moreso an indicator of maturity than his technical skill level, and furthermore, an indicator that he lives in his parents basement.
HAHA! Congrats! I have a fridge mate dispenser of mountain dew on my desk right next to the (now depleated) 2 boxes of rockstar energy drink, and I was just starting in on my second M.D. of the day when I read your reply. Congrats, bro! Rock on!
Sure, they're going to add powerpoint integration, but where's the beef, man? When are they going to step up to the plate and support excel pivot tables? If not for pivot tables, and the gamut of interface support for them, (olap cubes, ODBC, MSSQL queries, and excel itself from csv, mdb, etc...) I could probably fully walk away from M$ at work completely! Will someone please, please, please, work on this before allowing the world to watch more power point presentations that leave you 5 IQ points lighter than beforehand?!
I can't be the only one here in with this problem. Unless... you guys are the ones who find a power point presentation informative XOR informative... or, worse yet, entertaining...
Have we collectively gotten to the point where company branding is actually more important than the item in and of itself? I know that Coca Cola spends something like a billion dollars a year just to keep the name visible...but that's a company, not a product! How do we find ourselves in a society where product name is so important?
Is this the corporate version of the minefield? As if to say, "Don't step on our toes, or we'll go off on you!" Is it necessary that the name of a product be sole ownership of a single product by a single company? Surely we all know which product we are talking about in conversation via the context of use. The corporations aren't afraid that we'll get the products confused, or that a bad review for a product of the same name will keep us from buying their product.
Or is it, more likely, that this is the school-yard bully tactic? Cisco flexing its muscles to intimidate Apple in order to establish self-esteem? Perhaps they have a staff of lawyers and figure that they might as well use them. Then again, I'm sure that Cisco's resources aren't vast enough to just flex its power at will with nothing to gain...
Or perhaps, just perhaps, that's the idea. There is no such thing as negative publicity. I'm now only familiar with the Cisco iPhone due to this litigation! Sounds like free marketing. If you can hold a press release, do it - it's free product advertisement...if you can't do that, sue someone to generate publicity for a product knowing that if it doesn't go to trial, it'll be cheaper than a marketing campaign.
I'm a software development major, not a marketing major - please tell me if there is any validity to my musings, or if I'm just cynical.
Am I the only one thinking that privacy is more of a perception than a reality?
I mean, I'm posting this over a wifi connection that I perceive to be secure, using a name and password that I believe is uncompromised...
Then again, I am using a cantenna to connect to a router that is perceived to be secure from the viewpoint of the guy providing me with free bandwidth, shared iTunes, and an OS with remote support enabled, and the 'guest' account allowed to be part of the 'everyone' group...
I think I represent the majority of us here when I say, "Who cares?".
This seems to be rooted solely in politics and the money thereof. Let's leave this one to the politicians, knowing when everything is said and done, more is said than done.
Slashdot Mirror
Although (and I have done the process described above, twice in the last 6 months) I would love to give them a piece of my mind - it would be completely misdirected at someone who doesn't deserve it, and could very easily make me pay the penalty for it. Fortunately, they probably have just about as much love for Microsoft as they do for me or you.
What, do hackers have some kind of history where they enjoy challenges; especially at the expense of large corporations? Do they enjoy pulling things apart to see how they work, even from a young age?!
Surely you don't think that with each new iteration of 'uncrackable' technology, the companies are providing the hackers with vast, unexplored playgrounds with which to have a ball?
*scoff*
We all know, and it's a fact - mind you, that these people are trying to get themselves a free copy of Windows ME, so they can replace that Linus operating system they've been using for the last 12 years. A pack of thieves, and commies, I tell you...
Ahhh - a full 16 channels of 8 bit sound-blasting my newest speach packs for Wing Commander... and then clean booting by holding down the left shift during boot to have enough memory to play it up until the next crash. We should bring back the good 'ol 'clean boot floppies' and turbo buttons that show your speed, in MHz, in red digital numbers on the front of the case. Actually - that might make a killer retro case mod. Hrm....but, I digress.
Anyways, I was grumpy on the drive home wondering why he wastes both of our time with me reasearching things, diagramming it out, making it concrete, and implementing, just so he CAN CHANGE HIS *^@&#ing MIND a month later, or GO AND IGNORE MY ENTIRE WORK (Why the $#%* are his personal backups now in a public data folder... Oh, right he doesn't understand FILE PERMISSIONS ON *NIX ("They're just like Windows, you know"), and WHY AREN'T THEY in the place that I documented them to be in, which HE ASKED ME to write up!?) under the guise of, "Well, we don't understand how that works". "You're right, we don't.I do."
This post struck so close to home I nearly fell out of my chair. I think that you have just summed it all up! There is clearly NO reason to do what you do well since those who manage technology don't understand it (regardless of their degrees or self proclamation), and those who understand it don't manage it! I wish I had mod points. I think that this post should be mandatory for every boss to read, and then read again. You've actually made me feel so much better now that I know that I'm not the only one that has this problem day in and day out.
Ebonically speaking; my bad.
Was DOS not an operating system?
I'm not using lines of code as an indicator of "advanced", I'm just saying that windows 3.1 was a full OS, whereas I pictured this to be more like a collection of specific subsystems without an overall operating system tying them all together. I guess I just assumed seperation of concerns on the software level would dictate that each subsystem is self contained and somewhat small.
OK - as a software development major, I have issues with this statement. I'm assuming that this is just shooting from the hip on the part of Don Shepperd, which is understandable. OTOH, if he was somehow involved (which I can't tell from the article) in the project and is stating this as a fact, then I have a bit of a problem with this. I don't know the architecture of the chips they use (motorola, or RISC based, I'd assume), but this seems like quite a bit of code. Once you get this much code, unless it is broken down over the various subsystems very well, you are asking for trouble. The fact that they fixed it in 48 hours might be due to a 'blackbox' log or some way of knowing exactly where the code dumped or that the code is much smaller than Don's saying. Anyways, a few million lines of code is very hard to maintain, (the degree of difficulty is probably a function of the language) and seems like a bit much for a fighter's onboard computers. Even if we take into account the code for handling all the geometry, HUDs, and systems monitoring, it still seems like a lot. Windows 3.1 was 6 million lines of code, according to wikipedia.
I'm only speculating since I have no idea the depth or complexity of the onboard computers. Does anyone have any experience with anything like this? Does this seem like a lot to anyone else?
If you consider someone saying that "something un-PC is not flamebait", as a troll, then I have to question your ability to reason. Or, at the least, the ability to reason objectively.
This note will most likely burn more karma, but I have to object to being modded as a troll.
Agreed. !PC != flamebait.
Ergo, when drafting out the spec, it will have to be somewhat larger to accomodate all the 'what ifs' and "(insert underlying spec. here) doesn't natively have an ability to express that - we'll have to extend it"
I've specifically not used HTML/CSS/XML/ETC for examples because I believe that we will be facing this scenario regardless of what standard is used. The only way to avoid it, IMHO, is to do as they did for C and build from the ground up.
Let me know what you think.
The corporate world's motto is "when all is said and done, more is said than done". What have we done lately? Not you alone, telling the world how great FOSS is, but the community. Sure we've written some pretty darn tight code, but you know that the world doesn't know or care that you've implemented a logrithmic self-modifying loop.
Even if it comes to nothing (as is a very likely outcome) at the very least, let's get ourselves together and show how focused, smart, communities can engage and become a force to be reckoned with, even against a company with more money than brains or guts. I'm sure that in the future projects like this will make a "call to arms" all that much more effecient and deadly. How great would it be to be mobilized to the point that when MS breaks an open standard like they said they wouldn't (java, anyone?), to be acting swiftly against them before they start shipping units?
Perhaps it's time to put up or shutup.
I call a parital Godwin's Law [wikipedia] on this. You have not directly said that the developer is a nazi, but have implied that his actions are headed in that direction. I'm not saying that this invalidates your position, but I would be careful with such analogies 'right out of the gates'.
Good point. However, most EULA's aren't upheld in court, (I need not cite this, as it is well documented and any research on the topic will validate this position.) which would make him, most likely, liable in both criminal and civil matters. This of course, in the end, is a function of the depth of the pockets of the person/company who were burnt by this software. I'm not even sure that said party would have to prove that they didn't use pirated key. If anyone has more information on this, I would appreciate feedback. From what I understand, the burden is on the accused party to prove that they didn't do what they were accused of, and the allegating party does not have the burden of proving that they didn't bring the problem on themselves.As always, please correct me if I'm wrong or over-simplifying.
In the event that you were joking...
-----}JOKE
/|\ {--- ME
0
/ \
Thanks. I had the mental image in my head and I couldn't help but laugh! I was worried it would ruin my karma, but it was just too funny an image, to me, to let it be!
My parents were too cool to have the likes of me around. They kept giving me wedgies and calling me 'geek boy'. I'll get them back when they're old and senile and I get to choose whose basement they live in!
Mom, dad, I'd like you to meet your new 'roomie', Mr. John Dvorak. You kids play nice, now!
Never in my life has blindly applying a stereotype yielded such positive results! I laughed at first, and then it hit me. As irony would have it, the double bladed sword in this case is that I just blindly applied a stereotype, that hit the nail on the head through the dark, only to realize that I just made fun of the very guy that the world sees me as.
Oh cruel irony! It doth smite me mightily! Twice.
The hacker in question was referred to as a 'script kiddy' solely for the fact that upon hearing of his success in implicating the former judge, he immediately blogged his victory on myspace under the appropriate title of 'PWN3D!'. Ergo, this title is moreso an indicator of maturity than his technical skill level, and furthermore, an indicator that he lives in his parents basement.
HAHA! Congrats! I have a fridge mate dispenser of mountain dew on my desk right next to the (now depleated) 2 boxes of rockstar energy drink, and I was just starting in on my second M.D. of the day when I read your reply. Congrats, bro! Rock on!
I can't be the only one here in with this problem. Unless... you guys are the ones who find a power point presentation informative XOR informative... or, worse yet, entertaining...
Is this the corporate version of the minefield? As if to say, "Don't step on our toes, or we'll go off on you!" Is it necessary that the name of a product be sole ownership of a single product by a single company? Surely we all know which product we are talking about in conversation via the context of use. The corporations aren't afraid that we'll get the products confused, or that a bad review for a product of the same name will keep us from buying their product.
Or is it, more likely, that this is the school-yard bully tactic? Cisco flexing its muscles to intimidate Apple in order to establish self-esteem? Perhaps they have a staff of lawyers and figure that they might as well use them. Then again, I'm sure that Cisco's resources aren't vast enough to just flex its power at will with nothing to gain...
Or perhaps, just perhaps, that's the idea. There is no such thing as negative publicity. I'm now only familiar with the Cisco iPhone due to this litigation! Sounds like free marketing. If you can hold a press release, do it - it's free product advertisement...if you can't do that, sue someone to generate publicity for a product knowing that if it doesn't go to trial, it'll be cheaper than a marketing campaign.
I'm a software development major, not a marketing major - please tell me if there is any validity to my musings, or if I'm just cynical.
However, you've further proven my point :)
I mean, I'm posting this over a wifi connection that I perceive to be secure, using a name and password that I believe is uncompromised...
Then again, I am using a cantenna to connect to a router that is perceived to be secure from the viewpoint of the guy providing me with free bandwidth, shared iTunes, and an OS with remote support enabled, and the 'guest' account allowed to be part of the 'everyone' group...
This seems to be rooted solely in politics and the money thereof. Let's leave this one to the politicians, knowing when everything is said and done, more is said than done.
Just my $.02