This is not a war. You can't have a war on terror, any more than you can have a war on good table manners or abstract thought. There is no need to criminalize law abiding US citizens because of their government's complete and utter failure to maintain security. When the NSA fails to do its job it turns to our Executive leaders begging for more power, but even once they get it and the other branches of government look the other way they continue to display their incompetence.
If this were war, it could not be won. You cannot defeat terror. We would be dooming ourselves to spending the rest of eternity in a state of constant war for absolutely no reason.
We HAD a war with Iraq. War's over (though the violence will no doubt continue for decades). If you enjoy this state of war so much feel free to invade Cuba, Iran, or North Korea. Hell why not take the shortcut on that last one and attack China and Russia?
Wow, why don't they just hire some mercenaries to round up every Arab American and put them in detention camps? Or the government could do it just like we did to Japanese Americans during WWII...
You can't have a Democracy without free speech, because even if everyone votes against it there's always the possibility that they could change their minds - in which case, they would need it in order to get it back.
The exact same thing happened at my school, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Except thanks to the ignorant members of our student "government" (I use that term very, very loosely) technically we brought it on outselves.
We got the "Ruckus" music service - which doesn't work on Mac OS X or iPods - and is little better than an extremely low quality (and ugly) jukebox.
Of course, 99% of RPI students are still illegally stealing music on the internet, but the school and the student government don't care because they look good for having "a legal alternative."
Apparently someone forgot to tell them about the iTunes music store (and the plethora of other online stores).
You can call college students a lot of things - including stupid. But apparently we're not stupid enough to embrace crappy music services when we can do better using P2P file sharing software.
Seriously, it's all people think about, though perhaps not actively. Sure we love technology, but even when I'm using Mac OS X every few seconds my brain strays to thoughts like "I wish I knew a beatiful woman who uses Mac OS X" or "wow, some naked female professional tennis players could really spruce up the next OS X commercial."
If Leopard contains ANY of the "awesome" new features that are being rumoured and maintains good performance, this is going to be a massacre. On one hand, an elegant OS with cool new features that just works - on the other, a clunky compatibility nightmare with 20 different versions. For people without the hardware, Vista is going to look like a whole lot of nothing new, and that kind of perception (though somewhat unjustified) is bad news for Microsoft - and its shareholders. Employees who do use the new enhanced graphics are going to want it at work, but cheap business boxes are not going to be able to handle it.
Unless circumstances change drastically, Mac OS will always be more secure - even if it becomes more popular. Through security by obscurity alone Mac OS is 1000x more secure than Windows, and even it does become more popular (and therefore supposedly more likely to attract malicious software makers - though I would argue it would still be less popular due to a different image and user base) it will probably still be more secure by design and maintainence.
Why exactly is TWO people switching operating systems a news story? I'm sorely tempted to write a "10 people switch from Windows and 5 people switch from Linux to Mac OS X" article. It happens every day.
Hardware is the key. I honestly do not believe that an arcade is going to come up with software that is going to take all of my quarters away from my new Apple prodcut piggy bank. Arcades need to concentrate on games that simply aren't nearly as fun or can't be played on a mouse, keyboard, or regular controller. They also need to cost quarters to play, not dollars *O.o.
I really hope they're lying, and Microsoft really does intend to go through with something like this. All we would have to do is buy enough copies to get a false reading from WGA then get Apple to run it in a commercial. And if my favorite software company won't do it, maybe some pro-Linux group will.
True anonymity is the Holy Grail of free speech, and I seriously doubt any society will be able to achieve it so long as said society has a government. I'm no anonymous coward, but I can think of circumstances where it would be the only way to survive a publication. For example, if you learned of a secret government program that grossly violated the values of its citizens the only way to ensure that you wouldn't dissapear would be to publish anonymously.
If we did have truly anonymous communications like this, we would probably see two things:
1) A huge decrease in dishonesty, since any lie could easily be exposed by an anonymous communication. For example, if a government denied the existence of something and a government employee knew different - they could simply post the information. That of course assumes the leak couldn't be traced to them by simple process of elimination or interrogation. This type of anonymous communication would actually be most effective for politicians, particularly since they tend to be very partisan and will do just about anything to hurt their rivals. A fair bit of this already goes on by govenrment sources leaking stuff to the media, but it's far from anonymous and I'm guessing the really juicy stuff never makes it.
2) A corresponding (but I would argue acceptable) decrease in the accuracy of popular news. Since many of the most controversial stories would be published anonymously, they might be more difficult (or impossible) to verify, leading to significant bogus stories and baseless accusations. The real danger here would be the possibility of witch hunts.
Essentially, anonymous communication bypasses all restrictions on free speech - including some of the good ones like slander and fire! You could publish a story on an eminent nuclear crisis without fear of the NSA showing up to your house 10 minutes later, but you could also hurt a lot of people with a false story that somehow gained acceptance.
Maybe it's just because I'm a free speech supporter, but I find the idea of completely anonymous e-mail fascinating. Imagine the possibilities! Yes, it could be abused, but I firmly believe human civilazation would find ways to deal with that and become a hell of a lot more honest in the process. It reminds me of a science fiction story where the world's #1 fugitive was able to e-mail governments seeking refuge and had some success. Of course, that example is probably not going to get me a lot of supporters:(.
Ultimately, does it really matter if it was accessed or not? Given the sensitive nature of the data and assuming the FBI cannot publicly prove that the data was not accessed shouldn't everyone assume that it was and act accordingly?
Someone once said "As long as people are willing to accept crap, it will financially profitable to dispense it." This holds true for everything, especially Game Developers.
For this to be successful they need to develop a user friendly interface and attract non-technical users. This could easily become the IMDB for software IF it's made for everyone, not just us geeks.
Slashdot Mirror
You're luck I have disabled slashdot's rating system or I wouldn't even have been able to read your post :(.
Ramble's right, that's the very reason I 3 Apple. They take the awesomeness that is open source and polish it up for me.
This is not a war. You can't have a war on terror, any more than you can have a war on good table manners or abstract thought. There is no need to criminalize law abiding US citizens because of their government's complete and utter failure to maintain security. When the NSA fails to do its job it turns to our Executive leaders begging for more power, but even once they get it and the other branches of government look the other way they continue to display their incompetence.
If this were war, it could not be won. You cannot defeat terror. We would be dooming ourselves to spending the rest of eternity in a state of constant war for absolutely no reason.
We HAD a war with Iraq. War's over (though the violence will no doubt continue for decades). If you enjoy this state of war so much feel free to invade Cuba, Iran, or North Korea. Hell why not take the shortcut on that last one and attack China and Russia?
Wow, why don't they just hire some mercenaries to round up every Arab American and put them in detention camps? Or the government could do it just like we did to Japanese Americans during WWII...
When will we ever learn?
A single party system... isn't that an oligarchy?
Am I the only one was does not immediately recognize 3/5s of these companies?
There is a God, and He doesn't like Sony.
You can't have a Democracy without free speech, because even if everyone votes against it there's always the possibility that they could change their minds - in which case, they would need it in order to get it back.
I hope I didn't confuse too many people just now.
The FBI illegally obtains our information, why can't we illegally obtain theirs?
The exact same thing happened at my school, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Except thanks to the ignorant members of our student "government" (I use that term very, very loosely) technically we brought it on outselves.
We got the "Ruckus" music service - which doesn't work on Mac OS X or iPods - and is little better than an extremely low quality (and ugly) jukebox.
Of course, 99% of RPI students are still illegally stealing music on the internet, but the school and the student government don't care because they look good for having "a legal alternative."
Apparently someone forgot to tell them about the iTunes music store (and the plethora of other online stores).
You can call college students a lot of things - including stupid. But apparently we're not stupid enough to embrace crappy music services when we can do better using P2P file sharing software.
What? The internet is for porn? Say it ain't so!
Seriously, it's all people think about, though perhaps not actively. Sure we love technology, but even when I'm using Mac OS X every few seconds my brain strays to thoughts like "I wish I knew a beatiful woman who uses Mac OS X" or "wow, some naked female professional tennis players could really spruce up the next OS X commercial."
One word my friends: owned.
If Leopard contains ANY of the "awesome" new features that are being rumoured and maintains good performance, this is going to be a massacre. On one hand, an elegant OS with cool new features that just works - on the other, a clunky compatibility nightmare with 20 different versions. For people without the hardware, Vista is going to look like a whole lot of nothing new, and that kind of perception (though somewhat unjustified) is bad news for Microsoft - and its shareholders. Employees who do use the new enhanced graphics are going to want it at work, but cheap business boxes are not going to be able to handle it.
Unless circumstances change drastically, Mac OS will always be more secure - even if it becomes more popular. Through security by obscurity alone Mac OS is 1000x more secure than Windows, and even it does become more popular (and therefore supposedly more likely to attract malicious software makers - though I would argue it would still be less popular due to a different image and user base) it will probably still be more secure by design and maintainence.
Why exactly is TWO people switching operating systems a news story? I'm sorely tempted to write a "10 people switch from Windows and 5 people switch from Linux to Mac OS X" article. It happens every day.
Hardware is the key. I honestly do not believe that an arcade is going to come up with software that is going to take all of my quarters away from my new Apple prodcut piggy bank. Arcades need to concentrate on games that simply aren't nearly as fun or can't be played on a mouse, keyboard, or regular controller. They also need to cost quarters to play, not dollars *O.o.
I really hope they're lying, and Microsoft really does intend to go through with something like this. All we would have to do is buy enough copies to get a false reading from WGA then get Apple to run it in a commercial. And if my favorite software company won't do it, maybe some pro-Linux group will.
Game over man, game over.
In the words of a great fictional parapsychologist" "Print is dead."
After this story I give it a 85% chance that a flash game of that nature is now in development.
True anonymity is the Holy Grail of free speech, and I seriously doubt any society will be able to achieve it so long as said society has a government. I'm no anonymous coward, but I can think of circumstances where it would be the only way to survive a publication. For example, if you learned of a secret government program that grossly violated the values of its citizens the only way to ensure that you wouldn't dissapear would be to publish anonymously.
:(.
If we did have truly anonymous communications like this, we would probably see two things:
1) A huge decrease in dishonesty, since any lie could easily be exposed by an anonymous communication. For example, if a government denied the existence of something and a government employee knew different - they could simply post the information. That of course assumes the leak couldn't be traced to them by simple process of elimination or interrogation. This type of anonymous communication would actually be most effective for politicians, particularly since they tend to be very partisan and will do just about anything to hurt their rivals. A fair bit of this already goes on by govenrment sources leaking stuff to the media, but it's far from anonymous and I'm guessing the really juicy stuff never makes it.
2) A corresponding (but I would argue acceptable) decrease in the accuracy of popular news. Since many of the most controversial stories would be published anonymously, they might be more difficult (or impossible) to verify, leading to significant bogus stories and baseless accusations. The real danger here would be the possibility of witch hunts.
Essentially, anonymous communication bypasses all restrictions on free speech - including some of the good ones like slander and fire! You could publish a story on an eminent nuclear crisis without fear of the NSA showing up to your house 10 minutes later, but you could also hurt a lot of people with a false story that somehow gained acceptance.
Maybe it's just because I'm a free speech supporter, but I find the idea of completely anonymous e-mail fascinating. Imagine the possibilities! Yes, it could be abused, but I firmly believe human civilazation would find ways to deal with that and become a hell of a lot more honest in the process. It reminds me of a science fiction story where the world's #1 fugitive was able to e-mail governments seeking refuge and had some success. Of course, that example is probably not going to get me a lot of supporters
Can't stop the signal.
I can't wait for cyborgs to become a voting block, we'll have to have seperate sports leagues so they don't hurt us poor plain "biologics."
Ultimately, does it really matter if it was accessed or not? Given the sensitive nature of the data and assuming the FBI cannot publicly prove that the data was not accessed shouldn't everyone assume that it was and act accordingly?
Someone once said "As long as people are willing to accept crap, it will financially profitable to dispense it." This holds true for everything, especially Game Developers.
For this to be successful they need to develop a user friendly interface and attract non-technical users. This could easily become the IMDB for software IF it's made for everyone, not just us geeks.
Getting paid for making funny / stupid videos is nothing new, I can't wait for it to be listed as a legitimate profession :\.