Recent Posts

4576

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013: Carbon - website / blogging framework [alpha]

« Last post by 40hz on November 13, 2012, 07:43 AM »

I admire people who posses the good taste (and courage) to continue to use serif fonts on their webpages.

4577

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on November 12, 2012, 04:16 PM »

Perfect song for the mood I'm in today. (And I'm not even into Country.) Here's JoDee Messina singing My Give-a-Damn's Busted!

 
Love those opening few seconds. She bounces! 

You can say you've got issues
You can say you're a victim
It's all your parents' fault, I mean after all you didn't pick em
Maybe somebody else has got time to listen
My give a damn's busted

Well your therapist says it was all a mistake
A product of the Prozac and your codependent ways
So who's your enabler these days
My give a damn's busted

[Chorus:]
I really wanna care
I wanna feel something
Let me dig a little deeper...
No, still nothing

4578

Living Room / Re: Interesting Internet Defamation Lawsuit - Statute of Limitations Reset Online?

« Last post by 40hz on November 12, 2012, 03:22 PM »

The continuum scenario makes more sense though. e.g. You defame someone, get punished for it, but keep the defamatory materials up online. You've already been punished for it (as an event), so you can't be tried twice for it. This seems absurd.

-Renegade (November 12, 2012, 09:34 AM)

Sounds like you've just made the case for the web equivalent of book burning.

A successfully prosecuted libelous statement made in a book doesn't result in every copy of that book being rounded up and burned. Once the suit is settled that's the end of it. True existing unsold copies are usually recalled. And likely the new editions of the book need to add or remove some language. But the book itself, in its original form, still lives on and is available to anybody who takes the trouble to hunt down a copy. You can't be prosecuted again just because copies of your original book are still floating around.

But with no statute of limitations on web publishing, you can basically prosecute and prosecute and prosecute until all copies of the file are taken down. That will have a chilling effect on free speech, investigative reporting, and news writing. And a complete takedown is something that is becoming increasingly possible despite the assurances of the hacker/pirate/darknet crowd that the web can't be controlled. (Trust me, major governments haven't even begun to regulate the web. Within 25 years the Internet will be more restricted and monitored than the isolation cellblock in a 'supermax' prison. The dream of Jeremy Bentham's panopticon lives on in virtual space.) In such an environment, self-censorship becomes the only workable strategy for self-preservation. Especially in the face of no statutory limitations on anything that appears there.

Brave new world indeed!

4579

General Software Discussion / Re: Strategies to stay with Windows 7 as long as possible

« Last post by 40hz on November 12, 2012, 03:01 PM »

Don't know what people are in such a lather about.

-Darwin (November 12, 2012, 12:16 PM)

The issue is that it brings nothing new to the table. It's 99.9% change merely for the sake of change. That, and to start the process of slowly moving Microsoft's customer base over to a company app store/closed ecosystem like Apple has.

If that doesn't put you in a lather, you're exactly the sort of customer Microsoft is looking for - and no harm done. For the rest of us, it's a seriously BFD - and we want no part of it as it currently stands.
 

4580

General Software Discussion / Re: Lifetime license from Audials+GAOTD: no good

« Last post by 40hz on November 12, 2012, 02:53 PM »

It will only be a matter of time before some developer ends up being charged with wire fraud and/or deceptive business practices over some "lifetime license" shenanigans and incurs the wrath of the authorities. I think the only reason it hasn't happened yet is because nobody has seriously pursued a company that plays this sort of game. And there are many that have.

Once the specter of criminal prosecution finally rears its head, I predict you'll see the term "lifetime license" disappear overnight, and never be used again in the software industry.

Until then, Caveat emptor..

4581

Living Room / Re: Interesting Internet Defamation Lawsuit - Statute of Limitations Reset Online?

« Last post by 40hz on November 12, 2012, 08:45 AM »

@Ren - you can push anything to the point of absurdity. But playing that game just plays into the hands of the people who are trying to game the system. I'd rather insert a little reality and common sense (not as rare a commodity as the propaganda we're being fed would like us to accept as fact) into the equation.

The law only extends as far as we're willing to take it. It's not a mathematical proof where if A=B and B=C then A must = C. It's subject to interpretation, discretion, and human judgment. Pull that out of the loop and we're doomed.

Do  your part not to let that happen. Call a crock a crock whenever you hear one being pushed your way. It stops these people in their tracks when you don't concede their right to frame the debate and define the terms being used. Just say ""You know as well as I do that's complete bullshit." When they reply they don't see it as that at all, simply smile your most pitying smile and then say "Really? You don't?" Act flabbergasted and listen with amusement as the room chuckles while the idiot slinks away to look for somebody else to annoy.
 

4582

General Software Discussion / Re: Lifetime license from Audials+GAOTD: no good

« Last post by 40hz on November 12, 2012, 08:33 AM »

The company seems to be appropriately named IMO.

4583

General Software Discussion / Re: Synergy Virtual KVM

« Last post by 40hz on November 12, 2012, 08:30 AM »

@clean - Please drop it. Do it as a favor to Mouser.

4584

Living Room / Re: Interesting Internet Defamation Lawsuit - Statute of Limitations Reset Online?

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 08:33 PM »

The point of offense and liability has always been backdated to the original appearance of the statement in question. Continuous reiteration just because it's on the web is really pushing it to the point of total BS. I don't think the judiciary would be willing to legislate from the bench on something that over the top. I'm positive they'd wait for a law to specifically establish such an interpretation before they go along with that. Especially since to adopt it as a general rule would totally negate the notion of limitations under the law.

4585

Living Room / Re: Toshiba laptop service manuals and the sorry state of copyright law

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 04:13 PM »

Toshiba has always been unusually persnickety about who gets to see their service documentation. I'm not sure what the motivation behind that is. Apple is also very protective about service docs -  except with Apple it's more understandable in that they're a single-source service parts supplier for their products and has created its own network of authorized service providers.

One reason I've stopped recommending Toshiba laptops to my clients is because of the nonsense you need to go through where I am to get service - and the relative dearth of service information available for pubic access.

Anybody know (or have a contact in Toshi that could say) what this is all about?

4586

Living Room / Re: Interesting Internet Defamation Lawsuit - Statute of Limitations Reset Online?

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 01:09 PM »

I think the plaintiffs are going for a really really long shot with that one in an attempt to extend existing law far beyond where it was ever intended to reach.

I'm guessing the judiciary will realize what they're up to and just say "Sorry folks. Nice try."

To do otherwise would open up anything ever published to potential defamation litigation.

4587

Living Room / Re: In honor of Veteran's Day 2012 - Thank You

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 12:57 PM »

+1 a hundred times over. As "The Rest Cure" shows, we owe all the men and women who have served this nation our deepest gratitude and respect.

4588

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 12:35 PM »

Just for reference, there's another post over here (DC) about the same basic deal in the commercial/proprietary world.

-Renegade (November 11, 2012, 01:27 AM)

The significant difference being that since Aviary is a closed proprietary product, once the developers elected to kick it to the curb, that was the end of it. If it were F/OSS there would have at least been the hope other interested developers might have adopted it so it could live on. Or that somebody else could have hosted it and kept the current functionality and community intact.

-40hz (November 11, 2012, 09:42 AM)

Ahem...

Yes. That is EXACTY why I posted the cross-post.

It was to make a point there.

-Renegade (November 11, 2012, 10:04 AM)

Yup. I got it. I just wanted to put my two cents in to point out the obvious in case anybody missed it.

Boom! Nailed it! OpenSSH is THE go-to for that. Any time you look into the topic... you ALWAYS end up with OpenSSH pretty much no matter what. Pretty much every time I ever need to do some kind of encryption, even if I'm using a third party component, I end up using OpenSSH.

-Renegade (November 10, 2012, 06:59 AM)

Do you mean OpenSSH or OpenSSL, renny?

-f0dder (November 11, 2012, 08:02 AM)

Yeah, yeah.... Let's just go make fun of Renegade because he posts drunk all the time and makes stupid mistakes/typos~!

Ok!

Nyah! Nyah! Renegade! Yah! Boo! Sucks!  

This time around, I'm blaming some pretty damn good Australian wine!

Really? I'm open to recommendations. (My GF and I both like Aussie wines in general.) What were you having?

4589

General Software Discussion / Re: Synergy Virtual KVM

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 12:27 PM »

Lock it please!

-tomos (November 11, 2012, 12:07 PM)

I'd prefer it be edited.

I don't see any good reason why a perfectly good and valuable discussion topic should be shut down purely because somebody (who should know better) has again decided to hijack the discussion, go completely off topic, and start going on and on about something nobody here much cares about.

Just my  

4590

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 09:42 AM »

Just for reference, there's another post over here (DC) about the same basic deal in the commercial/proprietary world.

-Renegade (November 11, 2012, 01:27 AM)

The significant difference being that since Aviary is a closed proprietary product, once the developers elected to kick it to the curb, that was the end of it. If it were F/OSS there would have at least been the hope other interested developers might have adopted it so it could live on. Or that somebody else could have hosted it and kept the current functionality and community intact.

4591

General Software Discussion / Re: Aviary advanced suite now officially offline

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 08:20 AM »

Hmm...so I guess it's safe to toss this book I bought last year for $35 at B&N now that it's merely taking up space on my bookshelf?




Pretty shabby IMO how they handled the shutdown. They could have very easily announced no further development would be done on the product and possibly initiated a subscription fee for access. That would have at least allowed the people who genuinely needed Aviary - and had come to rely on it - a transitional period to find other software.

The single most important stage in the execution of any strategy is how well the endgame is played - and how well the aftermath is handled. Just pulling the plug with nothing more than a short apology that says little other than "please don't be angry" is not a good way to do something like this.

4592

General Software Discussion / Re: Synergy Virtual KVM

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 07:43 AM »

@BartlesMedia - can you possibly understand that this ongoing battle you and your rivals are waging anyplace on the web where the moderators have not already banned you is of no possible interest to anybody here? You're winning neither friends nor supporters by continuing to do this. We've heard it all before. We understand the points you and the other participants have made - having heard them all more times than we'd care to remember. I'm sure software such as yours makes it very easy to post this sort of thing rapidly and efficiently - so the temptation is always there to be posting more of the same somewhere. But please - can you possibly give it (and us) a rest?

4593

Living Room / Re: Popular Wrench Fights a Chinese Rival

« Last post by 40hz on November 11, 2012, 07:24 AM »

Sears has done this sort of thing before.

Sears has lost out doing this sort of thing before.

This time out however, what they have done has greater public exposure thanks to the Internet. And it's so much easier to "bell the cat" than it used to be.



Given the current political and economic environment, I don't think Sears can possibly win this one. Especially since Craftsman is a name brand in the US geographic regions and occupations hardest hit by the very thing Sears just did with this guy's invention.

Nope. Sears can't win this one. Simply can't. Even if they prevail in court - they still lose.

My only hope is that this gentleman isn't forced to settle with one of those "gag" clauses attached or have to agree to renounce his original claim (i.e. forgive Sears) in order to get it.

The single worst habit the US legal system has gotten into is allowing businesses to do something wrong, and then let them "consent" and pay a fine without being required to admit any wrongdoing. When you have deep pockets, paying wergild is the equivalent of the "get out of jail free" card in the Monopoly game.

And as my grandfather used to say: It's not a real problem if you can buy your way out of it.
 

4594

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by 40hz on November 10, 2012, 06:50 AM »

Projects which change this dynamic (either having QA provided by a company as a donation, roping in users en-masse for QA, or changing the dynamics and status balance with "marathons" or better recognition for QA) end up beating commercial software.

-iphigenie (November 10, 2012, 01:35 AM)

Are there any?

-Tuxman (November 10, 2012, 06:02 AM)

Servers.

Take your pick.

----------------------------------



Alternatively there's the QC/QA  approach adopted by something like OpenBSD which I'd characterize as a challenge or bounty system. The developers there do their thing, and then put their work out in the wild with the challenge to break it. Ongoing and completely independent code auditing is one of the trademarks of the OpenBSD development process.

I think it's very telling that OpenBSD is arguably the single most secure OS ever created - and very likely to remain the only ultra-secure OS available to the general public.

If there's anything more secure than OpenBSD, the NSA is keeping it for themselves.

A similar approach was used when developing their OpenSSH companion project. OpenSSH is the single most secure implementation of the SSH protocol currently available. It is also the single most deployed version last I heard.

4595

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by 40hz on November 09, 2012, 09:42 AM »

I don't think "capitalism" is the problem.

We do not live in a "capitalist" world. We live in a "corporatists" and fascist world. Big difference.

-Renegade (November 09, 2012, 09:32 AM)

Yes indeed.

Capitalist will put you in jail or let you starve to death.

Corpo-fascists will destroy your life or murder you outright.
 

4596

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by 40hz on November 09, 2012, 09:38 AM »

I could provide a link to a similar rant about LibreOffice in favor of SoftMaker Office, but it is in German...

-Tuxman (November 09, 2012, 08:34 AM)

I prefer Softmaker Office myself.  But that's probably because I thought Word 2000 was the best general purpose WP ever, and that this software category has been going downhill ever since. To me S.O. feels like Word2k. That's enough for me to buy a copy or six.

Generally I find myself replacing FLOSS by proprietary software rather often as FLOSS disappoints me in terms of quality.

In my case, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Or vice-versa. There's a saying that 90% of everything is crap. ANd software is no exception from what I've seen.

The only exception is Firefox. Yet.

Hope that was a joke. Because I can't stand what they've been doing with Firefox lately. If I didn't have three extensions I'd prefer not to live without I'd be using something else by now.

Not that the workable alternatives are that much better IMO.

4597

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by 40hz on November 09, 2012, 08:31 AM »

Ah, that old chestnut rears it's pretty head. Where have we heard that before? 

-40hz (November 09, 2012, 08:20 AM)

At least I backed it up.

-Tuxman (November 09, 2012, 08:22 AM)

I'm not sure what was "backed up" reading from the link provided.

Assertions, anecdotes, and isolated - or small numbers of carefully selected examples - does not constitute a general proof in my neck of the woods.

Was there another link you meant instead?

4598

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by 40hz on November 09, 2012, 08:20 AM »

You have the choice between free and quality.

-Tuxman (November 09, 2012, 07:54 AM)

I think it's more correct to say when the only choice is having to pay to get the required degree of quality needed, it's smarter to pay. But that's not always your only choice.

Free software coders can never have enough budget to investigate new ways to reach paid software's quality.

-Tuxman (November 09, 2012, 07:54 AM)

Ah, that old chestnut rears it's pretty head. Where have we heard that before? 

One neat exception is, maybe, FreeBSD as Apple puts a lot of effort and money into it.

-Tuxman (November 09, 2012, 07:54 AM)

FWIW - so do a lot of other businesses and individuals.

4599

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by 40hz on November 09, 2012, 08:12 AM »

Capitalism has successfully destroyed mindset of people to such extent, people will not hesitate to charge for almost everything they do in life. This not only destroys creativity but also makes the people at the top thinking about monopoly.  Some people deserve to be manipulated by the people at top and some people deserve to find their freedom, whatever and wherever it  exists.

-mahesh2k (November 09, 2012, 07:30 AM)

Well said.

Money is not everything for many people. When I see GNU and Open Source community on diaspora, I see how they are motivated for their contribs on sourceforge and github. It's not about money for them.

-mahesh2k (November 09, 2012, 07:30 AM)

I also agree, having been involved in GNU and F/OSS issues for many years.

Unfortunately, the game is rapidly changing due to patent trolling and IP law abuses. And when it comes to legal matters, those with the deepest pockets have a significant advantage due to the way our current legal system's procedural process favors the richest.

I don't think I'm being excessively alarmist in encouraging anybody involved in creating any form of so-called intellectual property (software, books, music, videos, images) to make enough money to be able to hire a competent attorney if they need one. Because, sooner or later, they're going to need one.

It's only a matter of time before Microsoft or some other software giant begins to make an effort to get as much of the GNU/Linux ecosystem declared illegal as possible.

In the case of Microsoft, who has infinitely deep pockets - and a ridiculous portfolio of patents (I heard over 20,000 and growing) covering some of the most basic and obvious of software design concepts - it's a disaster waiting to happen for the Linux community. Because the case won't be decided on the merits or technology - it will be decided for whoever has the best legal stamina and ability to finesse the system. Look at the case of SCO v Everybody else. Even with the most obviously bogus case imaginable, they were able to drag their nonsense out in court for seven and a half years at a cost of millions in legal fees for the parties involved.

So far, Linux has been (mostly) left alone. More I think because it has not posed a significant threat to the entrenched consumer/business software establishment than for any other reason. But that won't last forever. And some of the major Linux players (RedHat, Suse, Ubuntu) are already working out their own legal accommodations with Microsoft.

When (or if) the long awaited Year of the Linux Desktop arrives, it will be celebrated by the F/OSS community with a round of parties. And by Microsoft with a round of court filings.

Hope somebody has some money in the bank when that day finally comes.

4600

General Software Discussion / Re: Strategies to stay with Windows 7 as long as possible

« Last post by 40hz on November 09, 2012, 06:44 AM »

My personal strategy for sticking with Win 7 is not to upgrade.

I wonder if that will work.