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America Online

AOL Ends Open Access Push 330

Posted by michael from the getting-down-to-the-bottom-line dept.
Elwood Blues writes "The Washington Post is reporting here that AOL has ended its push for access to cable systems, pulling out lobbyists across the country. Kind of sad. Instead of fighting the companies, they just bought one. " Just as pundits predicted. Steve Case, Jan. 11, 2000: "AOL Time Warner will remain committed to open access." Steve Case, today: "Suckers! I can't believe they actually bought it!"
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AOL Ends Open Access Push More

AOL Ends Open Access Push

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  • Er, that's...

    RMS: Source code should be available to everyone.
    Translation: Except people who don't want to make their source code available.

  • While we're on the topic of AOL and their crazy hijinks, what's up with this [cnet.com]?
  • The problem is that moderating this kind of shit down burns moderation points that would be better used elsewhere, and there's a limited number of moderation points available. I realize that Rob & Co. don't like censorship, but I really think they need to step in and do something about this kind of crap and soon, or /. will become totally unusable. Suggestion: let more people become unlimited moderators.


    ...phil
  • An there be any moderators left, moderate this up.

    ...and moderate all that Jesus / Satan crap down, dammit.
    ---
    pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [152.7.41.11].
  • AHH but does Jesus love Satan? How does Satan feel about that?
    --
    Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.
  • I don't know about other cable networks, but on my cable subnet, I can only see broadcast traffic. You can't not see other people's traffic and you can't sniff jack except your own and broadcast traffic. This is on a road runner netowork.
  • "Sten and other activists - coalescing around a group called the OpenNET coalition - have long argued that the Federal Communications Commission should
    enforce open access. But FCC Chairman William E. Kennard has said new regulations might slow the deployment of high-speed Internet service. Moreover,
    Kennard points out that cable has competition for high-speed access from DSL, a service that runs over phone lines."

    Where I live (Sprint, Time-Warner) they're fiercely competing to let the other one stick its neck out on this first. Maybe once they see the cable company gettting that extra $20 per subscriber each month, they'll finally get around to letting those of us using local ISP's to get DSL. On second thought, they'll probably tie it to using them as my ISP, put all the locals out of business, and then jack up the rates.

  • 1st off, I think the AOL is and has been blowing smoke up somebody's rs232. That said, I would to point out that there are many aspects to all of this.

    1) Internet time. The regulators and government are moving too slow (to make open access), and hence AOL had to buy their cable access.
    2) The Portland open access case is in the courts. We all know how long this is going to take to be resolved.
    3) The FCC is involved. The commissioners are not appointed for life, and a lot of politics is involved in their selection. Kennard has been lukewarm to open access. Congress has been beating down on the FCC. Conclusion: don't build your business plan on the actions of the FCC. Cover all your options. For AOL, they have cable access, and if open access is mandated, AOL also wins.
    4) Virginia and Maryland, while close to AOL headquarters, have only local interest as far as AOL is concerned. While the old saying is that all politics is local, the internet is not.
    5) AOL decided that fighting for open access is too unpredictable.
    6) Time Warner does not want open access. Why? I don't know, but there maya reason.
    7) Another acquisition is in the works (e.g., another cable company).
    8) It is late, I'm going to bed. Do you know where you cookies are?

  • For AOL, this meant ignoring their campaign for open access and just bought a cable company instead.

    To understand this, you have to ask "What was AOL's goal?". The answer is "To get themselves cable internet.". So, why the heck would they push for some "Open Standard" when it could turn around and bite them later on down the road? Better just to own the cable company outright.

    There's got to be some historical reason why the mediocre always come out on top, but I just can't think of it...

    Hmmm... I don't think that the "mediocre" ever come out "on top" by definition (unless you're holding a mediocrity contest).

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

  • Not that I want to interrupt the bashAOL festival, but when I logged onto AOL today (I use it when traveling) the following tease was featured on the first screen:

    Upgrading to Windows2000?
    Click here for important information
    you should know first.

    It links to a screen that warns "the AOL service is not supported on this or other WindowsNT platforms at this time."

    Users can ask to be emailed when an NT-compatible version is available.
  • Hey, I know. I have a 100Mbps lan in my house, but a 28.8Kbps dailup and that's not even local. I live too far out for IDSN, cable, etc.

    I was hoping AOL, Earthlink ( I use MindSpring ), and the other ISPs would push out here sooner with all the cable vs ISPs goings on back last summer. (?)

    ..but I guess I'll have to settle for overnight apt-get's.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • 1) There is a BUG in slash as of right now, that caused this post to appear as it would be posted by "Anonymous Coward" when I hit "Preview" (as I asked it to) but was posted by..well, you know who, when I hit "Submit".

    2) It's supposed to be FUNNY. (Or at least, it seemed funny to me at 2 am on a Friday night). You probably don't want to KNOW where I got this idea from in the first place.

    3) My sex life is NOTHING like this. (not nearly as kinky, anyway) :P

    4) I guess I'll LOG OUT first BEFORE posting anything like this again. :P
  • You're welcome. (I guess)

    The problem was that I guess I forgot about the humor aspect of it once I started writing the erotic part of it. The CONCEPT was funny in my mind (Being a windows user is worse then skull-fucking mother teresa in many slashdotter's minds), and it was supposed to look like a serious piece of writing while the content would be so absurd that it would make you laugh. (Kind of like that Calvin and Hobbes strip where he drew grown up pictures to represent Calvin and Susie playing House).

    But I needed a lot of biting humor to make that work, and I'm not good at putting that kind of humor into sex scenes. Guess I'm not cynical enough yet.

    Btw: I guess I should add:

    1) I don't troll or (purposefully) write stupid posts that often.

    2) I'm not responsible for this damn jesus nazi thing. When I started writing this post, there were 36 replies in the thread. I didn't realize how spam filled this thread would get.
  • You know a product has gone down the tubes when they start skipping version numbers for market appeal...

    I didn't know MS Word went down the tubes so many years ago. I thought it was just a recent thing...

    -Brent
  • 1 - Aside from the AOL 5.0 fiasco, AOL isn't really lacking concern for their users.

    2 - how many additional accounts would AOL get if they offered straight up PPP service? I doubt too many. Many of the hold outs are doing so just because it's AOL. Would you use aol as your ISP? I doubt many people here would. I also doubt that many /.ers would want AOL on their Linux boxes. They're too "sophisticated" to be bothered with AOL.

    Besides that, AOL isn't so much a service provider, but a content provider. They're just the only one that supplies it's users with a dialup account.

    So far as the $8 billion lawsuit goes... EVEN if it did go through, AOL/Time Warners got plenty of cash available to pay it in full. But most likely, they'll either settle for a fraction of it, or fight it and win.

    So far as the gov't thing goes... I haven't read anything about them just welcoming the government into their offices with open arms. Maybe i'll check out apb and re-educate myself.
  • Why's that sad?

    They're probably one of the biggest factors in the whole stock market boom... They get consumers online. Consumers buy stuff, or consumers view ads, Amazons and Yahoo's stock prices skyrocket. Other companies see this, and go public and also sky rocket. Venture capitalists give money to other interesting companies, feeling more confident about the whole computer age.

    I'd even say in a round about way, Transmeta, among others, might never have gotten the financing they needed if it weren't for AOL shoving consumers on the internet.
  • Don't panic, it's pppoe, there's a cool
    open source solution for linux at
    http://www.davin.ottawa.on.ca/pppoe/ [ottawa.on.ca].

    For other solutions go to freshmeat.

  • If my cable company spent $100 million laying cables in my state so that I can have 1.5 MBit for $40/month, why should we (cable company and I) get penalized and have Joe company who spent $0 laying cable and other infrastructure have access to our bandwith?

    Oh, it only hurts that big conglomerate company. They don't deserve their "cable monopoly"

    It hurts all of us. With open access there the incentive to provide high bandwidth solutions to your doorstep drop to near zero.

    Instead of attacking those wonderful cable and phone companies for providing us cable modems and DSL, we should be thanking them for freeing us from the world of 56.6

    -Snoot

  • I take it then that you're a pro-labor camp Kommunist? Look, let me make it simpler for you - the pre-roasted pigs was the option you were supposed to choose. Jeezus, can't you people not even see your own self-interest (enlightened that is) when it's staring you in the face - BTW we Ayn Rand followers prefer to be known as Randroids.
  • No,no,no that's not the way that it works. See, the market takes care of it all - the FCC realizes this and doesn't want to upset the magic forces that result in wealth for everyone. Think about it, which do you want:
    1. A land of the free market where companies give you machines to play on and pigs run around pre-roasted with forks sticking out of them and beer flows from natural springs
    or
    2. A nasty government regulated welfare state where everyone has to work in a labour camp?
    Well, which is it?
  • For crying out loud, can't someone stop this shit?
  • I was with Earthlink and that was the only type of basic DSL service they offered, using PacBell's DSL lines and equipment of course. So I switched to PacBell to get a static IP. Earthlink was using some kind of "dial-up" DSL service and I didn't like that. I was lucky in that I got a static IP for the "basic" rate. If I am forced to switch when my year's contract expires then I will also be looking for another ISP and DSL option.
  • DSL, from what I gather is 'open access' to the Core, IE the system was designed from the ground up with inoperability in mind. I guess the difference is that it comes from an industry (telephone) that has had competition forced on them for a long time, and only acted as a blind carrier to begin with.

    When you get a DSL line, all you get is access to a faster digital phone line, that you can connect to the ISP of your choice (usually the phone company, but it doesn't have to be). And that ISP is usually just an IP provider, as opposed to a 'content provider'

    Aside from the fact that cable is a shared connection and can be slowed (and sniffed) a huge amount, Cable is something that comes from companies who have owned with an iron fist both the Wire, DataStream, and content.

    I don't know why, but I'd personally rather have a direct DSL line, even if it were slower then having 'my eyeballs owned' by a cable company. But, that's just me.

    This may be just me, but I've always seen Steve Case as somewhat of a wanker, he never looked like he should be up there with people like the SUN CEO (who's name I remember, but can't spell) or Even Bill gates. Just some used car salesman in a polo shirt. Oh well.

    [ c h a d o k e r e ] [dhs.org]
  • m010cd : "the devil is in all of you"
    translastion : "the devil is in all of you, but not me."

    see post [slashdot.org] for parody humor, and look hard.
  • Jazi just proves the romans knew what they were doing when they fed Christians to the lions. Too bad they didn't all of them.
  • 1967 years after his exacution, He's still DEAD. Dead men don't love.
  • nah, even software hoarders are free to use gpl software - the can modify it, share the source, etc - what they want, but can't have, is the right to distribute binaries without source. Your complaint is invalid - try reading the GPL some time.
  • Most of the cable companies prohibit servers in their AUP's. At least with DSL you have the option of paying a little more and running a server. I'm trapped with ISDN service as the only option, and it's WAY EXPENSIVE compared to DSL. If I could get DSL, I could triple my speed for the same price. Unfortunately, TELCO can't seem to get their shit together enough to get it working in my neighborhood!
  • The sad part is that AOL is getting obscenely wealthy providing McInternet to the great unwashed masses...

    IMHO, their merger (purchase?) of Time Warner was their way of insuring access--everything else was just a smokescreen.

  • GAG. (Score:1)

    by solios ( 53048 )
    Talk about an incentive to NOT upgrade. I've been using 4.6 since it came out, and I'm not upgrading to 4.7 out of laziness. But the options discussed in netscape six? Every last one of them are reasons for me NOT to upgrade. I LOATH AOLIM, and I'm not about to stand for advertising being integrated straight into my browser interface.

    "The new policy means that Web sites can offer
    visitors customized browser versions as a way to
    draw and retain users and build brand loyalty. "

    Uh... no? The only reason I use netscape is a graphical browser is a necessity for a large amount of web access, iCab sucks, and IE is... well, Microsoft. Sure, they'll be building brand loyalty with the sheeple out there who are dumb enough to dig that sort of thing....

    With companies like AOL providing slow connections, shitty content, asinine service, and STILL somehow becoming number one due to the fact that their interface is so idiot friendly that it makes Mac users retch, it's no wonder the Linux community is as strong as it is.
  • Now that AOL owns such a large cable network, why should they advocate open access? After all, that would help their competitors now that *they're* on top.

    Now, now! Didn't you read the article? AOL is still in favor of open access, they just feel the market can best make it happen. It's a complete coincidence that this happens a month after "they get theirs".

    Seriously, I do believe that AOL will provide open access now. If you have a cable modem, you can choose from AOL version X or Roadrunner. Take your pick.

    "We have both kinds of music here...Country _and_ Western." ---Blues Brothers

  • Much as the folks at our little dear software companies (VA, RedHat, etc.) are nice and civil about the whole ethics thing, people need to stop expecting civil behavior from large companies. It's the CEO's legal responsability to provide the maximum profit for the company's stockholders. Everything else comes second. Whether it be MSFT, AOL, or f'n Corel for that matter, everything a corporation does is motivated by profit alone. Stop pretending it's special news when one of them reneges on an idealogical crusade. We all know what's going on.
  • My first reaction to this article was "What the hell are they doing, stealing the work of open source developers?" ... Well, unidealogical as it may be, I get angry at the thought of AOL getting a browser for free, then leveraging it back on the current market leader. What do you think AOL would do if they happened to be on top? They'd likely be like MSFT and do everything in their power to co-opt standards and prevent interoperability. Grr.
  • It's the CEO's legal responsability to provide the maximum profit for the company's stockholders.

    And the same would hold true for VA, RedHat, and soon Caldera, LinuxCare, and any other public open-source companies. Once a company goes public, their rules have to change. Just because their mission may be something that *you* happen agree with, it doesn't mean they're not crapping on someone's plate in order to maximize profits.

  • I was tripping on LSD at the time

    First time i read that, I thought i saw BSD.

    --

  • The original post may have been only soso on the humor side, but this follow up has just given me enough laughs to make it through next week... intentional or not, thanx for the laughs Byter...
  • On the plus side, I'll feel like I've moved up a notch in life when I start throwing out AOL DVD demo discs instead of the AOL CD demo discs...
  • Most people do agree that DSL is the way to go, *IF* it's available in your area. Sadly, though, DSL relies heavily on existing phone line quality, and no matter how badly any given phone company may want to provide DSL (and not many seem to want to yet), there are still many customers (I've heard estimates as high as 70% on average) that will simply not have the quality of lines necessary for a DSL connection. So the issue is important because, for the majority of people, Cable access is still (and will probably remain for several years) their only broadband access choice.
  • Whatever happened to Netscape 5? Are we just skipping version numbers now? You know a product has gone down the tubes when they start skipping version numbers for market appeal...
  • Have you heard word of the new DSL service that Pacific Bell is starting?

    No more static IP addressing. That, in of itself, would not be such a problem except that instead of just using standard DHCP...they force you to run a specialized "EnterNet" client.

    In Windows, you basically have to install Dial-Up Networking or RAS and then "dial-up" to a VPN-type network with the PacBell client. Otherwise, the only thing you can access with the IP that the DHCP hands you is www.pacbell.net. PacBell also claims there is a Linux EnterNet client available, but I've only been able to find 95/98/NT so far. And I'm willing to bet that the Linux client is a closed binary.

    God only knows why PacBell is moving to this system (which looks like a lot of work, customer support, slower access, and bugs) instead of standard DHCP. I would bet dollars to pesos it is so they can track usage, monitor for warez, and a host of wonderful other features.

    As of December 17, you either have to accept this new dynamic system or pay $100 setup + $30/month for "enhanced" service with static IPs.

    Feh. I can't believe I changed apartments so I could switch from my cable modem to this. Now I gotta try to find another apartment that has DSL service from Covad or someone else.

    - JoeShmoe

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  • Is it just me, or has there been a severe lack of moderation/moderators over the past 2-3 days? I've noticed a growing trend towards this, and even on this story, there's no evidence of (+) moderation at the point I write this. It seems they're checking for flamebait in the first 5 posts, and then leaving.

    Pablo Nevares, "the freshmaker".

  • So, basically, what you are saying, is that a DSL provider can oversubscribe thier DSL connection easily, but a cable modem provider is very different because a cable provider can also oversubscribe thier connections. Therefore, you claim that cable modems are better.

    Umm...

    ------
    -Everything has a cause
    -Nothing can cause itself
    -You cannot have an infinite string of causes

  • I'm only saying this because I've got my nose buried in 19th century history, but I still feel it's a valid point: AOL is acting exactly like the white settlers in the Wild West, circa 1850's and such. How, you ask? Well, AOL is doing exactly what the white settlers did to the Indians: they had a conflict, they made like they were going to do The Right Thing(tm), then they just dropped everything for a better opportunity.

    For white settlers this meant ignoring all treaties with the Indians and just taking their land anyway. For AOL, this meant ignoring their campaign for open access and just bought a cable company instead.

    If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.

    There's got to be some historical reason why the mediocre always come out on top, but I just can't think of it...


    ------------
  • AOL's lack of concern for users has caused me to have to worry about the AOL stock I own. I was a Netscape stockholder startin around NN3 and I got the AOL stock through the merger. I wish AOL would not only allow people to dial up without their software, but would stop working so much with the federal government. APBOnline had a story about how law enforcement doesn't even really need a warrant to search AOL's network. Pretty scary stuff. Not to mention the fact that AOL could easily be crushed by the $8billion lawsuit against it. If that happens then this will all be irrelevent.

  • They're going to WHAT?

    Okay, so Netscrape 4.7 is a horrendous creeping horror. Why? Six years of crappy hacks, rushed half-ass W3C standard implementations, and instability. It didn't take mozilla long to realize that continuing to sink resources into the beast was much less humane than simple euthanasia. So the project, which has something like autonomy, decides to pretty much start from scratch. Smart move for the browser, but AOL is left with a twelve-month road plan before expecting even beta-quality code.

    AOL now is losing ever more ground to IE. It can't get its name in front of enough of the new Internet eyeballs, so it decides to farm out the old tired beast to providers and even allows them to give it a new skin. If they're going to produce by spring, the "new" product will basically be Netscape 4.71 with AIM and ICQ integrated (gee, big improvement to the browsing experience there, guys). AOL is going to screw over customers with this code, but we expect no less of them.

    HOWEVER, the threat here is to mozilla. How does AOL justify mozilla's development now? This developing a "Netscape 6.0" sounds like nothing else than an admission that mozilla is a failure. (Which it's not, of course, but from their perspective, they may just want to abandon it.) Why would they fund two development efforts? I sure hope it won't happen, but the lizard might get a salt bath real soon... :(

    Anybody have a more positive take on this?

  • God, even 'Blondie' has a better plot each day.

    Hey, I like Blondie. That Dagwood, boy can he eat! And sleep! And Mr. Dithers sure is grouchy! It makes me laugh just thinking about it!
  • It'll be interesting to see if AOL actually opens up their new cable lines (new to AOL) Although

    I'm not counting on it.. Infact I'd go so far as to say that the same guys striving to pass the legislation just a couple weeks ago will be making strong efforts to supress any new bills that come up.
  • nt=no text
  • Source code for GPL'd programs is available to everyone.

    Source code for GPL'd programs is most certainly available to "people who don't want to make their source code available" -- they are included in "everyone". Name me one person on earth to whom the GNU Emacs source code is not available. Bill Gates doesn't want to make his source code available. Yet, the GNU Emacs source is still available to him. So name one person.

  • Crap
    the Dude you have way to much time on your hands applies to the Jesus Nazi :P
    I goofed
  • Dude you seriously have waaaaaaaay to much time on your hands **see below posts**
    Anyways on the subject of AOL it shows that AOL was subscribing the the thought of "If you can't beat em, join em'"

    Aol Guy 1 "Cable modems users should be able to choose thier isps!"
    Aol Guy 2 "Yea!"
    Aol Guy 3 "Hey why don't we just buy our own cable modem company?"
    Aol Guy 1 and 2 "Yea!"
    Aol Guy 4 "But what about our stance for opening up cable modem access for everyone??"
    Aol Guy 1/2/3 "Huh?????"
  • then shut the fuck up. the devil is in all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • ...god is dead and no one cares if there is a hell i'll see you there
  • ....god is dead and no one cares if there is a hell i'll see you there
  • got satan??????
  • satan will 'alway' be in all of you!!
  • satan loves you!
  • the devil is in all of you!
  • jesus is dead, who cares who he loves
  • satan loves everybody, even dumbasses like you!
  • satan loves both cheeks!
  • the devil is in all of you!.
  • satan doesn't need jesus, dumbasses followers like you are worthless
  • the devil is in all of you!...
  • the devil is in all of you!....
  • satan will always be here to tell you how dumb jesus looks when his worshipper can't type
  • the devil is in all of you!.....
  • the devil is in all of you!.......
  • in hell, you can laugh at jesus all the time!
  • the devil is in all of you!.........
  • satan burns fools like you, isn't that what we all want?
  • i know that the devil lives in you, dumbass
  • the devil is in all of you!..........
  • why go to heaven when people like you will be there?
  • satan wants to see you burned in hell very much!
  • the devil is in all of you!..............
  • You know, the term "Open Access", in this context is such a misnomer on so many levels, it's frightening.

    AOL loved to throw around this term, "Open Access", around in its quest to grab some cable bandwith to fill with its garbage content.

    "Open Access".

    Open. Is AOL open in ANY respect? No. Is the AOL source open? No. Is their infrastructure open? No. Hell, is their "forums" and "online communities" open? Not even close.

    Access. Well, obvious jokes aside, access to AOL is pretty pitiful any way you look at it.

    Yet, AOL comes up with this sick phrase and to think that ANYONE let them get away with it in the first place is what amazes me.

    How about "open access" to the smaller ISP's who want to offer TCP/IP over the cable infrastructure? That's a hell of a lot closer to open access. Just my 2 cents.

    Please, please visit my web site. I never get much traffic on weekends.
  • This isn't a problem with the merger, it makes sense. Now that AOL has what they wanted--open access to a cable company--their problems are solved.

    What scares me more is that without AOL's support, the representatives don't care about the issue. Do we need someone to push a bill nowadays, or do politicians still have their own opinions?

    I didn't think it had gotten this bad. Feel free to wail about how evil AOL is, but first wail about how evil lobbyists are, and wail more that politicians these days think they need them. I don't want the lobbyists telling the politicians what to think, I want the *people* telling them what to think. Are those days over?
    ---
    pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [152.7.41.11].

  • Since when does a company advocating openness only when they stand to gain == antitrust violations.

    AOL itself said that the lack of openness was an anti-trust issue. It is ALWAYS fair to apply a person's arguments to their own behaviour. The real test is to see if Time-Warner customers can request a new ISP now or if they remain stuck with what they've got. Perhaps AOL's aquisition of TW should be made contingent on opening access.

  • Can someone explain to me why stuff like this shouldn't be clear evidence to the FCC or trust-busters that there's a problem with this merger? This is the kind of behavior that should trigger an immediate response.

    What's the point if it doesn't?

  • Was anyone _really_ surprised by this?

    Now, if the FCC wanted to give Case the royal screwover, make equal access to cable channels the law. All those billions down the drain, when all he really wanted was exclusive access to all those cable modems.
  • The 5.0 codebase was killed six months after its release as open source. The current Mozilla codebase is what originally was going to be Netscape 6.0. So, it isn't completely marketing to call this Netscape 6.0.

    Steven E. Ehrbar
  • What the hell are they doing, stealing the work of open source developers?... I get angry at the thought of AOL getting a browser for free

    Er, well, you see, a significant majority of the Mozilla code was written by Netscape employees as their full-time job. And Netscape is owned by AOL. So most of Mozilla was written and paid for by -- AOL.

    So they didn't steal anything, and they didn't get it for free.

    Steven E. Ehrbar
  • . If they're going to produce by spring, the "new" product will basically be Netscape 4.71 with AIM and ICQ integrated

    Huh? M13, already out, is Alpha Mozilla, M14 is intended to be Beta Mozilla. Spring is a three-month season that begins on March 21 and doesn't end until June 21. Are you actually going to say that Mozilla can't move from near-beta to usable code (by Windows standards) by June 1 (i.e., in 120 days)?

    Steven E. Ehrbar
  • AOLServer, their web server, is open source.

    They own Netscape, who is at least partially responsible for your latest Mozilla build, right?

  • > Since when does a company advocating openness only when they stand to gain == antitrust violations.

    When AOL was advocating openness, they were warning that the the cable operators were going to have a monopoly. Now that they're a cable company, they've decided that maybe monopolies aren't so bad after all.
  • The storm clouds had been building around our bedroom for a while now, But I hadn't attempted to scatter them in fear that they would burst into rain instead. But the situation had progressed to the point that it could not be denied any longer.

    Something was seriously wrong with our sex life.

    My ably shaped wife lay on the bed next to me. I had only brought her to one, halting, orgasm tonight, or this week. She used to flood me with six or seven boundful orgasms a few years ago, but something had changed in the last few months, and not for the better. I gazed in her eyes and saw the trouble in them and knew she was thinking about the same thing. It had come time to broach the subject with her.

    "Katie?" I cleared my throat, "What's happened over these last few months? It used to be that I could make you cum over and over again by licking you, and I know that my technique hasn't changed. Has something...affected the way you see me?"

    And at that, she burst into tears, the first drops of water dropping to the sheets where she had laid gasping just minutes ago. I drew her to me and felt her warmth against me, her heart beating fast and her arms around me.

    "I'm so sorry!" She sobbed..."It's not you...I swear...well, maybe in the strict emperical sense it is..but it isn't your fault!" She buried her head into my shoulder and I felt the warmth of her tears against my skin. "What is it then?" I probed. "You don't have to be afraid to tell me.."

    "It's just.." She faltered, and looked down.

    "Just.." I prompted

    "Just....that we've run out of nasty things for you to call me while we're having sex." She started to sob again.

    I sighed. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? It's nothing that a good thesarus and dictionary wouldn't solve. I know that Bitch and Whore and Cocksucker, and Dirty little slut now seem tame and dated and used up, but how about some of the more recent names that used to turn you on?"

    "They don't work either." she sobbed louder. Her tears were falling freely now, the salt making my skin tingle.

    "So skanky bitch eating all her shit doesn't work anymore?"

    "No." She continued to sob.

    "Charles Manson urine drinking crackwhore shitting all over the salad bar at wendys while getting fucked with a 10 inch fetus doesn't do a thing for you either?"

    "Not a thing now." She buried herself deeper into my shoulder, her voice muffled by my skin.

    "How about Sadam Hussain Cock-sucking whore and personal assasin who spent the last week fucking the unearthed skull of Mother Teresa while.."

    "No! No! No! NONE of them work anymore!!" she wailed before collapsing into deep convulsing sobs, your hot tears rolling down my back. I sighed as I held her close to me, softly caressing up and down her back, trying to comfort her. Maybe this was going to be difficult to solve after all. The Mother Teresa Skull Fucker fantasy had been one of her favorites, almost certain to soak her panties right through no matter what mood she had been in before.

    She came up for air, her eyes red from the effort of expending her tears. "Remember that fantasy about me being the one who gathered up all the monks and threw them into the gas chambers while saluting Adolf Hitler while sucking him off?" I nodded, softly caressing her hair. "And then I would jump into the chambers after they were all dead and I would roll around in their shit, and then sit on one of the dead monks with his cock in me, and break off another man's cock and fuck myself up the ass with it?" I nodded again and handed her a tissue to blow her nose.

    "Remember how I came 10 times the first night that we talked about it? Just a few months ago?" I softly ran my fingers down her back again and said "Yes, I remember that. That's the night that you were so exhausted after you came that you fell asleep completely wrapped in all of the bed chains and wouldn't wake up no matter what I did. Took me hours to get you out of all of those chains without you helping me. But I assumed you didn't want to wake up that way in the morning."

    "And I miss those nights so much!" She cried loudly. "I was having that same fantasy when you were licking me today. Searching through the fantasy to make myself even more of a dirty rotten evil little slut! And I could only come once! I'm doomed! I'm going to become a frigid little asexual bitch and it's all my fault!"

    "And even that thought doesn't turn you on?" I asked. She thought for a moment and then cried "No! Not even THAT!!" and burst into tears again.

    I shivered as I held her close. We were definately in big trouble. I looked around the room as I held her close to me, my gaze sweeping over her clothes thrown across the floor, the assortment of whips and chains and leather that she had special ordered which used to work magic on her, and her backpack which she took to her sysadmin job every day, full of source code and Dr Dobbs. Looking at the last item, an idea suddenly hit me.

    "Katie, you know those big Linux and BSD servers at work?" I whispered. "Yes?" She murmered back, still softly sobbing. "Well, I know what an idiotic and evil slut like you is going to do tomorrow when you get to work." I said, adapting the tone of voice she liked me to have in these situations. I felt her body flush slightly with heat. "Hmmm...what?" You said with your own tone, looking up in my eyes. I continued, speaking very deliberately now, "You're going to go to every one of those perfectly optimized servers, and you're going to install WINDOWS on every one of them!"

    Her entire body shivered deliciously as her eyes hazed over. "Hmmmmm" she purred, her hardening nipples starting to press against me, inviting my fingers to reach down and pinch them sharply. She drew in her breath swiftly as I continued. "And you're not going to give anyone any advanced warning. You're going to flip the power on each server without any advanced warning! You're not going to init 0! You're not even going to unmount the file systems! You're going to corrupt everyone's work, and you're going to LOVE doing it, because you're a completely idiotic evil slut! Isn't that right?"

    "Oooohh...yess!" she moaned, her breathing growing fast now. She leaned back on the bed, her legs starting to shift uncomfortably as her wetness grew inside her. I felt my own hardness growing again as I kept talking to her, building the fantasy. "Think about the hundreds of thousands of dollars you're going to cost your company for a new architectural setup that's not even going to work! Think about all the engineers sitting in the office for hours, not getting any work done, all because of you! And you're going to love it because it's so deliciously evil!"

    "Aaahhhhh...yyyeess..I'll fuck up everything for them! OOohh" you moaned as your fingers reached down to touch the wetness that was just beginning to appear between your lips. "Oohhh...I can see that large blue setup screen now..on that huge monitor on my desk! Ohhh!" Your fingers dipped deep into the wetness and your body arched off the bed as your fingers found your clit.

    "Yes...that setup screen will be nice and blue, and the setup process will screw up your entire computer and you'll have to reinstall two more times to even get it to boot up! And then do you know what you'll be, you fucking cocksucking slut? You know what you'll be?" "Tell me...Ooohh..Tell me." She whispered, biting her beautiful lipstick red lips while her clit and fingers glistened with wetness and she parted her labia further. "You'll be a WINDOWS USER!" I yelled "Just another fucking idiotic WINDOWS USER!"

    Her eyes dripped with arousal as she moaned "MMMmmmmAhhhhhh....Ooohh..yess...I'll be just anoother fucking idiot". Her fingers started rapidly rubbing her clit, the wetness making a lovely sound as it covered her clit. My penis was now rock hard from the smell of her arousal filling the room, and she licked her lips at the sight of it.

    "On your front, you fucking WINDOWS USER slut!" I commanded as she rolled over and lifted up enough for her hands to reach under her body and continue rubbing her clit, while her buttocks wiggled high in the air. "You know you're a naughty Windows user, you slut! You know what happens to naughty people who decide to use windows?" I growled playfully. "Oooohh..tell..me" she moaned loudly, her fingers finding that rhythm on her clit again.

    My hand hit her buttocks hard in response. She moaned loudly in pleasure and rubbed even faster. "THIS is what happens to naughty idiots who become WINDOWS USERS! They must be PUNISHED! They must be reformed so they don't keep their users in complete misery!" I spanked her again and again, her breathing becoming faster as she thrusted against her fingers. I could sense that her orgasm was already starting to rise inside her. "Oooohhh...I'll have to be reformed...I'll have to discover the power of debian once again!"

    I sighed as I stopped spanking her briefly. I knew I was going to sound like an idiot for this, but I had to make sure. "Are you sure that you wanted to use the word debian?" I asked in my regular tone. "Huh?" She looked back at me, rather confused. "Debian is our safe-word, remember?" I reminded her. "D'OH! I had forgotten that..well, I just won't use it in this fantasy then." she sheepishly replied.

    "Good!" I growled, back in my demeaning tone, "Cause idiots like you don't DESERVE to use good distros." and I started spanking again. She moaned and resumed her rubbing. After a few more contacts with my hands, her buttocks were bright red and her lips were becoming that way as well. "And windows is all closed source, you slut! You know what happens when you use closed source?"

    "OooohhAhhh..The same evil bugs stay in it?" she gasped back, her orgasm quickly approaching. "More then that, there are huge security holes that stay in there for YEARS..and then somebody finds one of those holes, and they fuck you! Just like this!" I plunged two fingers deep inside her soaking hole and felt her moan and grip me tightly. "But you know that you raped this way, and you LIKE it. Because you know that you DESERVE IT! Because you're a FUCKING IDIOTIC SLUT!"

    "YES!!! Ooohhh Yesss Ahhhhh I DO!" she almost screamed as she thrust back hard against my fingers deep inside her and began to pulse. Her orgasm was only seconds away as her wetness flooded around me and her fingers became a blur on her clit. Her breathing becamer uncontrolled as her body flushed and she spasmed hard against my thrusting fingers. Then she clenched down on my fingers even harder as she gave the moans announcing her orgasm, and then her body contracted hard around my fingers again and again before finally returning to pulsing.

    Her head turned as she came down from her orgasm and she saw my hard coch, ready to burst from the sight of her orgasm. She moaned loudly "I must be cured of my ignorance and stupidity. I must be filled with the power of open source! I must be filled with it fast and hard! Fill me!" I didn't need any more encouragement. "Yes, I'll fill you with open source, you dirty little slut!" I yelled and smacked her buttocks one more time before entering her from behind.

    I could already feel her body building up to another orgasm as I entered her doggie style and started thrusting fast and hard into her, and that was good for me because I knew I couldn't last much longer myself. My fingers reached down to thake the place of hers on her clit as she reached up and tweaked and pulled on her nipples as each thrust into her caused her breasts to jiggle and shake. The air filled with our moans and groans and her moaning "MMmmmmm..that feels so Fucking GOOD! AHhhhh!" and I knew that I didn't have to say anything more until I came..that she had a good picture of the fantasy in her own mind.

    I felt her expert muscles caressing and milking me with every thrust, and I just couldn't hold back any longer, and neither could she. I felt my muscles tighten and my penis throbbing. "I'm going to fill you with the source now! You ready now, slut?" I whispered into her ears. "Oooohhh...godddd..yeesss....fill me!" she moaned loudly as I felt the first explosions hit me. "MMmmmMmmmmmmMMMAAAHHHH!" She moaned as she felt my penis pulse inside her with every explosion and she felt her own orgasm hit, even harder then the first orgasm..leaving her shivering in rapture even when she returned to pulsing. Then we both collapsed to the sheets once again.

    She turned over to face me and whispered "Debian". I took her back into my arms to cuddle her tenderly, and this time happily. She looked up into my eyes, her face filling my entire view at such short distance, her mouth so close that I could feel her breath on me. "I love you." It whispered softly. "I love you too" I whispered back before leaning down and softly kissing her lips. She sighed in contentment as I cradled her in my arms and she drifted off to sleep. I lay there feeling content and greatly relieved. After all, there were almost infinate ways to alter this fantasy, so it should work for her for years to come. I smiled as I drifted off to sleep as well.

    (end)
  • RMS: Source code should be available to everyone.

    Translation: Source code should be available to everyone.

    RMS himself would tell you that the source code is not enough. He would say "freedom" implying an absence of restrictions on people's freedom to modify the source as they see fit.

    Of course, that doesn't change the point you were making - RMS has stuck to that point longer than I have been alive :-)

    --
    grappler
  • Bill Gates: Microsoft should be allowed to innovate
    Translation: Microsoft should be allowed to take over the world.

    Microsoft: Where do you want to go today?
    Translation: How would you like us to fsck you up the ass today?

    Linus Torvalds: I was bit by a penguin.
    Translation: I was tripping on LSD at the time.

    :)
  • "Big corporations also mean less and less innovation, less creativity. Bad. Very, very bad."

    Then that leaves more room for everyone else to be innovative and creative :-)

    Where do you think Linux came from? At a time when the 386 was utterly dominated by Microsoft along came Linus Torvalds and thousands of other little guys all across the internet doing creative and innovative work. Ditto for BSD and GNU who made quality software a standard. Ditto for the KDE and Gnome teams making usable desktops and office suites. Ditto for the guys merely using Linux who are making hardware manufacturers open up their specs. Thanks to them, Microsoft once more has to compete on the basis of its products and not on its size.

    If you stop reading the economic textbooks where it talks about monopolies taking over a market, and think that's all there is, you fail to learn that they inevitably implode through their sheer size. No monopoly can ever make the bold and and sometimes rash decisions that startups make every day. When you're a megamultinational corporation, there's no way you're going to risk the wrath of 500 billion dollars worth of shareholders cashing out because you took a market gamble.
  • The day Netscape opensourced the Mozilla code, They annouced that the next Netscape browser would be based on Mozilla. Netscape 6.0 will be a branded version of Mozilla, Not a replacement for the Mozilla browser. There will other branded versions, even MrEd 1.0 if you feel like downloading the code, and creating your own branded verision.
  • I put a copy of atlas shrugged by the toilet.
    I read it on the toilet every day.
    I tore off each page as I read it.
    I wiped my butt with the torn pages.
    Here is my review of the book for you all.

    It was rough and scratchy.
  • Anyone else notice that AOL is buying Time Warner who are one of the people pushing the MPAA down our throats .....
  • This whole push for open access seems like a waste of time. The bottom line is that 90% of one's cable bill pays for the physical lines, the backend hardware, and the bandwidth to the rest of the Internet. If my cable company was forced to participate in open access and my bill suddenly said that I owed my monthly cable modem fee to AOL, AOL would in return have to pay the cable company, whomever controls the hardware at the backend, and then pay the company that supplies the bandwidth to the cable system.

    Roadrunner and @Home basically rents the physical lines from the cable company and provides billing and the backend hardware. If AOL wanted to be involved with this aspect of the service, it would require a significant investment that wouldn't seem practical. The service AOL could directly provide is the small portion of your bill that pays for mail and news service.

  • Re:Why does this equal antitrust (Score:5)

    by Shoeboy ( 16224 ) on Friday February 11, 2000 @08:32PM (#1282585) Homepage
    Since when does a company advocating openness only when they stand to gain == antitrust violations. Everyone has been hypocritical on the open standards issue for years now and nobody can seriously claim that Sun or HP has a monopoly of anything. Name me one major player in the computer industry (other than the FSF) that hasn't constantly shifted its position on open standards and free competition. Let me provide a translator for you:

    Scott McNeally: We need an open and competitive marketplace.
    Translation: I want to be Bill Gates.

    Larry Ellison: It's wrong for a company to monopolze standards and leverage its marketshare.
    Translation: It's wrong for Microsoft to leverage its market share, but when we do it, it's OK.

    Steve Case: What we need is an environment where no company has an unfair advantage.
    Translation: What we need is an environment where only AOL has an unfair advantage.

    RMS: Source code should be available to everyone.
    Translation: Source code should be available to everyone.

    I hope that clears things up for you.

    --Shoeboy

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