Slashback: Wal-Modem, Culpability, Misquotes 470
There must be some mistake; this is what I wanted. Masem writes: "The review of the OS-less PCs sold through Wal-Mart brought out a lot of comments on the inclusion of a WinModem, effectively requiring Windows to make the computer work correctly. However, NewsForge reports that shortly after that posting, Microtel, the makers of these computers, wrote back to the reviewer and indicated that new versions of the systems will ship with Linux-friendly modems from now on. Nice to see a company that knows its target audience and how to make them happy."
Thanks, Microtel!
Next: ethernet cable manufacturers. cpt kangarooski writes: "For those tuning in late, Harlan Ellison sued AOL (among others) for having the temerity to permit users to upload copies of his copyrighted works across their networks on the Usenet. As it turns out, AOL was in the right, and got a summary judgment against Ellison.
The opinion by Judge Cooper is located here in PDF format Given his reputation, Ellison will likely appeal."
Welcome to Ix, please take off your shoes. cayle clark writes "A few months back I asked slashdot about shopping in the Akihabara, Tokyo's famous "electric town," and got lots of good advice. Well, now I been and went there, took some pictures, and posted an illustrated account here. Netting it out, it's a keen place to wander, and prices are in some (but only some) cases lower than in the USA."
Hacking at the ties that bind Following up on the new venture in wireless from the LinuxCare crew, Dave Sifry writes "802.11b Networking News wrote up a summary of the new Sputnik Gateway release today, codenamed Stagecoach. The Community Gateway code runs from CD and turns a computer with an ethernet card and Prism 802.11b card into a secure authenticating firewalled 802.11b Access Point. New features of this release include support for desktop cards, like the Linksys WMP11 PCI card, which means that you can turn your old 486 in a closet into a cheap secure wireless router."
I'd rather they save Futurama, but gift horse, teeth, etc. Remik writes "Yahoo News is carrying this story letting Simpsons creator Matt Groening set the record straight that the Simpsons isn't winding down and that it isn't on the ropes. He claims he was misquoted and misunderstood in a Financial Times of London article that came out earlier this week and that he does indeed has stories for years and years. What if Marge became a robot? Hmm..."
Has anyone detected the envelope with the winner's name yet? SoundGuy666 writes "Looks like SETI made it past that 500 million milestone - wonder who won the $500 prize..."
"Isn't on the ropes?" (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Moral Dilemma. (Score:3, Interesting)
Is Walmart's PC a sell for Advanced Users? (Score:3, Interesting)
Despite this, I feel Walmart & Microtel are doing a good job at showing that Windows isnt the only way to compute. The Microtel SYSMAR506 - Athlon 1.4 [walmart.com] seems a good deal at around $500 for budget consious families who want to expose technology affordably to their children or for geeks who need a computer fast and cheap. It would be nice if they included both Windows and Linux drivers, but i know that 1.) Just the fact that it includes windows drivers is a much better improvement than Compaq's "recovery cd" that doesn't have drivers, and 2.) a lot of hardware is automatically detected under Linux, so it may not be necessary
Re:"Isn't on the ropes?" (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:"Isn't on the ropes?" (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe it was one of the best this season, but you have to admit the whole "you're not in any kind of physical pain... the only kind of pain men understand" joke was really clunky and lame... as was the Marge-reads-Homer's mind bit... Neither of those would've happened in episodes past...
Scientologists helped us win this one! (Score:5, Interesting)
In that case, the court said this: "The court does not find workable a theory of direct infringement that would hold the entire Internet liable for actions that cannot reasonably be deterred." The worst possible outcome from a Scientologist's perspective.
Judge Cooper upheld this precedent with her current summary judgement. Way cool.
Yet again, the Scientologists shoot themselves in the foot [xenu.net]!
Re:Wal-mart, umm ok.. (Score:1, Interesting)
I take it back to certain (And I say certain, there are, amazingly a few good mom and pop operations out there), local vendors.. Well, I've seen friends get accused of doing all sorts of nasty things to boxes that they simply pulled out of the packaging.
And, while I wouldn't expect the average Wal-mart sales rep to know much about computers, I consider that much better than those who know how to change their background, and thus, are obviously computing g0dZ. (These types are often found at local vendors, and also at Circuit City.)
You know who's going to install Linux on a wal-mart PC? The current day Windows user, who sure as hell isn't going to ruin his or her $2k uber box with some OS that they're not familiar with.
(Plus, I'd imagine several Slashdot trolls will pool their resources and create a Beowulf cluster, the sole purpose of which will be to unleash a fury of trolling the likes of which has never been seen!)
Re:Stay away from Wal-Mart (Score:2, Interesting)
Addressed in the previous post.
their use of third-world labor,
There are very few industries that can be said not to use "third-world" [his term, I don't use it myself] labor. If you wear clothing, use gasoline, shop at a grocery store, or make less than $100K a year I have no doubt that you have patronised such an industry. But please don't feel guilty about that. The man, woman, or teenager who is hired for $1 a day to sew shoes might be able to support a family that otherwise might have to scavenge for much less. I don't doubt that abuse occurs, and it should be stopped where it is identified. I'd love to see Wal-Mart institute a program to do just that. But I can't agree with an ignorant, blanket statement that would have us deal a staggering blow to the economies of nations like Malaysia, Peru, Thailand, Mexico, India, Nigeria, etc. Maybe you imagine a world in which we could snap our fingers and all countries would be "modernised" at once. We don't live in that world. Maybe you think that they should all just go back to picking bananas and pulling rickshaws. That sort of thinking would be an insult to all the rational adults who just happen not to have been born in the developed world. They do have problems, but the solutions to them lie far more in jobs and economic development than in aid and the exploitation of natural resources.
Even if you a leg to stand on in the above, Wal-Mart is more strongly identified in the minds of most people with "buy american" than most other large retailers.
and their opression of competition in small-towns
Just what do you understand the word "competition" to mean? Wal-Mart closes down mom-and-pop stores because they can't compete. Wal-Mart typically brings an orders of magnitude greater selection of products to a town, and then offers significantly lower prices for those products. Monopolistic behavior would then dictate a raising of prices after local competition had left, but I challenge you to cite a study that has found this. In the small towns in which I've lived most of my life, we were happy if we could reap the benefits of capitalism by driving 30 miles to a Wal-Mart. Our communities appreciate a large employer for the uneducated for whom we struggle to find jobs. Gone is the time when we would "just wait" for an item that we wanted or needed. Wal-Mart is a healthy phenomenon for the general public. In most cases I've seen, efficient retailers like auto parts stores, farm supplies, hardware stores, pharmacies, and the like have survived. It's nineteenth-century dinosaurs like general stores or clothing stores that have gone by the wayside. Or maybe we should just go back to picking peas like the bumpkins you know we are?
A large portion of Wal-Mart's merchandise is produced in third-world countries under sweatshop conditions. This immoral and unethical business practice may save you a few pennies at the checkout but it exploits children and exaggerates the distance between socioeconomic classes.
Please cite any source at all for these statements. Please quantify "large portion".
Even the processor in the "linux-friendly PC" sold at Wal-Mart is manufactured from child labor in third-world countries. It is a well known fact that AMD Duron processors are made in a sweatshop in Maylasia. [sic]
Is it actually well known that the AMD plants in Malaysia that manufacture Durons use child labor? I've spent some time in Malaysia, and while it certainly isn't the U.S. [nor would I expect it to be], it is a rapidly modernising nation with a strong tradition of caring for its population, and a growing concern for the education of all young people. Malays appreciate the benefits of modern life as well as taking pride in their distinction as a culture and a nation.
I would urge everyone concerned with the exploitation of the poor children to purchase only American-made genuine Intel processors. Furthermore, using third-world labor for manufacturing causes significant harm to the American economy because of the tens of thousands of blue collar manufacturing jobs which have been moved overseas.
Ah, finally. Here it is. You, sir, are a protectionist. First, do you consider the manufacture of computers to be a traditional blue collar industry? How many jobs existed in this industry in the U.S. 20 years ago that have since moved overseas? Then, please realize that the productivity gains, which are the only drivers of sustained economic growth, over those 20 years have come about as a combination of the use of cheap overseas labor and information technology. Would you really like to trade in our economy for that of the early 1980s, even if we could? Do you imagine that any other components of your "genuine Intel" PCs are manufactured in the U.S.? As a side comment, I would much rather have my current job as an IT consultant than any manufacturing job.
Wal-Mart portrays a patriotic image in its advertising campaigns, but in reality is an evil corporate monster who exploits children for the sake of its own bottom line.
Like most companies not directly involved in the manufacture of chemicals, Wal-Mart is amoral. I would love to see it implement a program to find and eliminate child labor, but its effect in developing nations is overall positive. It is one of the strengths of capitalism that for the most part it encourages amoral individuals and organizations to improve the lives of real people, in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The best way to fight this is with our dollars. Don't spend any money at Wal-Mart and support their evil globalised empire. If we all band together, we can stop this evil menace.
This is funny, and makes me wonder if I've been trolled. Ah well, too late. I'm sure others have had these thoughts, even if you haven't.
later,
Jess
Re:Simpsons jumped the shark long ago (Score:5, Interesting)
The important concept is to look at the Simpsons in phases. The Tracy Ulman shorts and season 1, and to a lesser extent season 2, was basically Groening getting his feet wet in the television medium. The plots were decent, and by the end of 2, the characters were pretty damn fleshed out. But most of the time the progress was slow, the voices (especially Azaria's) were crappy, and the jokes didn't punch.
Seasons 3 through 6,7, or 8 (depending on how much of a hardass you are) were the good years. The characters hit their prime, all the voices solidified, the animation went from "crappy" to "simple but elegant." The plots were tight, the jokes zinged. Basically every really classic episode was from this period. Flaming Moe's, Homer the Heretic, Last Temptation, Lemon of Troy... there are too many to mention.
But the seeds of crappery were also sewed during this period. Not 1 but 2 clipshows, the spinoff showcase, and guest episodes like the johny cash and X-files episodes. I bring up those last 2 for a reason: one of the central complaints about the later seasons is all the random guest voices, but those 2 above are two of my all time FAVORITES. Which brings me, I guess, to my central point: one man's meat is another's poison. Yes, the X-files episode was a pastiche attempt to gain ratings, but it was done in a freakin' hilarious way.
Most of the seasons after 9 typify this later approach: garish, sometimes slapdash, and always ridiculous ratings-fodder. Bart's a Jockey! Britney spears reads 2 lines! "It's N-Synch!" I would basically agree that the show had said everything meaningful it was going to say by the end of season 8 or so. And so it turned its energies outward: the long-loved and well-developed characters took on archtypal roles in critiques of pop culture.
Homer devolved from a dumb but lovable working class chump, to an archie bunker/fred flintstone obnoxious bastard. Lisa went from vulnerable geek to elitist snob. The thing is, these changes had a point: it's the way everyone ELSE was being, and now we're commenting on that, see? In fact, I would argue that the original Homer was a counterpoint to optimistic fans of "reaganomics" in the 80s, and the later Lisa similarly responded to the 90s' rising tide of "tree-hugging liberals" aloof from traditional democratic issues. The characters simply tracked what was going on in life and responded as necessary.
The Simpsons always had a healthy dose of biting critique, but in the end it had nothing but that. Even if it took the form of doing a totally asinine show and saying, "but you're still watching, eh?" Like the poochy episode or this most recent clip show. Basically, I commend the show for having the audacity, over the last few years, to flaunt and mock its own devolution. The fact that even this "smart" show is ultimately all about profit, and transitively, so must the rest of TV be. Not that we didn't know that, but... we're still watching, right? Granted, it's a different point than they started off trying to make in 1990, but their original idea got done to death. So they moved on. Let's, too.
Re:Who is Harlan Ellison? (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been waiting for Last Dangerous Visions for over 25 years, but Harlan has never released it, for reasons that he has never explained.
Ellison's has insisted for over 25 years that it will be completed, but it remains one of the most famous ever not-published books. Christopher Priest wrote about it amusingly in The Last Deadloss Visions, but, at Christopher's request, that e-text has been withdrawn from the Internet.
And, no, it wasn't withdrawn due to censorship or Harlan's bullying, but for more commercial reasons: you can now order it in book form from Amazon as The Book on the Edge of Forever : An Enquiry into the Non-Appearance of Harlan Ellison's the Last Dangerous Visions.
Sadly, I haven't read it for years, so I can't recount the details here.
On Ellison (Score:5, Interesting)
Lest Slashdot readers be tempted to dismiss Harlan Ellison as a technophobic crank, be aware that he is one of the most financially successful writers working in Hollywood today. He got that way by fighting the studios who tried to rip him off.
Hollywood operates in large part on reputation fraud and misappropriation of other people's work, particularly screenwriters. Plot ideas and outlines are co-opted left and right. Writers in Hollywood do indeed work like dogs and end up getting treated about as well. Ellison stepped into these shark-infested waters many decades ago and has consistently and resolutely refused to allow himself to be fscked by the studios.
Ellison is widely recognized as one of the most litigious writers out there, suing studios when they misappropriate his work. What's more, Harlan wins these suits almost all the time. Writing is his vocation and his passion, and he stands among some of the first names in science fiction. But he has seen too many of his friends and colleagues screwed by the studio system, doing lame knock-offs of their work and making millions while the writer goes hungry. Most creative types -- me included -- would just roll over and go, "Oh, well, what can I do about it?"
Not Harlan. He bitch-slaps these creeps up Sunset Blvd. and back until they get the clue: You don't take a writer's work without paying for it.
Where Harlan has gone wrong, IMHO, is that he has misconceptualized the nature of the "wrong" against him. Ellison's entire experience of having his work copied has been in the context of Hollywood studios and publishers. Studios copy Harlan's work, and make money off it. So Harlan sues the studio. Then he sees copies of his work are, "all over AOL," and AOL's making money off it. Ergo, the same solution applies.
Except it doesn't.
I hope someone can explain this to Ellison. His stock and trade is science fiction. We need the imaginations of men like him to provide the ideas and invent a future where copying is ubiquitous and unconstrained, and artists still get handsomely remunerated.
Schwab
Re:winmodem FUD (Score:3, Interesting)
Read the article. They talk about how some winmodems are supported, but not this one.
And, like the other people said, I'd rather see an open-source driver.
Re:Akihabara (Score:1, Interesting)
jeez-
do you really think this guy wrote his summery of that place so japanese people can use it as a guide?
It is written in his own perspective- american.