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Comment No...but they're doing it anyway. (Score 1) 449

The author seems to be assuming that the internet is not already regulated by governments. Even though the technology has improved, the idea of anonymously and freely exploring this new frontier can only be achieved by circumventing government policies enacted a decade ago. I remember the question "Should governments regulate the internet?" was met with a resounding "No!" even as it was being implemented. I think the topic is about 12 years too late.

Comment Business Sense (Score 1) 204

Of course once they license this animal, it would be to their shareholders benefit to see wild salmon perish so everytime someone buys or sells salmon, they get to tag on their licensing fee. It also opens the doors for the acceptance of more infertile animals guaranteed to die off in the name of profit. Sustained extinction. A truly sustainable Salmon farm would be considerably more sound for humanity, but not as profitable for the license holders.

Comment Let's recreate the wheel! Oh, and sell it. (Score 1) 295

I intuit that this is simply a SQUID server with a custom downloaded blacklist. If not...it could be...and you wouldn't have to pay for it. But yeah, hook this up and I'm sure it will have no negative effects or collate data then sell it to retailers. That's not intuition though...it's sardonicism...I think. Maybe just sarcasm. Certainly cynicism.

Comment Offense is too subjective to legislate (Score 1) 254

Saying 'Let's fuck.' could be complimentary and appropriate to one person in one instance, and offensive or even menacing in another. You shouldn't, for instance, use this phrase in most job interviews. If you're the type of person who has to learn this the hard way, so be it. We must hold onto these diminishing rights, stripped away by nanny state laws. Trolls are a symptom of much larger issues. They don't exist because of the internet. It is the site moderator who should decide how to deal with them, and isn't in the pervue of any government. It is a terrible mistake to allow any government to dictate taste.

Comment User Level SOE (Score 1) 344

I think the idea is that the user will have the same experience on any device, and in the background available sub menus have more classic device specific apps and controls. e.g. on a PC you can still bring up a command line or control panel. The deskop menu is the same though whatever device you use, and since they require a Microsoft account you also have access to the same data. Of course, in the interest of supporting so many devices and user scenarios most people end up with a great deal of processes and applications they don't need. This is where Apple has traditionally excelled. They control the hardware, and are able to streamline their kernel and drivers for a much smaller subset of devices which are optimized for their OS. Microsoft is taking advantage of the cloud market cupertino has created and gotten people used to. Of course, there's no real need for this in the desktop market. Windows 7 is fine, but only recently ready to be put into a production environment where a variety of applications are in play. Windows XP is where the inertia of the business place still lies. Microsoft is trying to drag us along and get us to be subscribers, generating yearly and monthly revenue streams so that we won't wait to upgrade our OS until we need to. They will lock us out if we don't. e.g. XBOX 360.

Comment A couple of Suggestions (Score 1) 700

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance -Robert M. Pirsig -may help some of the metaphysical issues. Neuromancer -William S Gibson -may wipe off some of the cyber-funk. Read an old Computer Technician's Handbook by Art Margolis -might bring you back to the fundamentals. Tao Te Ching - The Way of Life -revisit the metaphysical aspects again Then build a speaker box or repair a small engine. There's nothing like visceral experience to get you back in the groove. good luck...

Comment If I wanted to blow something important up... (Score 2) 41

If I wanted to blow something important up, or take down a web site, I would make absolutely sure that the prosess was untraceable as possible. Average people use the intenet and by and large, they have no plans to perform terrorists acts. If they do, they don't post these plans to their facebook accounts. I would like to just state this now: If I were planning any sort of cyber terrorism, real terrorism, you will not find any markers on my social networking accounts. You could only possibly discover such info by finding and decoding my encrypted data. Since I no longer own a Blackberry...my highest level of encryption is Exchange through my iPhone. It's an idiotic waste of resources to search through unencrypted data. You should focus on the things people are trying to hide. Because you can't, you're wasting resources in the effort to scare the norms. They're already afraid. You need to scare the people who send data in a subterfuge fashion by letting them know you can now track them. If I have enough money or authority, I can suck all the data I want from data mining services. No one says anything important there.

Comment Super-Nanny State (Score 4, Insightful) 150

I remember thinking when Bush was elected that I had to get out of the states before my freedoms were systematically ripped away. I didn't realize when I came to Australia just how much farther the process had already gotten here. They've effectively stifled protest and dissention and now the people are more or less owned by the government. When people started giving up their rights in the interest of protecting everyone, the personal choices taken away from them have increased manifold. I'd like to take my bicycle to the store without wearing a helmet. That's $100.00 fine. Ownership is control. Even when you own something here, the government controls it. All that being said, I would much rather deal with an Australian policeman than a US policeman. It's unlikely you'll be unfairly charged, or treated badly. I guess the nanny approach is nicer than the militant approach. The results though are insidious, however they are implemented.

Comment It's like a smart phone...on your computer! (Score 1) 343

It seems obvious to me that Windows hate is designed to take advantage of the app paradigm that Apple has implemented so well, Android, RIM, and Nokia has tried to replicate, and that people are starting to accept. They are also embracing The ever ethereal Cloud. You may not be able to bring up a command prompt or control panel on your phone, but you can see the same desktop and background and access much of the same data from any device by default. Like ME and Vista, they want their users to play in their little sandbox. They may potentially upset Facecrook as data mining king, since they require you to create or use an existing MSN/Hotmail account which often has a great deal of information about you. I don't think they're going to allow the on premises control needed in a SMB/Enterprise environment while allowing for a linear guided MS controlled user experience with any eficacy. They'll probably need to release another product extending XP/Win7/Server2008 tech. All of the bloat and ineffeciency and unused functionality lurking there in wait doesn't point to a good user experience. They're making software for themselves now.

Comment Platform agnostic (Score 1) 454

I'd look for someone who is primarily platform agnostic, an enthusiast who has *nix experience, but who primarily works within a windows environment and has some alignments with Microsoft. You probably do not want a Windows fan slowly trying to convert your effecient environment into a data/memory wastland of unused features and schemas.

Comment Logistics (Score 1) 280

Three aspects of Australia that make everything more expensive: Thing 1: Densely populated areas are clustered most often far away from each other, meaning it costs more to get products to a dense consumer bases. Thing 2: We do not have a source of cheap labor in Australia. Trade workers will hardly roll out of bed for less than a grand a day. Thing 3: Large global interests take advantage of this real economic situation to create a false economy, reasoning that..."Hey, everything else is more expensive...we're just keeping up with traffic." Microsoft does this. A Volume license key costing 175.00 US will cost over 350.00 AU....for no reason other than tangible items are also more expensive and people expect to pay marginally more. These organizations are not helping our situation. Nevermind how you color the market. People will pay the least amount possible for any given product as long as the consumer surplus remains the same. speak wit yo wallet

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