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Comment Re:Drop Dropbox (Score 5, Insightful) 448

Try SpiderOak. Free 2 GB, zero-knowledge, secure. Works on a load of OSs and devices. I'm a completely satisfied customer.

Or ... get a free dynamic DNS hostname (there are still plenty available) and take a few minutes to learn about SSH/SFTP (and SSHGuard if you are using passwords) and set up your own personal file server. It doesn't have to allow shell access.

Now the companies can do whatever they want because you did the little bit of learning it took not to care.

Comment Re:If you make this a proof of God... (Score 1) 612

Not if he gave them free willl, meaning even the ability to do things that were "outside" of the creator's will/temperament.

Can you explain what that means within the context of "THE DETERMINISTIC APPLICATION OF RULES", please? Because otherwise you are making zero sense whatsoever.

It makes perfect sense. What if your concept of absolute determinism as implied here is actually not absolute and has limitations? That's what he was saying, at least as I understood it. That would mean that some subset of everything would be steady, regular, unpredictable, and unsurprising. The rest wouldn't.

An analogy could be a program that takes certain actions based on the output of a high-quality random number generator of some kind. The compiled program code itself is completely deterministic, behaving as designed each time it is run. The randomness adds an unpredictable element; it determines which of the predetermined (that is, available or achievable) outcomes actually ends up happening. You can't break fundamental rules of physics but plenty of other things could play out in myriad ways.

Comment Re:Doesn't seem to be on purpose (Score 1) 447

The only people surprised by Snowden's leaks were people who had a false sense of security.

... caused by a false belief in an inherent benevolence of government, compounded by this denial-apathy thing concerning the casual lies coming from every major institution and corporation on a regular basis.

If you imagine for a moment that there were aliens observing the earth, you could not blame them for refusing to initiate first contact.

Comment Re:Well that's not very headline worthy (Score 1) 230

I fall into that category. In fact, I'm quite proud to be part of the white noise NSA has to filter out to get at the good stuff - as long as my only foibles are those which NSA doesn't really care about, that is...

... and as long as that never changes in the future, and nothing you do today that is considered harmless enough is later perceived to be suspicious.

Comment Re:Apple v. Psystar (Score 1) 245

It wouldn't be possible to provide only a binary patch that contains just the modifications to said files? That would also infringe copyright?

That depends on how a particular judge decides to apply precedents related to Apple v. Psystar.

Considering how *ahem* clear and reasonable copyright law has always been, perhaps I can understand why someone might not be eager to do this...

Comment Re:second editor fail in less than 24 hours (Score 2) 245

You don't pay for a subscription to reward the editors. You do it because occasionally someone will say something so insightful you want to review everything else he's ever written here.

But your payment does reward the company and its staff. There is no way around that. They don't deserve it, their shoddy work hasn't earned it, and no fringe benefit of extra database access is enough to convince me otherwise.

Your value system may vary. I for one was speaking for myself.

Comment Re:Updates more likely to infringe than drivers, A (Score 3, Interesting) 245

How would [providing third-party updates to Windows XP components] be different from (i.e. less legitimate than) publishing a device driver, AV suite, or other system-level software?

Device drivers, antivirus suites, and the like don't need to replace Windows system files with fixed versions of the same code to function. Windows updates do. And because they'd be providing versions of the same (Microsoft) code without the permission of the owner of copyright in that code, they would likely infringe* Microsoft's copyright.

* Slashdot posts aren't Legal Advice(tm).

It wouldn't be possible to provide only a binary patch that contains just the modifications to said files? That would also infringe copyright?

Comment Re:second editor fail in less than 24 hours (Score 4, Insightful) 245

"As Whoever57 pointed out, there are some who will still get support for Microsoft Windows XP pointed out, there are some who will still get support for Microsoft Windows XP — the 'haves'

what on earth does that sentence mean? this is even worse than Timothy's earlier oversight of re-running the same article less than a week after its first run. we know slashdot doesn't pay editors to edit, but could they at least show enough pride in their job to read what they post?

This kind of poor quality work is what long ago dissuaded me from ever paying for a Slashdot subscription. I block ads, too, since before my karma level gave me the option of having Slashdot do it for me. That was all before Malda sold out to Dice Holdings. It's not improved since.

Comment Re:Editing? Anyone? (Score 3, Insightful) 245

Seriously? Nobody even bothered to read the first sentence of the submission?

Apparently lots of people did and are also griping about it. Are Slashdot "editors" capable of feeling embarassment?

Back to the discussion...

Since Microsoft clearly intends to create a disparity, there will certainly be those who defy it. What will Microsoft do to prevent bootleg patches of XP from being sold to the unwashed masses? How will they stop China from supporting 100 million bootleg XP users? And how easily will it be to crack Microsoft's controls? How big will the Windows XP patch market be?

Unless these third-party patch vendors are claiming to be Microsoft then they're not in any way "bootleg". If Microsoft no longer wants to do this but someone else does, what's the problem? How would this be different from (i.e. less legitimate than) publishing a device driver, AV suite, or other system-level software?

Do the submitter and "editor" not understand what the word "bootleg" means, or is there a real problem here I'm just not seeing?

Comment Re:No Law (Score 1) 312

Of course Obama has pushed EOs further then any of his predecessors. He has directly modified obamacare without any legal basis. Gonna suck for the Ds when the shoe is on the other foot.

Yes I am sure they'll put on a nice show and make a phony speech or two against it. Truth is, the corporate sponsors, bankers, and financiers who own both parties will be pleased and they're the ones who matter.

Comment Re:Because you think Google is any better? (Score 1) 218

There's plenty of sites that require you to give them CC info even when they're (supposedly) not charging you for anything. Often claimed to be a form of adult verification (and thus unsurprisingly mostly a tactic of adult sites) which is absolutely stupid since you can get a CC well before 18 in many jurisdictions so on top of being invasive and probably untrustworthy, it couldn't possibly even accomplish the claimed purpose.

I'm ignorant about the back-end of credit card systems, so this raises a couple of questions for me.

While you can get a CC under the age of 18, doesn't the credit card issuer have information like your date of birth? Can merchants request this information if they can uniquely identify the account (by the CC number and expiration date, say)?

Or is the whole thing complete bullshit?

Comment Re:Because you think Google is any better? (Score 1) 218

Your seething hated of Google is noted. And noted. And noted...

This article is about Facebook. Quit trying to change the subject.

It often happens in a conversation about one thing, particularly a complex and nuanced thing, that it will bring up other similar things because they are related in some way. The resistance of some to this natural conversational process never made much sense.

I could speculate that you have a loyalty to Google that you cannot realistically expect them to reciprocate (you do know that, right?), except I've seen lots of people display this tendency who obviously had no such motivation. Some people just like to complain.

Comment Re:Because you think Google is any better? (Score 1) 218

The panopticion is comming. all intelligent humans with a realistic view KNOW it's comming.

A person who merely possesses a high IQ is not actually intelligent, not until they learn how to make accurate observations and call things what they are.

"Garbage in, garbage out" still applies to even the finest reasoning process.

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