pcman - Slashdot User

Comment So what they did means nothing (Score 1) 395

by pcman on Wednesday October 12, 2011 @01:49PM (#37692970) Attached to: NASA Sues Apollo Astronaut To Return Moon Camera

These guys risk their lives to go into space and do what is asked of them. Now they are sued for keeping a memento that was going to be discarded anyway? He should sue NASA as he just found out how dangerous it really was and they risked his life. Good grief.

Comment All hail mold...... (Score 1) 118

by pcman on Monday August 31, 2009 @02:40PM (#29264339) Attached to: Robotic Mold

All is well and good until it develops AI and we bow before it. I figured technology would get us eventually but, and I must admit, yielding to our new mold masters was not what I had in mind. You will become one with the slime!!!

Book Publishers Making the Same Mistakes as Record Labels? 227

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 27, 2009 @03:39PM from the just-relax-your-death-grip-a-bit dept.

Techdirt points out an interesting query in Slate asking why book publishers appear to be making the same mistake that record labels did with the iTunes service with DRM, and single-vendor lock-in. "Back in 2005, we noted that Apple's dominance over the online music space, which upset the record labels tremendously, was actually the record labels' own fault for demanding DRM. That single demand created massive lock-in and network effects that allowed Apple to completely dominate the market. If the record labels had, instead, pushed for an open solution, then anyone else could have built stores/players to work as well, and it could have minimized Apple's ability to control the market. Yes, everyone is now opening up (including Apple), but it took a long time, and Apple had already established its dominant position. So why are book publishers doing the same thing?"

"FOSS Business Model Broken" — Former OSDL CEO 412

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @09:27PM from the who-needs-support-anyway dept.

liraz writes "Stuart Cohen, former CEO of Open Source Development Labs, has written an op-ed on BusinessWeek claiming that the traditional open source business model, which relies solely on support and service revenue streams, is failing to meet the expectations of investors. He discusses the 'great paradox' of the FOSS business model, saying: 'For anyone who hasn't been paying attention to the software industry lately, I have some bad news. The open source business model is broken. Open source code is generally great code, not requiring much support. So open source companies that rely on support and service alone are not long for this world.' Cohen goes on to outline the beginnings of a business model that can work for FOSS going forward."

UK Court Rejects Encryption Key Disclosure Defense 708

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday October 16, 2008 @03:59AM from the do-not-pass-go dept.

truthsearch writes "Defendants can't deny police an encryption key because of fears the data it unlocks will incriminate them, a British appeals court has ruled. The case marked an interesting challenge to the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which in part compels someone served under the act to divulge an encryption key used to scramble data on a PC's hard drive. The appeals court heard a case in which two suspects refused to give up encryption keys, arguing that disclosure was incompatible with the privilege against self incrimination. In its ruling, the appeals court said an encryption key is no different than a physical key and exists separately from a person's will."

Online Community For a Call Center? 138

Posted by timothy on Tuesday October 14, 2008 @12:07PM from the legal-department-would-kill-the-dating-features- dept.

kirkmacdonald writes "I work as an analyst in a small call center. There are about 200 on phone agents, but half of them work from home. About a month ago I submitted a Project Charter to create an online Community for the agents. The basic premise was something approaching the combination of a wiki application and a standard forum (phpbb and the like). We already have an online knowledge base for company policies, training and system documentation. This community environment would be intended to simulate being able to talk shop with the person next to you, along with the lunchroom and water cooler. The Charter was well received but there were questions from upper management about how using this type of environment could affect the call center metrics (average handle time, after call wrap up, etc). Can anyone comment on other companies that have online communities for their staff? How did they mitigate productivity risks?"

Opus the Penguin Retired 218

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday October 09, 2008 @09:23AM from the yet-garfield-lives-on dept.

garylian writes "Berkeley Breathed has announced that he has drawn the final comic containing the greatest penguin ever, Opus. The author is now going to write children's books. For those of you in your mid-30s and older, you remember Bloom County as a staple of the comic pages in a similar time frame as Calvin & Hobbes, and that time was probably the greatest the daily/Sunday comics have ever known. From running for the vice presidency to impersonating Michael Jackson, from gracing a ton of t-shirts to being one of the weirdest stuffed animals ever, from rocking in a heavy metal band 'Billy and the Boingers' to cleaning up Bill's hair balls, Opus was perfect for that time. And Bloom County would have been perfect during the Bush 2 years. Now, I'm going to pull out all my old Bloom County books and read them. After I dig through some boxes and find my old Opus dolls. I wonder what my kids are going to think of them."

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