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1. Comment - ISP Hands Over File Swapper's Name

   (Sep 1, 2006 - 9:37 AM)

   If it were that easy no one would ever be convicted or consent to paying a fine to stay out of court.

2. Comment - MPAA Sues Usenet, Torrent Search Sites

   (Feb 25, 2006 - 2:40 PM)

   Here's a scary thought. What if they start suing Usenet index sites? Some sites charge for their content and if they sue for the users identity, some people could get caught. Just like the RIAA getting IP addresses from providers, they can track you this way too.
   
   Supernews, easynews, giganews .. they could all be targets. And if they keep any logs, watch out. You could potentially get sued years later for some stupid prog you downloaded today. Especially if you pay for your usenet access.
   
   And just because the server is hosted outside the USA, doesn't mean they can't have cooperation from the local authorities and bust them that way. Just search for "Warez Raid" in google news and you'll see what I mean.
   
   http://biz.gamedaily.com...ustry/feature/?id=11781
   
   Here is a quote from the article:
   
   "On the home front, thanks to the federal law enforcement undercover investigation "Operation Jolly Roger"—a Chicago-based operation of the 2005 U.S. Department of Justice anti-piracy initiative, code-named "Operation Site Down"—a Chicago federal grand jury recently indicted nineteen members of the international piracy warez group "RISCISO."
   
   Each of the defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, and fifteen were charged with a second count of copyright infringement. Seventeen of the defendants reside throughout the U.S., with the other two residing in Australia and Barbados.
   
   I know what you'll say, "that was a major pirating group, they won't sue individual downloaders". Yeah right, and the RIAA won't sue someone for downloading ONE song from Kazaa. Oh, wait, yes they will. With all the focus on piracy nowdays, what makes you think foreign governments WON’T cooperate in busting up a major source of copyrighted material?
   
   I don't see Usenet going away, but I do think Usenet providers will be FORCED to drop the big binary groups at some point or face litigation.
   
   bas****S! I knew it had to end someday.

3. Comment - Microsoft: No Java in Windows XP

   (Jul 22, 2001 - 4:54 PM)

   Since this is getting old, this will be my last post.
   
   "You're so full of it. No, they could put in the unaltered VM, but they had to f*** it up for themselves"
   
   No they can't Brian, at least not anymore. Did you actually read the press release? Microsoft cannot use the Java VM from Sun in ANY of its future products without another license from Sun. If you can't find it, a quote from the press release is below:
   
   "As part of the settlement, Microsoft paid Sun $20 million to be allowed to continue shipping current products and those in the final stages of development with Java for the next seven years. Aside from that, Microsoft's Java license has been terminated. Current Windows operating systems ship with an integrated version of Microsoft's JVM, and they will continue to include it. Oem's will have the right to install the JVM at the factory on Windows XP to eliminate the need for their end users to download the update themselves."
   
   Brian wrote: "Wrong! Microsoft [should Never have made any] 'changes' to the VM, or Java, ever. They should have been identical due to the nature of Java.
   
   I never argued that point Brain. All I was trying to get across is that if Microsoft paid for another VM license from Sun, they would be forbidden by law to make any changes to it. So both the Microsoft VM and Sun VM would then be identical. That's all I said. I never supported Microsoft's alteration of Java, just its decision to avoid unnecessary duplication.
   
   "Yeah, anyone can download the VM for free from Sun anyway after about 10 pages of reading what the hell is Java, 5 pages where it is even located, and then 30 min to an hour to download on a dial up"
   
   Actually Brian, the download page for the latest Sun VM (1.3.1) is only three pages in the java.sun.com web site and is a 5.3 meg download. This is the basic VM (no developer tools). I'm sure some people won't know where to go on the Sun web site to download it, but that's a problem for the Sun webmaster to deal with. Your point is valid though. They should have a download link on the main page that is clearly marked for the inexperienced.
   http://java.sun.com/j2se...e/download-windows.html
   
   "You need to take Activation out, and all that expensive stuff (that no company could afford to throw away for free) out of it and let people buy that separately. If you want to make the price low, fine. Not ZERO dollars, preferably."
   
   And just how would you and others react if Microsoft did un-bundle all the stuff that we now get free like MediaPlayer, IE, Outlook express, etc.. and decided to charge people for them instead? You'd b**** and complain that Microsoft is forcing people to buy things that should be a part of any other OS and that they're just trying to make more money.
   
   "Why else would you not put Office into the OS? Customers want that? Answer: You already cornered that market."
   
   Because Office just costs way too much to develop and support to justify it as a free product. Quicken is still #1 and I don't see Microsoft giving away Money 2001 for free in an attempt to lure customers.
   
   The thing that you seem to focus on the most is bundling being anticompetitive. Well, like it or not Brian, all OS companies bundle. Granted, none have the market share that Windows has, but they all bundle to make the OS more functional and attractive to users. Take a Look at Mac OSX. They are including free software in the OS that lets you create DVDs (iDVD). What about the private companies that sell DVD creation software? Isn't Apple being anticompetitive by shipping free stuff in its OS as well? Forget about Apple's market share, because for some companies DVD creation may be their only product and yet Apple is giving it away for free and thus, could possibly drive them out of business. Funny how no one b****es when Apple adds free stuff to their OS.
   
   Just because Microsoft puts something new into Windows does not mean that it's the end of its competition. Defrag and Scandisk have been in Windows for years and yet people still buy third-party apps like Norton Utilities or Diskeeper. Why? Because they like the other products better and they have more features.
   
   "Please don't ever tell me what to post or how to post ever again"
   Where in ANY of my posts did I say anything like that? I never once told you or anyone else for that matter, what to post or how to post it.

4. Comment - Microsoft: No Java in Windows XP

   (Jul 22, 2001 - 4:25 PM)

5. Comment - Microsoft: No Java in Windows XP

   (Jul 19, 2001 - 5:40 PM)

   I just wanted to respond to a few things that Brian Davidson wrote in his last post:
   
   "And, SUN said they didn't force MS to remove Java."
   
   Sun is not forcing Microsoft directly to remove JAVA, but they really don't have any other choice. As terms of the settlement, Microsoft is not allowed to continue development on the additions it made to JAVA and its contract with Sun expires shortly. So what's left for them to do? The only option that makes sense for them is to take out the VM and thus end the court battles.
   
   Yes, they could license the VM from Sun again and just keep everything as it was before, but that would add to the cost of the product as well. Yeah, I know Microsoft makes tons of money and they can afford it, but they are a business and the goal of any business is to make money not to waste it.
   
   If Microsoft sees a future where .NET will be a better solution for THEM (notice I said them and not everyone) than JAVA, then it's their right to not have to pay for a software license from Sun. Why should they pay for the software license for Java if they want to develop a new technology that in their minds, is a better solution for them? And besides, anyone can download the VM for free from Sun anyway.
   
   Why go though the hassle of having a Microsoft VM and a Sun VM if they're only going to be EXACTLY the same from now on? Remember, as part of the settlement, Microsoft cannot make any changes to the VM now. So if Microsoft did license the VM from Sun again, they would be identical.
   
   Brian wrote: "My thoughts on Windows is that it sucks"
   
   You're entitled to your opinion, but can you elaborate on that? Yeah, we all know that 95/98/ME were crap, crashed often and required reloads. But now with Win2k and XP you cannot make those claims anymore. And please try to be more original than "it's not free", “Microsoft sucks”, "it’s unstable” or "it always crashes on me". Ok fine, it crashed on YOU. Now if Windows sucks as bad as you say so it does, then why doesn't every Windows user around the world have the same problems that you apparently had at one time? Just because you had problems with Windows does not mean that everyone does.
   
   Product activation in XP is one thing that we both will agree that does suck though.
   
   The big thing that Linux users always seem to brag about is that they never have to reboot. Well whoopee, isn’t that special. Windows 2000/XP are just as stable as any distribution of Linux (if maintained properly). XP RC1 takes a whole 28 seconds to get to the desktop from a cold boot. And that’s a “functional” desktop, not just the background pic. I’m curious what the boot time is on a Linux box from a cold boot?
   
   So besides having to pay for Windows, and Microsoft being Microsoft, what is it that you hate so much? And again, please be original and don’t fall back on the classic gripes above.
   
   Phil