----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Arnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 9:39 AM Subject: RE: [Scouted] Big Brother in Dallas County?
> > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > > Behalf Of The Fool > > Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 7:14 AM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: [Scouted] Big Brother in Dallas County? > > > > > > > From: Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > > > http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2003-01-16/schutze.html/1/index.html > > > > This isn't all that different from Microsoft's Palladium/TCPA plans. > > It's that smartcardchip built right into the CPU of the upcoming Intel > > and AMD chips. > > > > It does two things: > > 1. It prevents anyone from doing anything anonymously. > > 2. It keeps track of everything you do / try. > > But software doesn't *have to* use the data, does it? Seems to me that this > might encourage development of software that ignores it. This seems like > another Internet/Anti-net thing. I suspect that the long-term (and not > really that long) effect will be to further isolate big media and big > software. And at some point, I hope and believe is possible, big > media/software will be smaller than everything else combined and thus begin > to lose a lot of its impact. > > Not that this would be the idealized best way to diminish the concentration > of power in big media, but it is the way things go in the world. For those > of us who regard big media as an enormously important negative force in the > world, the appropriate response would be to encourage alternatives as much > as we can. > > (One of these days, I'll be brave enough to *completely* abandon Windows in > favor of Linux.) > But, from my experience, Linux is a nightmare for commercial use. For example, I'm working for a customer who has flavor X of Linux running on company Y's portable computer. When company Y came out with faster portables, flavor X of Linux was unsupported by both the Linux software writer and portable manufacturer. (I don't want to provide names, but this company uses its own system to provide information services to its clients.) After looking at the options, the software manager came to the regretful conclusion that he was not going to obtain drivers for flavor X Linux unless he paid to have them written. Going to flavor W was a better option, so he did that. Given that lack of support, I think it will be a very long time before Linux has any real market share. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
