"Movin' Out (Brian's Song)"
"When Peter convinces Brian to move in with his dense girlfriend Jillian, she ends up smothering him, but he keeps her around for the lovin'. Stewie moves in with them to help pay the rent, but he tries to get Brian back on the playing field by throwing him a drunken party and interfering with their relationship. Meanwhile, Meg gets a job at the local convenience store, as does Chris, who gets chummy with the manager, Carl. While Chris and Carl talk about their favorite movies, Meg is saddled with all the hard work. She eventually stands up for herself and as a result gets fired."
(description "borrowed" from the Damn You All forum)
Hopefully this will be as good as last weeks Star Wars special, although that might be a tall order to follow.
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Ch-ch-ch-changes
I'm shuffling this site around a bit at the moment - dropping the "Mr Nobody" persona for DanO (or Dan to my friends). As a point of reference the original blog title was "Blog of a Nobody", sort of a take on "Diary of a Nobody". Unfortunately a lot of other people have had the same idea, and I've been lost in a sea of nobodies.
Rather than changing all the "Nobody" references I'm leaving them intact, and have dropped in this rather dull explanation. Hopefully this won't confuse my readers too much (hello to both of you) and will allow me to add some more personality to the blog.
I'll be playing around with things over the next couple of weeks / months to see what works and what doesn't - but the URL will remain the same. I'm also going to try and not go overboard on the SCO stuff. Although I do find it interesting (in much the same way that a train wreck is interesting) there are plenty of other sites such as Groklaw and Lamlaw doing a much more comprehensive job than me at reporting on it.
I'm sure that I won't be able to completely resist passing comment, but I'll try and keep it to once or twice a week at the most.
Promise.
I've also signed up to BlogRush which is supposed to increase traffic to your blog. As it's a free service I'm not really loosing anything by giving it a shot. I'll let you know the results of this later on.
Rather than changing all the "Nobody" references I'm leaving them intact, and have dropped in this rather dull explanation. Hopefully this won't confuse my readers too much (hello to both of you) and will allow me to add some more personality to the blog.
I'll be playing around with things over the next couple of weeks / months to see what works and what doesn't - but the URL will remain the same. I'm also going to try and not go overboard on the SCO stuff. Although I do find it interesting (in much the same way that a train wreck is interesting) there are plenty of other sites such as Groklaw and Lamlaw doing a much more comprehensive job than me at reporting on it.
I'm sure that I won't be able to completely resist passing comment, but I'll try and keep it to once or twice a week at the most.
Promise.
I've also signed up to BlogRush which is supposed to increase traffic to your blog. As it's a free service I'm not really loosing anything by giving it a shot. I'll let you know the results of this later on.
A small reprieve for SCO
You may remember that SCO were due to be delisted from Nasdaq on Friday due to their bankruptcy but had placed an appeal. Well, they've been successful and so will remain listed pending further discussions.
"The Company also has received a hearing date of November 8th, 2007 regarding non-compliance of Nasdaq Marketplace Rules 4300 and IM-4300. As such, the Company's common stock will not be delisted on September 27, 2007 as previously indicated by Nasdaq. Instead, the delisting action has been stayed, pending a final written decision by the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel."
This doesn't mean that it's all plain sailing for SCO as they have also received another notice of delisting due to the low price of their stock. Basically it means that their stock has been trading under the minimum price of $1 for 30 days. They now have 180 days to lift the share price or they face delisting for this too.
Some days you just can't win.
"The Company also has received a hearing date of November 8th, 2007 regarding non-compliance of Nasdaq Marketplace Rules 4300 and IM-4300. As such, the Company's common stock will not be delisted on September 27, 2007 as previously indicated by Nasdaq. Instead, the delisting action has been stayed, pending a final written decision by the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel."
This doesn't mean that it's all plain sailing for SCO as they have also received another notice of delisting due to the low price of their stock. Basically it means that their stock has been trading under the minimum price of $1 for 30 days. They now have 180 days to lift the share price or they face delisting for this too.
Some days you just can't win.
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Something for the weekend?
Well, we've been pretty serious here over the last couple of weeks, so let's lighten up a bit with a list of some of my favourite web comics. Enjoy!
Boxer Hockey
Dandy and Company
Everybody loves Eric Raymond
Player vs Player (PVP)
Sabrina Online
VG Cats
What Is Deep Fried
As a side note - What Is Deep Fried is well worth some of your love. Jason Yungbluth (the author) as well as being a web cartoonist, and having his own self-published comic, also writes for Mad Magazine (yes, THAT Mad Magazine). Currently you can get the collected version of his first set of comics for free (you just pay postage). Go on and take a look - you know you want to. . . . .
Boxer Hockey
Dandy and Company
Everybody loves Eric Raymond
Player vs Player (PVP)
Sabrina Online
VG Cats
What Is Deep Fried
As a side note - What Is Deep Fried is well worth some of your love. Jason Yungbluth (the author) as well as being a web cartoonist, and having his own self-published comic, also writes for Mad Magazine (yes, THAT Mad Magazine). Currently you can get the collected version of his first set of comics for free (you just pay postage). Go on and take a look - you know you want to. . . . .
Friday, 28 September 2007
When "Sorry" is the hardest word to say
Well, Rob's explanation has arrived, and what a story it is (you'll need to scroll down to get to Rob's bit). I'd recommend reading it fully before you read the remainder of this piece.
Finished? Good.
Unlike Dan Lyons, Rob isn't content to merely let people know that he was wrong, but would also like people to know that it isn't his fault, those nasty SCO and Linux people made him do it.
Oh dear.
Blame the victim for the crime Rob? Surely not.
And yes Rob, Linux and the Open Source movement have been the victims in this. Whilst you are right that code copying can happen (and that the best we can hope for is to remove it when it is proven to exist) that doesn't excuse what you wrote over the years, neither does blaming Groklaw. They were right about SCO and you were wrong.
It is nice that you point out that a good analyst needs to be able to look at both sides of a story, it's just a shame that it has taken you so long to do so with this one. Even when people were screaming at you that you were wrong - and providing proof of it - you stuck your head down, sang "la la la la I can't hear you" and went on writing pro SCO / anti Open Source rubbish. And that is exactly what a lot of it was. You didn't understand what you were writing about but still you went on.
That isn't to say that things weren't done against you that shouldn't have been. Angry emails happen. Unfortunately you'll find that there is a certain element in computing that gets very vocal about their choice being the right one. This isn't something new that has only started with the Open Source movement. Windows and Apple has their own set of vocal idiots.
In fact, going back twenty five years we had the same level of vocal fireworks about the early 8-bit computers (Commodore 64 vs Amstrad CPC vs Sinclair Spectrum). Those days of schoolyard arguments (and violence too sometimes - those Chinese burns leave painful memories) are thankfully behind us now, but the new generation are here and they want to shout about their cause celebre - most of these idiots are under 20 (in fact, most are under 16) and are too young to have learnt restraint.
Unfortunately for each batch that learn the error of their ways and grow up there is another set waiting in the wings to replace them. Sadly if you can't cope with this then you'll probably want to turn off your computer right now and try something else. May I respectfully suggest gardening as a more genteel alternative?
Now onto the actual quotes from the piece, with my comments on them. Please bear in mind that this is my personal opinion - feel free to disagree. Also please note that the quotes are taken out of context (although that is true of all quotes if you think about it). If you want to know exactly what Rob says, follow the link at the top of the story.
"(I) focused like a laser on the Linux supporters I then viewed as criminals. And if they were criminals, than SCO must be the victim, right? Well, that was my thought back then. "
And there is the crux of the problem. After writing his first article on Linux and Open Source (and being blasted for it) he decided that it was all the fault of those horrible Open Source people. Giving away software? How dare they! Thieves and murderers, the lot of them.
Now on to the (in)famous SCO Keynote speech.
"The really interesting thing about that talk was that I had designed it specifically to prove that Groklaw was intentionally misleading people. Most have never actually read this speech as it was actually given. But I came up with the idea while sitting in the audience of the SCO event the day before I was to speak. I simply compared what was being said to what someone from Groklaw, who had clearly snuck into the event under false pretenses, was inaccurately reporting on their website. Intentionally falsifying something, given my own experience, really angered me and I figured I would do something about it."
Now here is the thing. The script apparently differs slightly from what Rob actually said. Groklaw's transcript was taken from what was said - Rob's was taken from his script. According to reports he was certainly most agitated when he made his speech. Is it possible that he may have got a bit carried away during his own private Nuremburg rally? Unfortunately unless someone has still got a recording of what was said, then we may never know for sure how misreported Rob was.
Now as well as Linux being the criminals - Groklaw were also in Straight Shootin' Rob's sights. After all - if SCO are the victims and Groklaw are against them, then Groklaw must also be criminals too, right? That's Enderle logic that is.
"(I) thought of folks like Groklaw as some part illegal conspiracy with secret backing. I admit that I have no idea who funds them and only care out of curiosity now, but that is what I believed at the time. By the way, I do believe that, given the funding SCO had, it was in SCO’s interest to leave the implication in place as the facts surrounding Groklaw’s funding were probably nowhere near as damaging to Groklaw as the likely false allegations SCO was making about them.
I should, and do, apologize for saying (at least I think I did and know I thought it), they were paid by IBM, I no longer believe that. "
Well, I suppose half an apology is better than none at all.
"It really wasn’t much of a talk, and it depended heavily on an impassioned delivery which, to my own surprise, I actually pulled off. I doubt I’ll ever do something like this again."
And we should be most grateful if you didn't Rob. Really.
"Unlike Dan Lyons, who has recently said he was tricked by SCO, I was tricked both by SCO and some Linux supporters who, unintentionally through their nasty behavior and threats, made me see them as the criminals. Nothing I had done gave these people the right to attack my livelihood, threaten my life or the lives of my family, and I still view the folks who engaged in such behavior as criminals."
OK, let's try and make a distinction here between those who were nasty about you, and those who threatened you. Disagreeing with you (even vocally so) doesn't make someone a criminal. Threats of violence are different. Genuine death threats (and threats of violence) shouldn't be tolerated. I'd hope you contacted the authorities regarding this so that these idiots can be dealt with.
At this point it is true that we probably do need to close the door on a lot of this and move on. A lot of things have been said over the years that have angered people on both sides. Unfortunately when one side (SCO and Rob) has already decided that the other (Linux and Open Source) are criminals then it makes meaningful dialog and balanced reporting very difficult.
SCO had no interest in honesty. This was obvious from the start, blatantly so. If you get so wound up in things that you couldn't see that then, well, more fool you I suppose.
I don't think Rob is an evil person. Neither do I think he is in the pay of Microsoft (at least - not regarding what he has written regarding SCO). I do think that he is extremely stubborn and refuses to back down. Whilst this can be admirable when you are in the right - it can be extremely destructive and annoying when you are wrong. I can only hope that Rob moves on from this and learns from the experience.
In fairness, I'll leave the last word to Rob, this is taken from the comments after the piece.
"My involvement had nothing to do with software it had to do with stopping behavior that I have tried to fight all of my life. In a post 911, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City world people who espouse violence to settle disputes, particularly trivial little things like who owns what software, need to be identified and stopped. I simply won’t apologize for believing that.
In the end there are likely two kinds of people, those that defend the rights of others and those that feel that only their own rights matter. In looking back at all of these posts, which group do you think most of these folks belong to? Which group do you belong to?"
Finished? Good.
Unlike Dan Lyons, Rob isn't content to merely let people know that he was wrong, but would also like people to know that it isn't his fault, those nasty SCO and Linux people made him do it.
Oh dear.
Blame the victim for the crime Rob? Surely not.
And yes Rob, Linux and the Open Source movement have been the victims in this. Whilst you are right that code copying can happen (and that the best we can hope for is to remove it when it is proven to exist) that doesn't excuse what you wrote over the years, neither does blaming Groklaw. They were right about SCO and you were wrong.
It is nice that you point out that a good analyst needs to be able to look at both sides of a story, it's just a shame that it has taken you so long to do so with this one. Even when people were screaming at you that you were wrong - and providing proof of it - you stuck your head down, sang "la la la la I can't hear you" and went on writing pro SCO / anti Open Source rubbish. And that is exactly what a lot of it was. You didn't understand what you were writing about but still you went on.
That isn't to say that things weren't done against you that shouldn't have been. Angry emails happen. Unfortunately you'll find that there is a certain element in computing that gets very vocal about their choice being the right one. This isn't something new that has only started with the Open Source movement. Windows and Apple has their own set of vocal idiots.
In fact, going back twenty five years we had the same level of vocal fireworks about the early 8-bit computers (Commodore 64 vs Amstrad CPC vs Sinclair Spectrum). Those days of schoolyard arguments (and violence too sometimes - those Chinese burns leave painful memories) are thankfully behind us now, but the new generation are here and they want to shout about their cause celebre - most of these idiots are under 20 (in fact, most are under 16) and are too young to have learnt restraint.
Unfortunately for each batch that learn the error of their ways and grow up there is another set waiting in the wings to replace them. Sadly if you can't cope with this then you'll probably want to turn off your computer right now and try something else. May I respectfully suggest gardening as a more genteel alternative?
Now onto the actual quotes from the piece, with my comments on them. Please bear in mind that this is my personal opinion - feel free to disagree. Also please note that the quotes are taken out of context (although that is true of all quotes if you think about it). If you want to know exactly what Rob says, follow the link at the top of the story.
"(I) focused like a laser on the Linux supporters I then viewed as criminals. And if they were criminals, than SCO must be the victim, right? Well, that was my thought back then. "
And there is the crux of the problem. After writing his first article on Linux and Open Source (and being blasted for it) he decided that it was all the fault of those horrible Open Source people. Giving away software? How dare they! Thieves and murderers, the lot of them.
Now on to the (in)famous SCO Keynote speech.
"The really interesting thing about that talk was that I had designed it specifically to prove that Groklaw was intentionally misleading people. Most have never actually read this speech as it was actually given. But I came up with the idea while sitting in the audience of the SCO event the day before I was to speak. I simply compared what was being said to what someone from Groklaw, who had clearly snuck into the event under false pretenses, was inaccurately reporting on their website. Intentionally falsifying something, given my own experience, really angered me and I figured I would do something about it."
Now here is the thing. The script apparently differs slightly from what Rob actually said. Groklaw's transcript was taken from what was said - Rob's was taken from his script. According to reports he was certainly most agitated when he made his speech. Is it possible that he may have got a bit carried away during his own private Nuremburg rally? Unfortunately unless someone has still got a recording of what was said, then we may never know for sure how misreported Rob was.
Now as well as Linux being the criminals - Groklaw were also in Straight Shootin' Rob's sights. After all - if SCO are the victims and Groklaw are against them, then Groklaw must also be criminals too, right? That's Enderle logic that is.
"(I) thought of folks like Groklaw as some part illegal conspiracy with secret backing. I admit that I have no idea who funds them and only care out of curiosity now, but that is what I believed at the time. By the way, I do believe that, given the funding SCO had, it was in SCO’s interest to leave the implication in place as the facts surrounding Groklaw’s funding were probably nowhere near as damaging to Groklaw as the likely false allegations SCO was making about them.
I should, and do, apologize for saying (at least I think I did and know I thought it), they were paid by IBM, I no longer believe that. "
Well, I suppose half an apology is better than none at all.
"It really wasn’t much of a talk, and it depended heavily on an impassioned delivery which, to my own surprise, I actually pulled off. I doubt I’ll ever do something like this again."
And we should be most grateful if you didn't Rob. Really.
"Unlike Dan Lyons, who has recently said he was tricked by SCO, I was tricked both by SCO and some Linux supporters who, unintentionally through their nasty behavior and threats, made me see them as the criminals. Nothing I had done gave these people the right to attack my livelihood, threaten my life or the lives of my family, and I still view the folks who engaged in such behavior as criminals."
OK, let's try and make a distinction here between those who were nasty about you, and those who threatened you. Disagreeing with you (even vocally so) doesn't make someone a criminal. Threats of violence are different. Genuine death threats (and threats of violence) shouldn't be tolerated. I'd hope you contacted the authorities regarding this so that these idiots can be dealt with.
At this point it is true that we probably do need to close the door on a lot of this and move on. A lot of things have been said over the years that have angered people on both sides. Unfortunately when one side (SCO and Rob) has already decided that the other (Linux and Open Source) are criminals then it makes meaningful dialog and balanced reporting very difficult.
SCO had no interest in honesty. This was obvious from the start, blatantly so. If you get so wound up in things that you couldn't see that then, well, more fool you I suppose.
I don't think Rob is an evil person. Neither do I think he is in the pay of Microsoft (at least - not regarding what he has written regarding SCO). I do think that he is extremely stubborn and refuses to back down. Whilst this can be admirable when you are in the right - it can be extremely destructive and annoying when you are wrong. I can only hope that Rob moves on from this and learns from the experience.
In fairness, I'll leave the last word to Rob, this is taken from the comments after the piece.
"My involvement had nothing to do with software it had to do with stopping behavior that I have tried to fight all of my life. In a post 911, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City world people who espouse violence to settle disputes, particularly trivial little things like who owns what software, need to be identified and stopped. I simply won’t apologize for believing that.
In the end there are likely two kinds of people, those that defend the rights of others and those that feel that only their own rights matter. In looking back at all of these posts, which group do you think most of these folks belong to? Which group do you belong to?"
Juniper SSL VPN on Slackware 11
Juniper's VPN client isn't compatable with Slackware 11, but with a little bit of effort it can be made to work.
This is based on the instructions at ContinuousThinking which were for Ubuntu / Debian, rather than for Slackware.
If you've done a complete install of Slackware 11 then you should have all the libraries apart from libcrypto which you can get from www.linuxpackages.net.
Don't forget to run ldconfig as root after installing libcrypto.
Now we follow the instructions at ContinuousThinking
$ cd ~/.juniper_networks
rm -rf network_connect
cp -R tmp network_connect
cd network_connect
chmod 744 *.sh
# NOTE: if you haven't configured SUDO then also run:
#
# su
#
# and remove the "sudo" command from the start of the
# remainder of the commands
sudo chmod 6711 ncsvc
sudo chown root:root ncsvc
At this point their instructions are pretty much complete - apart from giving instructions on manually starting the ncsvc service before launching the Juniper client. To enable the client to start it automatically we must do the following:
sudo chmod +s ncsvc
sudo mkdir /dev/net
sudo mknod /dev/net/tun c 10 200
This also creates the tun network device that the client also requires.
You may want to add the last two lines into /etc/rc.d/rc.local to make sure that the device node is created at every reboot.
When you next select Network Connect Start you'll get an “RPM query for openssl failed”. After clicking Ok the network connect dialog appears and should connect OK.
This is based on the instructions at ContinuousThinking which were for Ubuntu / Debian, rather than for Slackware.
If you've done a complete install of Slackware 11 then you should have all the libraries apart from libcrypto which you can get from www.linuxpackages.net.
Don't forget to run ldconfig as root after installing libcrypto.
Now we follow the instructions at ContinuousThinking
- login into your Juniper SSL VPN homepage
- Click the Network Connect Start button
- A pop-up will appear saying “Loading Network Connect Client. Please wait”
- An xterm window will appear with the title installNC.sh which will prompt you for a password.
- CTRL-D at the password prompt and when asked to try again answer ‘N’.
- Logout from the SSL VPN homepage and close Firefox/Mozilla/Konqueror.
- Open a shell and do the following…
$ cd ~/.juniper_networks
rm -rf network_connect
cp -R tmp network_connect
cd network_connect
chmod 744 *.sh
# NOTE: if you haven't configured SUDO then also run:
#
# su
#
# and remove the "sudo" command from the start of the
# remainder of the commands
sudo chmod 6711 ncsvc
sudo chown root:root ncsvc
At this point their instructions are pretty much complete - apart from giving instructions on manually starting the ncsvc service before launching the Juniper client. To enable the client to start it automatically we must do the following:
sudo chmod +s ncsvc
sudo mkdir /dev/net
sudo mknod /dev/net/tun c 10 200
This also creates the tun network device that the client also requires.
You may want to add the last two lines into /etc/rc.d/rc.local to make sure that the device node is created at every reboot.
When you next select Network Connect Start you'll get an “RPM query for openssl failed”. After clicking Ok the network connect dialog appears and should connect OK.
Trials and tribulations of "a certain lawyer"
Jack Thompson, self-styled crusader against computer generated nastiness is at it again folks, only this time he may have finally gone too far.
Alongside his well-publicised legal shenanigans against the computer gaming industry, he's also been targetting other parts of the media, including music (2 Live Crue) and websites. In this instance his target is the "National Gay News" website, for providing links to explicit gay porn (and no, I'm not going to link to their site).
So what's the problem with that? Making hardcore porn available to anyone regardless of age (especially children) is bad, right?
No arguments from me there, if it turns out to be true, that is. The main problem for Jack is that when he filed the electronic court dockets he attached hardcore gay porn images as part of it. Unfortunately this means that the courts public records (available online to people of all ages) now contains hardcore gay porn - not just links to it.
This is worse than what he is trying to take the "National Gay News" to task for.
Of course, Jack doesn't see the problem here. To quote the man himself:
"I’m not the one in trouble. The judge found a certain lawyer’s material obscene. I absolutely love it. This is the best thing to happen to me in a long, long time. Check my [case] filings, sweetie."
Well, that "certain lawyer" may find himself in a wee bit of trouble if this material does turn out to be obscene. In case you have any doubt as to who the "certain lawyer" is, let's let Judge Adalberto Jordan have his say:
"The attached exhibit, which includes several graphic images of oral and genital sex between adult males, was filed electronically in the docket in this case, without prior permission from the court…
To the extent that the other attorney’s alleged conduct is in any way relevant… there was no need for Mr. Thompson to file these graphic images in the public record. A simple reference to the website and its alleged links would have sufficed…
Through his actions, Mr. Thompson made available for unlimited public viewing, on the court’s docketing system, these graphic images.
For this reason, by October 5, 2007, Mr. Thompson shall show cause why this incident should not be referred to the court’s Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review, and Attorney Grievance for appropriate action."
Jack doesn't seem too worried though:
"Thompson may have more to say in his own defense as to his alleged contemptuous behavior, but at this juncture, with all respect, he does not apologize for nor regret what he has done… if this court desires to throw Thompson into jail for trying to sound the alarm in this dramatic fashion… then Thompson is prepared to go there."
Let's hope he doesn't end up sharing a cell with Big Bubba. . . . .
Alongside his well-publicised legal shenanigans against the computer gaming industry, he's also been targetting other parts of the media, including music (2 Live Crue) and websites. In this instance his target is the "National Gay News" website, for providing links to explicit gay porn (and no, I'm not going to link to their site).
So what's the problem with that? Making hardcore porn available to anyone regardless of age (especially children) is bad, right?
No arguments from me there, if it turns out to be true, that is. The main problem for Jack is that when he filed the electronic court dockets he attached hardcore gay porn images as part of it. Unfortunately this means that the courts public records (available online to people of all ages) now contains hardcore gay porn - not just links to it.
This is worse than what he is trying to take the "National Gay News" to task for.
Of course, Jack doesn't see the problem here. To quote the man himself:
"I’m not the one in trouble. The judge found a certain lawyer’s material obscene. I absolutely love it. This is the best thing to happen to me in a long, long time. Check my [case] filings, sweetie."
Well, that "certain lawyer" may find himself in a wee bit of trouble if this material does turn out to be obscene. In case you have any doubt as to who the "certain lawyer" is, let's let Judge Adalberto Jordan have his say:
"The attached exhibit, which includes several graphic images of oral and genital sex between adult males, was filed electronically in the docket in this case, without prior permission from the court…
To the extent that the other attorney’s alleged conduct is in any way relevant… there was no need for Mr. Thompson to file these graphic images in the public record. A simple reference to the website and its alleged links would have sufficed…
Through his actions, Mr. Thompson made available for unlimited public viewing, on the court’s docketing system, these graphic images.
For this reason, by October 5, 2007, Mr. Thompson shall show cause why this incident should not be referred to the court’s Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review, and Attorney Grievance for appropriate action."
Jack doesn't seem too worried though:
"Thompson may have more to say in his own defense as to his alleged contemptuous behavior, but at this juncture, with all respect, he does not apologize for nor regret what he has done… if this court desires to throw Thompson into jail for trying to sound the alarm in this dramatic fashion… then Thompson is prepared to go there."
Let's hope he doesn't end up sharing a cell with Big Bubba. . . . .
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
The Power of the Blog
People often speak about how Internet access is giving a voice to the common man, but I've often wondered how useful that actually is. Let's face it, regular blogs (like mine), other than giving me a place to sound off about things that interest me, don't make any real difference to the world.
I'm not proud of that, but it is a fact.
That isn't to say that blogs can't make a difference, especially in places like Burma where freedom of speech doesn't exist. The Burmese people don't have an independent news service - everything is controlled by the government. Or at least it was until the Internet arrived. Now people are able to send videos, photos and send messages from Internet cafes and let the outside world know exactly what is going on.
We've got to hope that the Internet cafes stay open and that the news keeps flowing. I've got to admit the current news reports of the Burmese military raiding Buddhist monasteries doesn't sound too hopeful for a peaceful resolution to all this.
I'm not proud of that, but it is a fact.
That isn't to say that blogs can't make a difference, especially in places like Burma where freedom of speech doesn't exist. The Burmese people don't have an independent news service - everything is controlled by the government. Or at least it was until the Internet arrived. Now people are able to send videos, photos and send messages from Internet cafes and let the outside world know exactly what is going on.
We've got to hope that the Internet cafes stay open and that the news keeps flowing. I've got to admit the current news reports of the Burmese military raiding Buddhist monasteries doesn't sound too hopeful for a peaceful resolution to all this.
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Family Guy - Blue Harvest
A long time ago, yet somehow in the future. . . . .
The new season of Family Guy kicked off on Sunday with a double-length special parody of Star Wars episode 4.
I've got to admit that I had some concerns as to how well this would work, but they have managed to tread that fine line between parody and homage without going too far into either.
The animation is excellent (and that is something that you can't usually say about Family Guy) as were the music and sound effects. In fact you can see the amount of effort that has gone into getting this episode to be just right rather simply presenting a selection of Star Wars jokes.
Leia: Aren't you a little fat to be a storm trooper?
Luke: Then stay here and rot, you stuck up bitch!
That isn't to say that every joke is comedy gold (do we really need another Herbert musical number?) but overall it is certainly well worth watching - if only to see Darth Stewie.
The plot follows the original very closely with plenty of shot-for-shot remakes and some excellent casting, such as Adam West as Grand Moff Tarkin, Cleveland and Quagmire as R2D2 and C3PO, Stewie as Darth Vader. On the other hand some characters, like Joe Swanson and Meg are under-used (in fact I don't think Joe even appears).
There are plenty of cameo appearances and digs at other sci-fi series which gives the episode some replay value (especially in the Cantana scene). The musican cues are well used, and the scene with the crew sneaking out of the Millenium Falcon to the sounds of Minnie the Moocher was simply inspired, as was the elevator music version of the Empire theme.
Lets hope that the rest of the series keeps up the high standard set by this one.
The new season of Family Guy kicked off on Sunday with a double-length special parody of Star Wars episode 4.
I've got to admit that I had some concerns as to how well this would work, but they have managed to tread that fine line between parody and homage without going too far into either.
The animation is excellent (and that is something that you can't usually say about Family Guy) as were the music and sound effects. In fact you can see the amount of effort that has gone into getting this episode to be just right rather simply presenting a selection of Star Wars jokes.
Leia: Aren't you a little fat to be a storm trooper?
Luke: Then stay here and rot, you stuck up bitch!
That isn't to say that every joke is comedy gold (do we really need another Herbert musical number?) but overall it is certainly well worth watching - if only to see Darth Stewie.
The plot follows the original very closely with plenty of shot-for-shot remakes and some excellent casting, such as Adam West as Grand Moff Tarkin, Cleveland and Quagmire as R2D2 and C3PO, Stewie as Darth Vader. On the other hand some characters, like Joe Swanson and Meg are under-used (in fact I don't think Joe even appears).
There are plenty of cameo appearances and digs at other sci-fi series which gives the episode some replay value (especially in the Cantana scene). The musican cues are well used, and the scene with the crew sneaking out of the Millenium Falcon to the sounds of Minnie the Moocher was simply inspired, as was the elevator music version of the Empire theme.
Lets hope that the rest of the series keeps up the high standard set by this one.
Spam, spam, spam, spam!
It's amazing just how much money I turn down each day. There must be simply hundreds of dead multi-millionaires who's legal team desparately need my account details to help get the funds out of Africa. Not to mention all the companies needing a tax free way to get their money out of Iraq (also needing my bank details), and all these email lottery wins that I keep turning down too. This week alone I must have passed up on a small fortune.
This is because A) if the UK National Lottery were running any email schemes I'd assume that they would be able to spell, and B) If I haven't entered a competition / lottery then I don't expect to win it.
Alongside these scams are other ones wanting my bank details for my accounts (with banks that I don't bank with). Most of these scams are obvious fakes, some are less so. Today's was a new one on me, and was (allegedly) from Microsoft:
Reset your Windows Live password
From: Microsoft Customer Support
To: myaddress@hotmail.com
Date: Yesterday 4:48:55 pm
Hello, myaddress@hotmail.com:
We received your request to reset your Windows Live password. To confirm your request and reset your password, follow the instructions below. Confirming your request helps prevent unauthorized access to your account.
If you didn't request that your password be reset, please follow the instructions below to cancel your request.
This is followed by instructions for accepting or cancelling the request. Except that it probably isn't.
If you get a mail like this and you haven't requested a password reset - DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FOLLOW ANY OF THE LINKS.
Just delete the email (and any repeat arrivals of it). Your password is perfectly safe, but if you are really worried then log into Windows Live and manually change your password (but not by any of the links in that email).
This is because A) if the UK National Lottery were running any email schemes I'd assume that they would be able to spell, and B) If I haven't entered a competition / lottery then I don't expect to win it.
Alongside these scams are other ones wanting my bank details for my accounts (with banks that I don't bank with). Most of these scams are obvious fakes, some are less so. Today's was a new one on me, and was (allegedly) from Microsoft:
Reset your Windows Live password
From: Microsoft Customer Support
To: myaddress@hotmail.com
Date: Yesterday 4:48:55 pm
Hello, myaddress@hotmail.com:
We received your request to reset your Windows Live password. To confirm your request and reset your password, follow the instructions below. Confirming your request helps prevent unauthorized access to your account.
If you didn't request that your password be reset, please follow the instructions below to cancel your request.
This is followed by instructions for accepting or cancelling the request. Except that it probably isn't.
If you get a mail like this and you haven't requested a password reset - DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FOLLOW ANY OF THE LINKS.
Just delete the email (and any repeat arrivals of it). Your password is perfectly safe, but if you are really worried then log into Windows Live and manually change your password (but not by any of the links in that email).
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Friday, 21 September 2007
Where are they now?
Throughout the SCOntroversy, SCO have had a select number of very vocal supporters. What have they had to say about the latest events?
Starting with Daniel "Fake Steve Jobs" Lyons (Forbes) - "my early predictions on this case have turned out to be profoundly wrong." Although it is nice that Daniel has come out and admitted that he was wrong (but let's face it, we already knew that) it doesn't excuse his earlier treatment of the Groklaw and Open Source communities.
Maureen O'Gara (Linux Business News). - Maureen is a strange one and no mistake. Rather than merely reporting on SCO, she took it on herself to unmask the evil PJ (Pamela Jones) who's crime was to run a blog critical to SCO. Unfortunately for Maureen, once her "expose" was published the following storm of controversy severely damaged her career, not to mention the reputations of those associated with her. Strangely, although she still publishes articles, it is hard to find out exactly what she is saying as they tend to be removed fairly quickly, for example even though Google News allows us to see that her latest headline (on September 19) is "Maureen O'Gara Airs Concerns About Open Source "Zealots"", the actual article has been removed. Allegedly she also publishes the same vitriol laden articles anonymously.
Last, but by no means least, Rob Enderle (Enderle Group) - "I stopped following SCO closely several years ago". Self promoting "analyst" (some have quipped that he's the man who puts the anal in analyst). Rob was one of SCO's most staunch supporters at the start, even appearing as a keynote speaker at SCO's 2004 conferences ("Free Software and the fools that use it"). Robs last piece about SCO looks more like an attempt to distance himself from the whole fiaSCO without actually admitting that he was wrong in his original analysis. Strange that even though he stopped following SCO, he's still been writing about it, or to be more precise - his target has moved slightly from pro SCO to anti Open Source.
So what do all these people have in common apart from their pro SCO / anti Free-Software viewpoint? Well, all of them, rather than just reporting the facts or giving their professional analysis of the situation have resorted to name calling, innuendo and insults. If they had treated an ethnic group in the same way that they have supporters of Open Source software they would have been branded as bigots and racists.
This isn't to say that you can't have a preference for closed source software, disagree with PJ or even think that SCO may have a point. But if you are going to do so then resorting to name calling (Linux loons, losers, thieves, criminals and worse) is only going to encourage people to respond in kind. But perhaps that is what they wanted, because after all any publicity is good publicity, isn't that right guys?
Starting with Daniel "Fake Steve Jobs" Lyons (Forbes) - "my early predictions on this case have turned out to be profoundly wrong." Although it is nice that Daniel has come out and admitted that he was wrong (but let's face it, we already knew that) it doesn't excuse his earlier treatment of the Groklaw and Open Source communities.
Maureen O'Gara (Linux Business News). - Maureen is a strange one and no mistake. Rather than merely reporting on SCO, she took it on herself to unmask the evil PJ (Pamela Jones) who's crime was to run a blog critical to SCO. Unfortunately for Maureen, once her "expose" was published the following storm of controversy severely damaged her career, not to mention the reputations of those associated with her. Strangely, although she still publishes articles, it is hard to find out exactly what she is saying as they tend to be removed fairly quickly, for example even though Google News allows us to see that her latest headline (on September 19) is "Maureen O'Gara Airs Concerns About Open Source "Zealots"", the actual article has been removed. Allegedly she also publishes the same vitriol laden articles anonymously.
Last, but by no means least, Rob Enderle (Enderle Group) - "I stopped following SCO closely several years ago". Self promoting "analyst" (some have quipped that he's the man who puts the anal in analyst). Rob was one of SCO's most staunch supporters at the start, even appearing as a keynote speaker at SCO's 2004 conferences ("Free Software and the fools that use it"). Robs last piece about SCO looks more like an attempt to distance himself from the whole fiaSCO without actually admitting that he was wrong in his original analysis. Strange that even though he stopped following SCO, he's still been writing about it, or to be more precise - his target has moved slightly from pro SCO to anti Open Source.
So what do all these people have in common apart from their pro SCO / anti Free-Software viewpoint? Well, all of them, rather than just reporting the facts or giving their professional analysis of the situation have resorted to name calling, innuendo and insults. If they had treated an ethnic group in the same way that they have supporters of Open Source software they would have been branded as bigots and racists.
This isn't to say that you can't have a preference for closed source software, disagree with PJ or even think that SCO may have a point. But if you are going to do so then resorting to name calling (Linux loons, losers, thieves, criminals and worse) is only going to encourage people to respond in kind. But perhaps that is what they wanted, because after all any publicity is good publicity, isn't that right guys?
Thursday, 20 September 2007
SpiralFrog update
A couple of days ago I wrote about Universal's SpiralFrog service, and mentioned some of its teething problems, such as the broken links, problem with downloads and so forth.
Well, I'm glad to say that it looks like most of the teething problems are resolved. There has been a lot of new music uploaded and overall (ignoring the DRM issues) it doesn't seem a bad service.
One strange point is this - I'm in the UK and was able to sign up without problems a couple of days ago. Now it claims that the service is only for USA and Canada only. And that the site is still in beta. I've had a look at the sign-up process, and it gives a large error that "You are connecting to SpiralFrog via UNITED KINGDOM." Eeek! Don't let those horrible Brits download free music!
Well, as far as I'm concerned I signed up in good faith, so pffffft! to the idea of not using the service now.
Well, I'm glad to say that it looks like most of the teething problems are resolved. There has been a lot of new music uploaded and overall (ignoring the DRM issues) it doesn't seem a bad service.
One strange point is this - I'm in the UK and was able to sign up without problems a couple of days ago. Now it claims that the service is only for USA and Canada only. And that the site is still in beta. I've had a look at the sign-up process, and it gives a large error that "You are connecting to SpiralFrog via UNITED KINGDOM." Eeek! Don't let those horrible Brits download free music!
Well, as far as I'm concerned I signed up in good faith, so pffffft! to the idea of not using the service now.
SCO receive notice of Nasdaq delisting
"The Nasdaq Staff Determination Letter received on September 18, 2007 indicated that as a result of the Company's having filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the Nasdaq Staff has determined, using its discretionary authority under Nasdaq Marketplace Rules 4300 and IM-4300, that the Company's securities will be delisted from The Nasdaq Stock Market and that trading in the Company's common stock will be suspended unless the Company requests a hearing to review the determination."
SCO are appealing the decision (so no surprise there), but it's doubtful that they will be able to remain listed. Prior to the news being released shares were trading at 0.20 (up 0.04). Could this be the final nail in SCO's share price coffin, or will the price rise again on the bad news?
Should their appeal fail then SCO (SCOX) will be delisted on September 27.
As a side note, Groklaw points out that the day before they filed for Chapter 11, they gave a rather large pay rise and bonus to Ryan Tibbits. Nice work if you can get it. Help run a company into the ground AND get a $50,000 bonus and a pay rise for it. Where do I sign up?
SCO are appealing the decision (so no surprise there), but it's doubtful that they will be able to remain listed. Prior to the news being released shares were trading at 0.20 (up 0.04). Could this be the final nail in SCO's share price coffin, or will the price rise again on the bad news?
Should their appeal fail then SCO (SCOX) will be delisted on September 27.
As a side note, Groklaw points out that the day before they filed for Chapter 11, they gave a rather large pay rise and bonus to Ryan Tibbits. Nice work if you can get it. Help run a company into the ground AND get a $50,000 bonus and a pay rise for it. Where do I sign up?
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
It's the end of the World as we know it
We live in strange times my friends. Personally I think it may herald the end of the world. Let's face it, within two days we've had Groklaw commenting on how nice that Mr Darl McBride seems, followed today by Dan Lyons - one of SCO's pet reporters - admitting that he was completely and utterly wrong about the whole SCO affair, and that Groklaw were right.
The end is at hand people! Repent! REPENT!
The end is at hand people! Repent! REPENT!
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Lest we forget
Sometimes it is easy to forget that there are people behind the stories.
I'm going to take SCO as a good example. It is all too easy to vilify the people involved based on the media reports. We'll take Darl McBride as a prime example of this.
I'm not going to claim that he's an angel. Far from it. Is he misguided? Sure. Stubborn? Definitely. The living embodiment of all evil and the father of lies? Probably not.
Regardless of what he has said over the years as the mouthpiece of SCO, there is a real person there. What has brought this to mind is a Groklaw article written about the first day bankruptcy hearing. Seven Groklawyers were in attendance, and after the mornings hearing managed to speak with Novell's lawyers, and then snatched a few words with Darl himself:
"After the hearing I introduced myself to Darl McBride. I told him I was one of those Groklaw people. He smiled and told me he admired our passion. There is a time and place to ask a CEO questions and a courthouse hallway is not the place to ask tough questions. I asked Mr. McBride how he was holding up through this ordeal. He told me that he knew it would be tough. He said that what he had not expected was the toll it has taken on his family. When he said that I was looking him in the eye and there was a brief sadness in his eyes and a quiet voice that surprised me. I wished him and his family well. As a human being, he seemed to be a nice guy. If only he had chosen a different path ....."
I'm certain that over the coming weeks, if not months, there will be things said that will really rile us about this whole sordid affair, but it is worth taking pause that there are real people (some of whom are likely to loose their livelihoods) behind these headlines.
I'm going to take SCO as a good example. It is all too easy to vilify the people involved based on the media reports. We'll take Darl McBride as a prime example of this.
I'm not going to claim that he's an angel. Far from it. Is he misguided? Sure. Stubborn? Definitely. The living embodiment of all evil and the father of lies? Probably not.
Regardless of what he has said over the years as the mouthpiece of SCO, there is a real person there. What has brought this to mind is a Groklaw article written about the first day bankruptcy hearing. Seven Groklawyers were in attendance, and after the mornings hearing managed to speak with Novell's lawyers, and then snatched a few words with Darl himself:
"After the hearing I introduced myself to Darl McBride. I told him I was one of those Groklaw people. He smiled and told me he admired our passion. There is a time and place to ask a CEO questions and a courthouse hallway is not the place to ask tough questions. I asked Mr. McBride how he was holding up through this ordeal. He told me that he knew it would be tough. He said that what he had not expected was the toll it has taken on his family. When he said that I was looking him in the eye and there was a brief sadness in his eyes and a quiet voice that surprised me. I wished him and his family well. As a human being, he seemed to be a nice guy. If only he had chosen a different path ....."
I'm certain that over the coming weeks, if not months, there will be things said that will really rile us about this whole sordid affair, but it is worth taking pause that there are real people (some of whom are likely to loose their livelihoods) behind these headlines.
Psst! Hey buddy, want some free music?
Universal have released a new music service with a bit of a twist - you can download the albums for free.
Their SpiralFrog service has been in beta for a while but has now been released to the general public. You can subscribe for free, install their download manager and be off downloading legal music before you know it.
Providing you use Windows. And aren't allergic to DRM. And you don't want to burn it to CD. Or play it on the majority of MP3 players (such as IPods, Mobile Phones, cheap EBay Mp3 players).
If are willing to use Windows for your musical needs, or your MP3 player supports PlaysForSure DRM then you're laughing. There is a good selection of albums there already and the quality of the tracks is OK (128kbps). The site is still experiencing some teething problems, and I found that the easiest way to download an album was one track at a time, as having multiple tracks in the download list causes download errors after the first couple of tracks. There have also been more than a couple of 404 errors when following links on the site.
One other detail is that you'll need to renew your account every 30 days by answering some questions on their website. If you don't then your music stops working. Nice.
At present, if you are a Windows user and want a legal way to increase your music collection then this isn't a bad option, but for the rest of us it isn't as good as it could have been.
Their SpiralFrog service has been in beta for a while but has now been released to the general public. You can subscribe for free, install their download manager and be off downloading legal music before you know it.
Providing you use Windows. And aren't allergic to DRM. And you don't want to burn it to CD. Or play it on the majority of MP3 players (such as IPods, Mobile Phones, cheap EBay Mp3 players).
If are willing to use Windows for your musical needs, or your MP3 player supports PlaysForSure DRM then you're laughing. There is a good selection of albums there already and the quality of the tracks is OK (128kbps). The site is still experiencing some teething problems, and I found that the easiest way to download an album was one track at a time, as having multiple tracks in the download list causes download errors after the first couple of tracks. There have also been more than a couple of 404 errors when following links on the site.
One other detail is that you'll need to renew your account every 30 days by answering some questions on their website. If you don't then your music stops working. Nice.
At present, if you are a Windows user and want a legal way to increase your music collection then this isn't a bad option, but for the rest of us it isn't as good as it could have been.
More from SCOland
The SCO saga has finally reached the interesting stage. Let's have a recap of the last couple of days worth of news.
Friday: SCO files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Share prices drop to 0.38 (down 43%).
Sunday: Half of SCOs accountants resign or are fired.
Monday: SCO requests permission with the Bankruptcy court to hire temporary accounting staff. SCO file a notice of late filing with the SEC about their missing 10Q. Apparently now that they've lost most of their accounting staff they're having difficulty keeping up. Share price drops a further 40% finishing at 0.22 (as the days range was from 0.15 - 0.31 the price could drop further today).
So what is the plan for today? Well the bankruptcy hearing is set for 8.30am, with Novell making a showing with their lawyers too.
Even if the courts accept SCOs request for Chapter 11 protection, there is still a real chance that Novell will get its money back BEFORE the creditors get a chance to pick over the carcass. Depending on what is said, SCO could still end up going into Chapter 7 - which would mean that the company would be liquidated to pay its debts.
My personal opinion is that at the point where the SCO management changes (and there is a real possibility that the bankruptcy court may insist on that) then it will be Game Over for SCO.
I'll update this post later on today rather than posting hundreds of SCO related posts.
Update 1 (13:10): SCO's 10Q has now been filed.
Update 2 (22:40): Well, that's it for the day. SCO survived the first Bankruptcy hearing. Novell asked for their money to be placed in a trust, which the Judge denied. Novell are to request a lift on the stay of the Utah trial (the one where just how much SCO owes will be decided). The next bankruptcy hearing is set for October 5, to give everyone who SCO owes money to chance to have their say. Shares finished at 0.16 (down 28%).
Friday: SCO files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Share prices drop to 0.38 (down 43%).
Sunday: Half of SCOs accountants resign or are fired.
Monday: SCO requests permission with the Bankruptcy court to hire temporary accounting staff. SCO file a notice of late filing with the SEC about their missing 10Q. Apparently now that they've lost most of their accounting staff they're having difficulty keeping up. Share price drops a further 40% finishing at 0.22 (as the days range was from 0.15 - 0.31 the price could drop further today).
So what is the plan for today? Well the bankruptcy hearing is set for 8.30am, with Novell making a showing with their lawyers too.
Even if the courts accept SCOs request for Chapter 11 protection, there is still a real chance that Novell will get its money back BEFORE the creditors get a chance to pick over the carcass. Depending on what is said, SCO could still end up going into Chapter 7 - which would mean that the company would be liquidated to pay its debts.
My personal opinion is that at the point where the SCO management changes (and there is a real possibility that the bankruptcy court may insist on that) then it will be Game Over for SCO.
I'll update this post later on today rather than posting hundreds of SCO related posts.
Update 1 (13:10): SCO's 10Q has now been filed.
Update 2 (22:40): Well, that's it for the day. SCO survived the first Bankruptcy hearing. Novell asked for their money to be placed in a trust, which the Judge denied. Novell are to request a lift on the stay of the Utah trial (the one where just how much SCO owes will be decided). The next bankruptcy hearing is set for October 5, to give everyone who SCO owes money to chance to have their say. Shares finished at 0.16 (down 28%).
Sunday, 16 September 2007
It's all over, or is it?
So now that SCO has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy does that mean it's all over?Well, not quite. It may extend SCO's life by another six months whilst they are "reorganising." Or will it?
That will be the interesting thing. Chapter 11 bankruptcy should protect SCO from their creditors whilst things are rearranged to allow them to pay their debts and continue trading.
This may not be enough to defend them from Novell for long though.
The money from the SCO licenses to Microsoft and Sun is Novell's and was supposed to be handed in full to them, after which the "finders fee" would be returned to SCO. Instead SCO have been spending Novell's money on the case.
The loophole in Chapter 11 is that funds like this may end up being returned, as Novell aren't creditors but the owners of the funds. In other words it was never SCO's money to spend.
The court cases are temporarily on hold - but the drama may not be finished.
Payne and Redemption
Anyone remember Max Payne? In case you don't, it was a film noir shoot-em-up. Violent, bloody, darkly humorous and very cinematic. So cinematic in fact that it was no surprise when a movie of the game was announced. Unfortunately the movie has been stuck in development hell for the last couple of years.
To fill the gap, UK based amateur film maker Fergle Gibson has taken on the ambitious task of creating a Max Payne movie. Payne and Redemption is planned to be released in six parts, with the third part being released first.
The first trailer (above) has been around for a while now, but a new one has just been released on the Payne and Redemption website (currently only available via the sites forum).
The release date is "when it's ready", but looks likely to be sometime next year.
To fill the gap, UK based amateur film maker Fergle Gibson has taken on the ambitious task of creating a Max Payne movie. Payne and Redemption is planned to be released in six parts, with the third part being released first.
The first trailer (above) has been around for a while now, but a new one has just been released on the Payne and Redemption website (currently only available via the sites forum).
The release date is "when it's ready", but looks likely to be sometime next year.
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Friday, 14 September 2007
SCO Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
I'm not too sure if I'm surprised at this or not - but the next chapter in the SCO saga seems to be Chapter 11: bankruptcy.
On Monday the Novell trial was supposed to set just how much SCO owed from their licenses to Microsoft and Sun, so the timing of this announcement would seem to indicate just how secure they believe their position to be - ie. totally boned. Or to put that another way, they probably don't have enough cash reserves left to pay Novell what they owe them.
To quote Darl McBride President and CEO, The SCO Group. "Chapter 11 reorganization provides the Company with an opportunity to protect its assets during this time while focusing on building our future plans."
As to what this means to the court cases (SCO vs Novell / SCO vs IBM) remains to be seen, although it certainly looks like after four years the end is in sight.
Shares in SCO Group Inc (SCOX) closed at 0.38, down from 0.65 which is a drop of 43.08%.
On Monday the Novell trial was supposed to set just how much SCO owed from their licenses to Microsoft and Sun, so the timing of this announcement would seem to indicate just how secure they believe their position to be - ie. totally boned. Or to put that another way, they probably don't have enough cash reserves left to pay Novell what they owe them.
To quote Darl McBride President and CEO, The SCO Group. "Chapter 11 reorganization provides the Company with an opportunity to protect its assets during this time while focusing on building our future plans."
As to what this means to the court cases (SCO vs Novell / SCO vs IBM) remains to be seen, although it certainly looks like after four years the end is in sight.
Shares in SCO Group Inc (SCOX) closed at 0.38, down from 0.65 which is a drop of 43.08%.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Darl McBride interview with Wired magazine
I was going to write something on the Darl McBride Wired interview, but this sums up my opinion better than I ever could:
If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it.
-- Roald Dahl - the Twits (1979)
The Joys of NT4
"I've got a challenge for you."
(Any conversation that starts off like that is unlikely to end well.)
"I can't see any of your users from our NT4 domain."
Me: I'll see what I can do.
The problem, of course, is that althrough we are running AD domains which are part of the same AD tree, there is no trust relationship set up for us with their old NT4 domain. Trying to set up the trust is likely to end in tears, unless you remember that the trusts rely on LMHOSTS to contact the other domain rather than DNS.
Editing the LMHOSTS file (%windir%\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts) is not the easiest thing to do, unless you go here and use this page to generate the information you'll need to add to the LMHOSTS file on the domain controllers for both domains.
Basically you need to enter the unqualified domain name, the PDC and its IP address. This is pasted into the LMHOSTS file. Once you've updated the LMHOSTS, open a command prompt and type "nbtstat -R" to reload the LMHOSTS information. At this point you should be able to establish the trust relationship without any difficulties.
(Any conversation that starts off like that is unlikely to end well.)
"I can't see any of your users from our NT4 domain."
Me: I'll see what I can do.
The problem, of course, is that althrough we are running AD domains which are part of the same AD tree, there is no trust relationship set up for us with their old NT4 domain. Trying to set up the trust is likely to end in tears, unless you remember that the trusts rely on LMHOSTS to contact the other domain rather than DNS.
Editing the LMHOSTS file (%windir%\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts) is not the easiest thing to do, unless you go here and use this page to generate the information you'll need to add to the LMHOSTS file on the domain controllers for both domains.
Basically you need to enter the unqualified domain name, the PDC and its IP address. This is pasted into the LMHOSTS file. Once you've updated the LMHOSTS, open a command prompt and type "nbtstat -R" to reload the LMHOSTS information. At this point you should be able to establish the trust relationship without any difficulties.
Monday, 10 September 2007
Nobodys Working #3
I've finally got some time to update on Merak.
How is it shaping up compared to Exchange 5.5?
This isn't going to be straightforward. Providing you use Outlook 2002 or higher, connect to the mail server via IMAP and install the connector plugin (which gives you the calendar functionality) then the functionality appears to be very close to what you would get with Exchange.
I'm going to have to check our licenses, but I think we've got enough Exchange 2000 CALs for the users here to allow them to use Outlook 2002.
The web client works very much like Outlook, as long as you go to http://servername:32000/mail. If you go to http://servername:32000/webmail you get a different interface! Just logging straight onto http://servername:32000 used to take you to the first interface, now it takes you to the second one. And I've absolutely no idea why.
The admin tools, although nice to use, do seem to be missing some functionality (such as mailbox aliases) but it could just be that I haven't found out how Merak does it. (Update: According to the Merak website it does do aliases - it just doesn't tell you how.)
Right, I'm off to play with Merak's Instant Messaging functionality. More later.
. . . .
That didn't take too long. Merak supports the Jabber protocol - so any IM client that supports Jabber should work with it. I used Spark which really seems to work rather well.
. . . .
Final bit for today - looking for an alternative to Outlook, which also supports calendars.
After a bit of a hunt, Thunderbird comes out as a possible solution. In fact, Thunderbird is recommended on the Marek website. Getting everything working, on the other hand, is rather less straight forward.
The instructions were, as usual, less than helpful. In fact, to get the calendar functionality working you also need to use the Lightning plugin. Now, this isn't the full story either. According to Marek's documents you should be able to connect to the calendar using the syntax http://servername/WebDAV and then use your full email address for the user name.
This doesn't actually work. Lightning doesn't have anywhere to enter your details. It turns out that you'll need to enter the following: http://username:password@servername:32000/WebDAV. The calendar syncs automatically with the server, and any changes made locally are immediately synced with the server.
Once you've set up Thunderbird to use IMAP for the email protocol and Lightning for the calendaring functions (providing you don't need shared calendars) then you've actually got a pretty nice cross-platform replacement for Outlook.
How is it shaping up compared to Exchange 5.5?
This isn't going to be straightforward. Providing you use Outlook 2002 or higher, connect to the mail server via IMAP and install the connector plugin (which gives you the calendar functionality) then the functionality appears to be very close to what you would get with Exchange.
I'm going to have to check our licenses, but I think we've got enough Exchange 2000 CALs for the users here to allow them to use Outlook 2002.
The web client works very much like Outlook, as long as you go to http://servername:32000/mail. If you go to http://servername:32000/webmail you get a different interface! Just logging straight onto http://servername:32000 used to take you to the first interface, now it takes you to the second one. And I've absolutely no idea why.
The admin tools, although nice to use, do seem to be missing some functionality (such as mailbox aliases) but it could just be that I haven't found out how Merak does it. (Update: According to the Merak website it does do aliases - it just doesn't tell you how.)
Right, I'm off to play with Merak's Instant Messaging functionality. More later.
. . . .
That didn't take too long. Merak supports the Jabber protocol - so any IM client that supports Jabber should work with it. I used Spark which really seems to work rather well.
. . . .
Final bit for today - looking for an alternative to Outlook, which also supports calendars.
After a bit of a hunt, Thunderbird comes out as a possible solution. In fact, Thunderbird is recommended on the Marek website. Getting everything working, on the other hand, is rather less straight forward.
The instructions were, as usual, less than helpful. In fact, to get the calendar functionality working you also need to use the Lightning plugin. Now, this isn't the full story either. According to Marek's documents you should be able to connect to the calendar using the syntax http://servername/WebDAV and then use your full email address for the user name.
This doesn't actually work. Lightning doesn't have anywhere to enter your details. It turns out that you'll need to enter the following: http://username:password@servername:32000/WebDAV. The calendar syncs automatically with the server, and any changes made locally are immediately synced with the server.
Once you've set up Thunderbird to use IMAP for the email protocol and Lightning for the calendaring functions (providing you don't need shared calendars) then you've actually got a pretty nice cross-platform replacement for Outlook.
Saturday, 8 September 2007
A game so good, it will kill you?
There is a story of an 1981 arcade game called Polybius. It was released to a small number of Portland (USA) arcades by a company called Sinneschlossen.
Although popular, it was withdrawn after a couple of months. Apparently this was due to the ill effects experienced by some of the players, ranging from motion sickness, disorientation and fits, through to night terrors, psychotic episodes and suicide.
The following quoted from "Above Top Secret":
"The bizarre rumors about this game are that it was supposedly developed by some kind of weird military tech offshoot group, used some kind of proprietary behavior modification algorithms developed for the CIA or something, kids who played it woke up at night screaming, having horrible nightmares.
According to an operator who ran an arcade with one of these games, guys in black coats would come to collect "records" from the machines. They're not interested in quarters or anything, they just collected information about how the game was played."
For alleged photos of the arcade cabinet, visit Polybius Theory. It also has plenty of background information on the legend.
So, do you want to play the game? Click here for a Windows remake.
WARNING: Contains strobe effects. May cause motion sickness. Mr Nobody accepts no responsibility for any ill effects caused by use of the game.
Although popular, it was withdrawn after a couple of months. Apparently this was due to the ill effects experienced by some of the players, ranging from motion sickness, disorientation and fits, through to night terrors, psychotic episodes and suicide.
The following quoted from "Above Top Secret":
"The bizarre rumors about this game are that it was supposedly developed by some kind of weird military tech offshoot group, used some kind of proprietary behavior modification algorithms developed for the CIA or something, kids who played it woke up at night screaming, having horrible nightmares.
According to an operator who ran an arcade with one of these games, guys in black coats would come to collect "records" from the machines. They're not interested in quarters or anything, they just collected information about how the game was played."
For alleged photos of the arcade cabinet, visit Polybius Theory. It also has plenty of background information on the legend.
So, do you want to play the game? Click here for a Windows remake.
WARNING: Contains strobe effects. May cause motion sickness. Mr Nobody accepts no responsibility for any ill effects caused by use of the game.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Update: Thanks to the Wayback Machine we can bring you what is probably the first mention of Polybius (6 February 2000), and the first Usenet post (27 February 2000). Anyone got an earlier link?
Friday, 7 September 2007
Nobodys Working #2
Back on the coalface, here we are playing with the new Mail Server.
For me the jury is still out on Merac. I've got it sending and receiving email for our test domain - which is good.
The server collapsed in a heap the second one of my managers asked to see it in action - which is less good.
Now I have been configuring a lot of stuff on the test server today, and running it on a virtual server is less than ideal (at least, one using SATA drives like ours), so I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if this happens again.
Having incoming and outgoing mail working certainly makes me happier about the product - now I'll have to find out how to configure it to do everything that we want.
For reference, when it comes to diagnosing problems with email servers SMTPDIAG is your best friend in sorting things out (on Windows at any rate). Between that, and realising that our current mailserver redirects all outgoing mail via an external proxy (so we needed an exception adding for our test domain) got everything working.
Next task: getting the calendar working.
And it looks like that task wasn't too difficult - apart from the fact that it isn't documented. Hmm, I can see a pattern emerging here.
By default, when a user clicks on the calendar button from the web interface they'll get an error message "Could not login to calendar server".
To get the calendar functionality working, you'll need to do the following from the Merak admin tool.
For me the jury is still out on Merac. I've got it sending and receiving email for our test domain - which is good.
The server collapsed in a heap the second one of my managers asked to see it in action - which is less good.
Now I have been configuring a lot of stuff on the test server today, and running it on a virtual server is less than ideal (at least, one using SATA drives like ours), so I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if this happens again.
Having incoming and outgoing mail working certainly makes me happier about the product - now I'll have to find out how to configure it to do everything that we want.
For reference, when it comes to diagnosing problems with email servers SMTPDIAG is your best friend in sorting things out (on Windows at any rate). Between that, and realising that our current mailserver redirects all outgoing mail via an external proxy (so we needed an exception adding for our test domain) got everything working.
Next task: getting the calendar working.
And it looks like that task wasn't too difficult - apart from the fact that it isn't documented. Hmm, I can see a pattern emerging here.
By default, when a user clicks on the calendar button from the web interface they'll get an error message "Could not login to calendar server".
To get the calendar functionality working, you'll need to do the following from the Merak admin tool.
- Select the GroupWare section
- Click the DB Settings button
- Click Create Tables and wait for the confirmation message
Thank *insert deity of choice* it's Friday!
Roll on 5pm.
Today I am the only IT member for our division (at least till 3pm when the cavalry arrives).
So it's a busy day, what with the day to day running of the IT department, and helpdesk calls, and my regular work too.
Still, mustn't grumble. At least I've been able to take two minutes to blog about it, so can't be too bad eh?
Today I am the only IT member for our division (at least till 3pm when the cavalry arrives).
So it's a busy day, what with the day to day running of the IT department, and helpdesk calls, and my regular work too.
Still, mustn't grumble. At least I've been able to take two minutes to blog about it, so can't be too bad eh?
Thursday, 6 September 2007
I speak and Apple listens
"Steve", I said. "The iPhone is just too damn expensive for what it does. Can't you do something about it?" (see "Just What Nobody Wanted #1").
Well, it turns out that Steve listens to Nobody after all, as he's just slashed the price of the 8GB model from $599 to $399. That's quite a drop.
Nice one Steve.
Don't forget who your friends are when you release it in the UK will you?
Well, it turns out that Steve listens to Nobody after all, as he's just slashed the price of the 8GB model from $599 to $399. That's quite a drop.
Nice one Steve.
Don't forget who your friends are when you release it in the UK will you?
Star Trek New Voyages
All I can say is WOW!
Full episode here (streaming):
http://startreknewvoyages.com/weat_streams.html
Downloadable version from here (mp4):
http://newvoyages.blogsite.org
Full episode here (streaming):
http://startreknewvoyages.com/weat_streams.html
Downloadable version from here (mp4):
http://newvoyages.blogsite.org
Gnasher
As I've got a little time on my hands whilst the youngest nobody is playing on his PlayPal (a great little hand-held game system) I'm going to see if I can install Gnash, which is an open source Flash movie player / plugin.
As is sometimes the case, although Gnash isn't too big a program to compile from scratch, the dependencies take a bit longer. In this case Boost is our missing dependency. One nice touch is the makefile actually gives you the link to where you can download it.
Now, although I already have Adobe's Flash plugin installed, I'm curious to see how the free alternative measures up - especially if it performs better. For people using 64 bit versions of Linux Gnash is the only way to get a 64 bit native Flash player. This isn't a problem for me as I'm still using my trusty old Athlon XP 2200 but hey, who knows what the future may bring eh?
* ring ring *
Oh, excuse me a moment, I'll just get that.
. . . .
Sorry about that - that was the plumbers just confirming that they were coming out today.
While I wait for Boost to finish compiling I'd better get some housework done.
. . . .
Right. Boost has finished compiling and is installing as I type this, and the plumber is upstairs taking the cistern to pieces. So to keep myself from annoying him whilst he's trying to do a job, let's see if I can get Gnash installed.
(My God! There was one hell of a lot of watery sounds from upstairs! MUSTN'T PANIC!)
Now, let's have another go at the Gnash compile. I'm using OpenGL as the rendering engine (using the --enable-renderer=opengl parameter) .
And even though I've compiled and installed Boost - it says it needs Boost threads. Which are there. OK, so let's run ldconfig to make sure everything is up to date and try again.
Nope, still didn't work. I'll have to have a think about this one ;)
On a more positive note - we're flushing again! Yay!
As is sometimes the case, although Gnash isn't too big a program to compile from scratch, the dependencies take a bit longer. In this case Boost is our missing dependency. One nice touch is the makefile actually gives you the link to where you can download it.
Now, although I already have Adobe's Flash plugin installed, I'm curious to see how the free alternative measures up - especially if it performs better. For people using 64 bit versions of Linux Gnash is the only way to get a 64 bit native Flash player. This isn't a problem for me as I'm still using my trusty old Athlon XP 2200 but hey, who knows what the future may bring eh?
* ring ring *
Oh, excuse me a moment, I'll just get that.
. . . .
Sorry about that - that was the plumbers just confirming that they were coming out today.
While I wait for Boost to finish compiling I'd better get some housework done.
. . . .
Right. Boost has finished compiling and is installing as I type this, and the plumber is upstairs taking the cistern to pieces. So to keep myself from annoying him whilst he's trying to do a job, let's see if I can get Gnash installed.
(My God! There was one hell of a lot of watery sounds from upstairs! MUSTN'T PANIC!)
Now, let's have another go at the Gnash compile. I'm using OpenGL as the rendering engine (using the --enable-renderer=opengl parameter) .
And even though I've compiled and installed Boost - it says it needs Boost threads. Which are there. OK, so let's run ldconfig to make sure everything is up to date and try again.
Nope, still didn't work. I'll have to have a think about this one ;)
On a more positive note - we're flushing again! Yay!
Feeling flushed
I've taken today off (I've had a couple of lieu days owed) so I can take the youngest nobody to nursery. I did have a couple of things planned for today - but instead I'm going to wait for a plumber to fix our cistern.
So my lieu day has become a loo day instead.
So my lieu day has become a loo day instead.
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Nobodys working #1
Well, here we are at work. What is nobody doing today? Installing a virtual Windows 2003 Server ready to start testing IceWarp's Merak Mail Server.
(How far along is it?. . . . Still formatting C:.)
We've already bought it - but this is just to get a bit of experience before the real install once the license / server hardware arrives.
One thing that surprised me is that it doesn't have it's own database backend - instead it relies upon either an Access .MDB file (yuk!) or an external database. For me it's a toss-up between MySQL and Microsoft SQL Express. As the price is the same for both (free) and seeing as I already run SQL Server 2000 servers here then the obvious choice is SQL Express.
Dear reader, don't take this as a slight against Open Source. I really like Open Source products. I run Linux at home as my main OS and have done for around five years now, but at work - well, standardisation is king. This is also because I won't be the only person maintaining this and, well, Microsoft's SQL Server (and Express too) have very good management tools. Yes, MySQL is getting better, but it isn't there yet.
(Copying files. . . .)
So on to Merak. Not a particularly well known product, at least, I've never heard of it before now. One of it's selling points is that it fits in well with Exchange clients, supports shared calendars, has loads of plugins to extend the functionality of the server, and it is a damn site cheaper than Exchange. It is also cheaper to add additional user licenses to it. Apparently we've bought 1000 user licenses for this.
(Please wait. . . Oh, we've rebooted. Hang on a tick, I'd better get the rest of the install under way.)
Merak can run on either Linux or Windows. It looks like it supports most of the major Linux distros. As we are integrating this into our Active Domain structure we're having to use Windows Server 2003.
("Setup will complete in 39 minutes". Yeah, sure it will.)
All the files are available on the Merak website, and will run quite happily for 30 days before you have to register it. Once you give it your license key then the demo becomes the full, unrestricted version.
(Adding the machine details. One question. Which berk decided to make Tijuana the default time zone for Windows installs?)
Once the initial server install is done, then I'll install SQL Server Express. I've not had chance to play with this yet, so if it turns out to be crap then I'll switch over the MySQL. Hopefully it won't come to that. Let's have a look at what it provides, while I'm waiting for the server install to finish.
. . . .
Scratch that, we're going to have to use MySQL. The limits on the database size and number of processors would cripple the mail server. Thank you Microsoft.
("Installing start menu items. Setup will complete in approximately 19 minutes". Liar. )
Right, I'm off to lunch now. Hopefully the server will have finished the initial install by the time I've eaten my sandwiches.
. . . .
OK, so Windows 2003 is now installed and running as a terminal server. MySQL (and the tools) are installed, so it's time to get on and install Merak itself.
. . . .
Well, installing MySQL was nice and straight-forward. It was an object lesson in clicking Next, Next, Finshed. Installing the tools was just as easy. The only small gotcha with it is to remember that by default you must connect to the databases via localhost rather than by the machine name.
Installing Merak is pretty straight foward too. During install you get two choices - Easy and Advanced. The easy option installs the Access DB backend and is recommended for 100 users or less. For any more than this you should use the advanced option and then select the required backend. And it does support plenty of them too. We chose the MySQL backend, entered our login details, realised that we had to create a blank schema in MySQL for Merak to create its tables in, and then let the installer do its job. Finally we added our administrator account and set up the mail domain.
So far, so good. Now to play with the server and see what it can do.
. . . . Later . . . .
That took some getting going. In fact, even though it isn't documented it took a reboot before any of the mail accounts could be accessed.
The web admin tools seem nice enough, and the web mail client is pretty neat. In fact the default interface is nearly a clone of Outlook 2003 - and includes calendering functionality (which I can't get working yet).
I've been able to send emails OK - but not receive them yet. I'll have to double-check the MX records for the test domain.
(How far along is it?. . . . Still formatting C:.)
We've already bought it - but this is just to get a bit of experience before the real install once the license / server hardware arrives.
One thing that surprised me is that it doesn't have it's own database backend - instead it relies upon either an Access .MDB file (yuk!) or an external database. For me it's a toss-up between MySQL and Microsoft SQL Express. As the price is the same for both (free) and seeing as I already run SQL Server 2000 servers here then the obvious choice is SQL Express.
Dear reader, don't take this as a slight against Open Source. I really like Open Source products. I run Linux at home as my main OS and have done for around five years now, but at work - well, standardisation is king. This is also because I won't be the only person maintaining this and, well, Microsoft's SQL Server (and Express too) have very good management tools. Yes, MySQL is getting better, but it isn't there yet.
(Copying files. . . .)
So on to Merak. Not a particularly well known product, at least, I've never heard of it before now. One of it's selling points is that it fits in well with Exchange clients, supports shared calendars, has loads of plugins to extend the functionality of the server, and it is a damn site cheaper than Exchange. It is also cheaper to add additional user licenses to it. Apparently we've bought 1000 user licenses for this.
(Please wait. . . Oh, we've rebooted. Hang on a tick, I'd better get the rest of the install under way.)
Merak can run on either Linux or Windows. It looks like it supports most of the major Linux distros. As we are integrating this into our Active Domain structure we're having to use Windows Server 2003.
("Setup will complete in 39 minutes". Yeah, sure it will.)
All the files are available on the Merak website, and will run quite happily for 30 days before you have to register it. Once you give it your license key then the demo becomes the full, unrestricted version.
(Adding the machine details. One question. Which berk decided to make Tijuana the default time zone for Windows installs?)
Once the initial server install is done, then I'll install SQL Server Express. I've not had chance to play with this yet, so if it turns out to be crap then I'll switch over the MySQL. Hopefully it won't come to that. Let's have a look at what it provides, while I'm waiting for the server install to finish.
. . . .
Scratch that, we're going to have to use MySQL. The limits on the database size and number of processors would cripple the mail server. Thank you Microsoft.
("Installing start menu items. Setup will complete in approximately 19 minutes". Liar. )
Right, I'm off to lunch now. Hopefully the server will have finished the initial install by the time I've eaten my sandwiches.
. . . .
OK, so Windows 2003 is now installed and running as a terminal server. MySQL (and the tools) are installed, so it's time to get on and install Merak itself.
. . . .
Well, installing MySQL was nice and straight-forward. It was an object lesson in clicking Next, Next, Finshed. Installing the tools was just as easy. The only small gotcha with it is to remember that by default you must connect to the databases via localhost rather than by the machine name.
Installing Merak is pretty straight foward too. During install you get two choices - Easy and Advanced. The easy option installs the Access DB backend and is recommended for 100 users or less. For any more than this you should use the advanced option and then select the required backend. And it does support plenty of them too. We chose the MySQL backend, entered our login details, realised that we had to create a blank schema in MySQL for Merak to create its tables in, and then let the installer do its job. Finally we added our administrator account and set up the mail domain.
So far, so good. Now to play with the server and see what it can do.
. . . . Later . . . .
That took some getting going. In fact, even though it isn't documented it took a reboot before any of the mail accounts could be accessed.
The web admin tools seem nice enough, and the web mail client is pretty neat. In fact the default interface is nearly a clone of Outlook 2003 - and includes calendering functionality (which I can't get working yet).
I've been able to send emails OK - but not receive them yet. I'll have to double-check the MX records for the test domain.
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Just what nobody wanted #1
The iPhone. Over-priced, over-hyped, and come Christmas, over here.
Here being the UK of course.
I've yet to be impressed with the iPhone. Maybe someone can clue me in as to what exactly is so good about it. As far as I can see it's a phone that plays MP3s and videos and. . . .
and . . . .
Oh yes! You can browse the web! Slowly!
Looks nice though, doesn't it?
You see, my phone already does all that (and browses the web a damn site faster). So, other than the pose factor (and the larger screen), why should this nobody want one?
Any ideas?
Here being the UK of course.
I've yet to be impressed with the iPhone. Maybe someone can clue me in as to what exactly is so good about it. As far as I can see it's a phone that plays MP3s and videos and. . . .
and . . . .
Oh yes! You can browse the web! Slowly!
Looks nice though, doesn't it?
You see, my phone already does all that (and browses the web a damn site faster). So, other than the pose factor (and the larger screen), why should this nobody want one?
Any ideas?
Nobodys Home
Hello.
I'm nobody important and this is my blog.
"So why should I read this, if you aren't anybody important" I hear you say?
Well, let's face it. Lots of non-important people have blogs these days. Most of them pretend to be important, but very few of them are.
I could call myself a consultant and charge lots of money for making things up, but I'm too honest for that.
I could pretend to be someone like Steve Jobs, but that's already been done to death.
I've never been on Star Trek (or any other TV programme for that matter), neither have I written any books about it.
So I'll just have to remain a nobody.
I'm nobody important and this is my blog.
"So why should I read this, if you aren't anybody important" I hear you say?
Well, let's face it. Lots of non-important people have blogs these days. Most of them pretend to be important, but very few of them are.
I could call myself a consultant and charge lots of money for making things up, but I'm too honest for that.
I could pretend to be someone like Steve Jobs, but that's already been done to death.
I've never been on Star Trek (or any other TV programme for that matter), neither have I written any books about it.
So I'll just have to remain a nobody.
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