December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Open Source Software - Proposal (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From ravage(a)ssz.com Tue Feb 10 10:35:27 1998 From: Jim Choate <ravage(a)ssz.com> Message-Id: <199802101635.KAA02425(a)einstein.ssz.com> Subject: Open Source Software - Proposal To: users(a)ssz.com (SSZ User Mail List) Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 10:35:25 -0600 (CST) Cc: friends(a)ssz.com (Ravage's Friends), stugreen(a)realtime.net X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 3835 Forwarded message: > X-within-URL: http://earthspace.net/~esr/open-source.html > > GOODBYE, "FREE SOFTWARE"; HELLO, "OPEN SOURCE" > > After the Netscape announcement broke in February early 1998 I did a > lot of thinking about the next phase -- the serious push to get "free > software" accepted in mainstream corporate America. And I realized we > have a serious problem with "free software" itself. > > Specifically, we have a problem with the term "free software", itself, > not the concept. I've become convinced that the term has to go. > > The problem with it is twofold. First, it's confusing; the term "free" > is very ambiguous (something the Free Software Foundation's propaganda > has to wrestle with constantly). Does "free" mean "no money charged?" > or does it mean "free to be modified by anyone", or something else? > > Second, the term makes a lot of corporate types nervous. While this > does not intrinsically bother me in the least, we now have a pragmatic > interest in converting these people rather than thumbing our noses at > them. There's now a chance we can make serious gains in the mainstream > business world without compromising our ideals and commitment to > technical excellence -- so it's time to reposition. We need a new and > better label. > > I brainstormed this with some Silicon Valley fans of Linux the day > after my meeting with Netscape (Feb 5th). We kicked around and > discarded several alternatives, and we came up with a replacement > label we all liked: "open source". > > John "maddog" Hall and Larry Augustin, both of the Linux International > Board of Directors, were in on the brainstorming session (though > interestingly enough the term "open source" was suggested by > non-hacker Chris Peterson, observing for the Foresight Institute). > Linus Torvalds himself approved it the following day. And it isn't a > Linux-only thing; Keith Bostic likes it and says he thinks the BSD > community can be brought on board. > > We suggest that everywhere we as a culture have previously talked > about "free software", the label should be changed to "open source". > Open-source software. The open-source model. The open source culture. > The Debian Open Source Guidelines. (In pitching this to corporate > America I'm also going to be invoking the idea of "peer review" a > lot.) > > Bruce Perens has volunteered to register "open source" as a trademark > and hold it through Software in the Public Interest. And RMS himself > has said he'll use the term (though not exclusively) as long as the > Open Source Definition Bruce is working up isn't weaker than the > Debian Free Software Guidelines. > > And, we should explain publicly the reason for the change. Linus has > been saying in "World Domination 101" that the open-source culture > needs to make a serious effort to take the desktop and engage the > corporate mainstream. Of course he's right -- and this re-labeling, as > Linus agrees, is part of the process. It says we're willing to work > with and co-opt the market for our own purposes, rather than remaining > stuck in a marginal, adversarial position. > > It's crunch time, people. The Netscape announcement changes > everything. We've broken out of the little corner we've been in for > twenty years. We're in a whole new game now, a bigger and more > exciting one -- and one I think we can win. > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Back to Eric's Home Page Up to Site Map $Date: 1998/02/10 03:55:36 $ > > > Eric S. Raymond <esr(a)snark.thyrsus.com> >

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New: Linux Weekly News (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From ravage(a)ssz.com Tue Feb 10 10:34:50 1998 From: Jim Choate <ravage(a)ssz.com> Message-Id: <199802101634.KAA02399(a)einstein.ssz.com> Subject: New: Linux Weekly News To: users(a)ssz.com (SSZ User Mail List) Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 10:34:40 -0600 (CST) Cc: friends(a)ssz.com (Ravage's Friends), stugreen(a)realtime.net X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 19324 Forwarded message: > X-within-URL: http://www.eklektix.com/lwn/ > LINUX WEEKLY NEWS > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > --> > > Linux Weekly News > > > > Bringing you the latest news from the Linux World. > Dedicated to keeping Linux users up-to-date, with concise news for all > interests > Published February 5, 1998 > > Sections: > Linux articles > Security > Kernel news > Distributions > Ports > Software Development > Tips and tricks > Announcements > > > Leading items > > This is going to be the year of free software. I have honestly come to > believe that. The free software movement is about to make tremendous > gains in respect and mindshare in realms where it has long been > ignored. Big software firms may want to start worrying, because the > world is changing around them. > > Anybody who didn't read Eric S. Raymond's The Cathedral and the Bazaar > paper should go and do so now. It describes the Linux development > model nicely, as well as the reasons for the success of that model. > Netscape has credited this paper with being a crucial influence in > their decision to free the source to their browser. > > As of this writing, Eric is evidently in Silicon Valley discussing > licensing terms with Netscape. The word is that he is also meeting > with several other "leading Silicon Valley CEO's" to discuss the free > software model. One wonders who else may decide to adopt the bazaar > model of development. > > Whether or not other firms follow Netscape in the near future, free > software now has a visibility that was lacking before. Peruse the set > of articles listed below, and you'll see what we mean. This can only > be good for the Linux world, as the validity of its model of > development gains the recognition it deserves. It's looking like > interesting times. > > David Miller, the force behind the Sparc and SGI ports, finally > resurfaced after a longish, low-profile period. To see what he has > been doing, check out the Cobalt Micro page. I don't know anybody who > has actually run one of these cool, blue Linux boxes, but they look > like a fun toy... > > Does unix need to be rescued from the hackers?. This item isn't > particularly new, but Michael Hoffman's article on the need for a > seamless graphical user interface for unix systems is still good food > for thought. Another person, Perry Harrington, would like to replace > the X window system with something better, and which would include a > serious user interface policy. See his page if you would like to > participate. > > Peruse the LWN Archives. > > Our obligatory Linux links page. > > Got some feedback, some news to publish, or something else you would > like to tell us? lwn(a)eklektix.com is our address. > > Or would you like to be notified when new editions of the Linux Weekly > News are published? Click here and send a blank message. > > Please see our contact page for other contact information. > > The permanent site for this page is here. [Articles] > > Linux in the news > > Wired news ran an article on free software last week. The obvious > point of interest was Netscape, but Linux rated some favorable mention > as well. It's a reasonable discussion of the merits of free software > in general. > > Accolades from the Emerald Isle. An article in the Irish Times > financial section is also favorable toward Linux, explicitly as an > alternative to NT. I assume that "Linux remains at the coalface > technologically [...]" is a positive thing... > > There is a four-part series on free software in news.com this week. > It's a reasonably good and sympathetic series, despite its title: > "Socialist Software." > > Many of us have heard the old argument: "There is no technical support > for Linux." Well, then, why has Infoworld awarded its 1997 technical > support award to the Linux community? It's a great bit of recognition > that just because software is free doesn't mean that it's unsupported. > Show this one to your boss. > > Ah yes, and their award for operating systems went to Red Hat 5.0... > > Two other articles in Infoworld: Nicolas Petreley thinks that > Netscape's move could be a winning strategy, while Mark Tebbe talks of > the model used by "a renegade OS such as Linux" and raises, you > guessed it, the spectre of support. > > "[Linux] is emerging as a viable competitor to Microsoft's Windows NT" > according to an article in the New York Times. Note that this site > requires registration now... The old convention of using 'cypherpunks' > for the username and password will get you in, if you don't wish to > register separately. > > The folks at TBTF ran a couple of Linux-related articles this week. > One, dedicated to estimating the size of the Linux community, comes up > with 5-7 million installed Linux systems in the world. > > We are told January's issue of Sky & Telescope has a nice Linux > article in it. We haven't seen it, though; check your local newsstand. > > > CNN's article on top selling software for January includes a reference > to Red Hat Linux. It's number three in the "Business Software > (MS-DOS/OS/2)" section. "Business software" can almost make sense, but > "MS-DOS"??? [Security] A serious X-windows security problem has > been reported in XKB, depending on X11 version and environment, which > can allow local users to exploit a "feature" XDB to execute arbitrary > programs with extra privileges. Quick vulnerability check and fix are > provided in the posting to linux-alert. You can also see Red Hat's > advisory on this bug. > > The AT&T Crowds project has chosen linux for their next target. Crowds > is intended to protect a person's anonymity as they browse the web and > already runs under SunOS, Solaris and Irix. > > The filter program that comes as part of the elm-2.4 package contains > two vulnerabilities, one of which could be remotely exploited. Details > here. > > Michal Zalewski reported a problem with gzexe, part of the gzip > package. Seems it uses predictable filenames in /tmp, which may allow > users to destroy the contents of files on your system. Use of gzexe is > not widespread, but Red Hat recommends upgrading your version of gzip. > [Kernel] The current development kernel version is 2.1.85. It > includes the ability to boot off of MD striped disks, a bunch of SCSI > changes for machines with the IBM MCA bus, bug fixes, and > documentation updates. Thus far, reported problems are few, though > there are evidently some build problems with the MCA SCSI stuff. > > Alan Cox states that TCP is "somewhat broken" in the 2.1.8x series, > "and will remain so until it's fixed." As always with development > kernels, be careful out there. Patches continue to roll in towards a > (still somewhat distant) 2.2 release. > > A stated goal, once development starts on 2.3, is reworking and > cleaning up the sound driver code. Some of you may have noticed that > it can be a bit, um, difficult to configure and make work right. It's > not clear how that development will proceed, but Colin Plumb posted a > good, concise article on some of the issues involved. > > Richard Gooch continues to update his enhancements. The MTRR patch > (MTRR stands for Memory Type Range Registers - now we all understand, > right?), which greatly speeds frame buffer access, is up to rev 1.8 > (against kernel 2.1.84). His "devfs" patch (runtime creation of the > /dev tree) is up to version 18. Both are available from his patch > page. Still no word on when (or if) these patches will go into the > 2.1 kernel. > > Unless you have a multiprocessor machine, be sure not to compile your > kernels with SMP enabled. Recent development kernels seem to be even > less than usually forgiving in this regard; SMP kernels on a > uniprocessor machine can die in weird and unpleasant ways. > Unfortunately, SMP is still the default, and is not a configuration > option; you need to edit the Makefile and comment out the SMP = 1 line > near the beginning. Believe me (voice of experience here) it's an easy > thing to forget... > > Also in the SMP arena is a flurry of activity around IO-APIC use. The > IO-APIC is an interrupt controller on multiprocessor systems which is > able to route interrupts to any CPU, thus helping to create a true > symmetric multiprocessing system. However, each motherboard seems to > do it a little different, leading to one of those bits of hardware > obnoxiousness that takes a long time to sort out. The 2.1.85 kernel > added a document describing IO-APIC for those interested in the > details. > > Is the Linux Maintenance Project dead? The question was raised this > week, since the web pages have not been updated in recent times. The > answer is that the maintainer is busy, and some new ways of running > the web pages are being worked out. Expect some activity there in the > not-too-distant future. > > William Stearns is working on a program to automate the process of > building a new kernel. Check out his web page for more info. Since > we're a weekly publication, chances are we'll be behind a rev or two > on the kernel release by the time you read this page. Up-to-the-second > information can always be found at LinuxHQ. [DISTRIBUTIONS] > > Debian > > Yes, it's true! Debian is dumping dselect! From the recent mention on > debian-announce, the new package manager meant to replace dselect is > now being demonstrated and will probably appear in 2.1 or one of the > early point releases. > > Mentioned recently on debian-announce, a Debian system was used to > develop the AMSAT Phase 3-D satellite, one of the series of Ham Radio > Satellites. Check it out here. > > A reminder to frustrated Debian users who are only finding their > favorite software in RPM format: "alien" can be used instead. If you > have trouble with alien, try upgrading to debianutils 1.6. > > The January issue of the German magazine CHIP Extra comes with a > CD-ROM containing Debian 1.3.1 and the Beta version of StarOffice 4.0 > for Linux. Review from debian-user indicates that the issue is very > well done, with a lot of useful info for both novices and users. > Here's CHIP's Web site, primarily in German. > > Red Hat > > Red Hat reports recent turn-over in their support staff which has hurt > the Red Hat installation support they provide via e-mail to people who > purchase their $50 set. They "have been working to midnight and > beyond" to catch up with the backload and have hired new staff. Robert > Hart (Red Hat's support manager) assured people on redhat-list that > Red Hat installation support will not be terminated at 30 days if a > delay on their part caused the time to run out. > > Red Hat 5.0 users have also been griping a bit about how the errata > pages are handled. Complaints include slow updates, and Red Hat's > tendency to update existing entries, making it very hard to notice a > second update for a given package. A call was made for public > announcements from Red Hat whenever updates go out. > > Users on redhat-list have been poking at > http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/IE4mk/, finding that > accessing it from Netscape 4.04 crashes some Xservers, and not others, > depending on your Xserver and Linux version. No direct link is > provided, on-purpose, but feel free to check it out!. > > Off-topic, but on the redhat-list, Dave Wreski compiled and posted a > list of free ssh-clients for Windows. He would like to see people > choose one, try it out and post a review, since interest in them is so > high. > > Slackware > > Reported on bugtraq: Imapd/ipop3d problems in slackware 3.4 if you > install the pine package. When fed an unknown username, imapd and > ipop3d will dump core. Details here. Patrick Volkerding [maintainer of > Slackware] has already responded and will put out a repaired package. > > S.u.S.E > > For the Linux trivia buffs, S.u.S.E stands for 'Software und System > Entwicklung', which means software and system development. If you're > interested in S.u.S.E's history, check out this post from Bodo Bauer. > > How do you pronounce S.u.S.E? A popular Americanism is "Suzie", but if > you ask in Germany, the pronunciation will be closer to "Seuss-eh" (as > in Doctor Seuss) or "Souss-uh". Boy was it fun to watch people try and > describe a sound in an e-mail message! > > There are a lot of converts from various Unix flavors on the > suse-linux-e list (of course!). If you're interested in comments from > one person who recently installed the distribution, check it out. > [Ports] > > Alpha > > At least one Linux system vendor (Net Express) has stopped selling > Alpha-based systems as a result of the Compaq takeover of Digital. See > their Alpha systems page for details on their reasoning. On the other > hand, most other vendors and the Alpha discussion lists remain > relatively calm on this subject, suggesting that not everybody is > worried. > > There is an article in SunWorld Online about the Compaq takeover. No > real conclusions, but they raise some concerns. > > Sparc > > People are already asking whether SPARC/Linux will run on the new, > PCI-based Ultra workstations. No definitive answer has been posted, > but it seems awfully unlikely. The new bus, new video, and (oh joy) > IDE disks are all stuff that SPARC/Linux has never had to deal with > before. /td> [Software Development] Almost overnight, the > linux-ha (linux high-availability list) has revived and is generating > good discussion! If you are interested in high-availability Linux > solutions, now is the time to get involved! You can subscribe to > linux-ha on the Linux Mailing Lists page. > > [Articles] Some folks are discovering they can no longer access > hosts with underscores in their names. Host names with underscores > have always been against the rules, but many systems have let them > work anyway. However, the new GNU C library, shipping with the latest > Linux distributions, enforces this rule. If you have host names with > _underscores_, you might want to consider renaming them soon. > > Want to run Oracle 7.3.3 under Linux? Jan Andersen posted a detailed > howto describing the path to there using the IBCS package. > > If you see these errors from Netscape Communicator 4.04: > > sh: -c line 1: missing closing `)' for arthmetic expression sh: -1 > line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `;' sh: -c line 1: > `((/usr/local/bin/rvplayer /tmp/MO34B2F4B209B0136.ram); rm /tmp/\ > MO34B2F4B209B0136.ram )&' > > your problem is actually probably your version of bash. Try upgrading > to the latest version (2.01) to fix the problem. > [Announcements] > > Software and documents > > Package Version Description accton 4.0 Driver for Accton pocket > ethernet adaptor buslogic 2.0.11 Leonard Zubkoff's outstanding > BusLogic SCSI adaptor driver CD patch Patch to 2.0 33 kernel to > support new CD formats datapult 2.02 Scripting language for web > servers ddd 2.2.2 Graphical front end to gdb (very nice) FireMyst 0.8 > Small, UMSDOS-based system (for recovery diskettes) fnorb 0.4 CORBA > object request broker for Python. One of the best-named packages out > there, in your editor's opinion. freetype 1.0 TrueType font rendering > engine ImageMagick 4.0 Amazing image manipulation/conversion system > KDEbeta 3 K desktop environment lftp 0.14.0 Command-line FTP client > lilo-color Patch to Lilo 20 to display boot messages in color linbot > 0.3 Web site management tool mat 0.15 System administration tool plor > 0.3.2 Offline mail and news reader secure-linux Patch to kernel 2.0.33 > to add a number of security features. SMS client 2.0.5 Send SMS > messages to mobile phones snipix 2.12 Run SNA (and talk to your old > IBM mainframes) on your Linux box. Free for Linux, commercial for > other OS's. Software Building mini-HOWTO 1.52 HOWTO on building > software from source StarOffice 4.0 Office suite, free for private use > TkInfo 2.4 Tcl/Tk-based info browser TtH 1.1 Translate TeX to HTML > webalizer beta WWW server log analysis xbomb 2.1 X-based minesweeper > game LLNL XDIR 2.1 Motif-based graphical FTP client xtc 0005 X toolkit > in Java zed 1.0.1 "Fast, powerful, simple, configurable" text editor. > --> > > Projects > > A bunch of ambitious folks have announced the Java/Linux NC project. > They want to provide a complete network computer implementation, with > a full set of Microsoft-type applications, for free. Java and Linux > are their tools. It's a big project, and I wish them luck; check out > their announcement for more info, or to join up. > > Other folks want to clone Userland's "Frontier" scripting environment. > See their announcement for more. > > A volunteer-supported (commercial) Webzine, 32 Bits Online is looking > for LINUX writers to share with the world why Linux is their operating > system of choice. If you're interested in an audience for your > opinions, send e-mail to Ronny Ko. > > The Virtuoso project seeks to put together a fancy 3d graphics package > for Linux. See their announcement if you would like to help. > > The folks with the amazing samba project are setting out to create a > free NT domain controller. > > The Linux Clothing Project moves into a new phase of Linux fashion. > Heaven forbid we have any naked Linuxes out there... > > Web Sites > > The LSDB (Linux Software Database), a cgi searchable database of linux > software has moved. The new address is http://www.egypt.pca.net. > > Events > > 1998 Atlanta Linux Showcase, October 23 - 24, 1998, Atlanta, Georgia. > > Asia and Pacific Rim Internet Conference on Operational Technologies > (APRICOT). Manila, Philippines, February 16-20, 1998. > > On the lighter side > > A native returning "down under" after a year and a half gives a note > on Linux' increased popularity in Australia. > > Some fear that the joke announcement that Linus was going to integrate > Netscape into the Linux Operating System may have the same lifespan as > the Good Times Virus ... Eklektix, Inc. Linux powered! This > page is produced by Eklektix, Inc. >

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Re: TEMPEST (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Subject: Re: TEMPEST > Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 18:32:28 +0000 > From: Markus Kuhn <Markus.Kuhn(a)cl.cam.ac.uk> > You might want to consider to read van Ecks paper yourself: > > Wim van Eck: Electromagnetic Radiation from Video Display Units: An > Eavesdropping Risk? Computers & Security 4 (1985) 269--286 > > If you don't have C&S in your library, you might also find a > scan on <http://www.eskimo.com/~joelm/tempest.html> I read the paper when it came out, but that's been a while now..:) Thanks for the reference, I'll take a look at it over the next few days. > > As I alluded to with the comment I made about integrating the received > > signals. The easiest way to do this sort of stuff with a small budget is > > with a flying capacitor integrator. > > Please explain! I was more thinking in terms of digitizing everything > and solving large per-pixel systems of equations to separate the drifting > images, which does not sound much like something equivalent to a > single hardware integrator, but more like something that keeps a > workstation very busy for a few minutes. I'll describe how it works in hardware and then how I've done it in software. Hardware: You have a bank of n capacitors that are hooked to a amplifier via a mux. You use a counter that you start with some sort of trigger that sequentialy connects each cap in turn to the amplifier. The charge and as a consequence the voltage varies depending upon whether the new voltage is higher or lower than the last sample. The assumption being that the signal itself is time invariant and that the variations in signal strength are noise and random in nature. After only 3-4 cycles through the cap bank you begin to pull a workable signal out of the noise. The nice thing is that this works for signals that are below the noise floor and buried in the grass. In a VanEck monitoring situation you'd need a bank of n capacitors where n is the number of horizontal pixels. You will also need to array each bank into a m row matrix where m is the number of scan lines. You can get around some of the bulk by using a gyrator circuit to synthesize the capacitor and some sample-and-holds to synthesize the array. The advantage here over software is that this signal can be sampled as its built in real-time (use instrumentation amps) unless you happen to have dual-port ram in your computer (I've never had access to such hardware) and fed to whatever equipment you want to process it. Software: You take a A/D converter and drive an array with it. You sync it the same sort of way as the hardware methods above. Each element in the array contains the current estimate for that particular sample of the total waveform. Each time you come back to the same array element you compare the last value to the new value. You take the value that is half-way between the two and store that as the new array value for the next cycle. In short order a signal comes out. Either the hardware or software method will naturaly integrate the signal within the sample window because of the capacitor effect. This compensates for clock and signal jitter quite nicely. This method will require a D/A conversion process if you want to feed it to any external equipment. Though it should be perfect for Van Eck monitoring. Simply use your video frame buffer as your sample storage array. Enjoy. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The obvious is sometimes false; | | The unexpected sometimes true. | | | | Anonymous | | | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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[Fwd: The Caldera lawsuit vs MS: alive and well] (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From owner-alg-l(a)lists.io.com Tue Feb 10 11:24:16 1998 Message-ID: <34E08D1C.9FDF1AF8(a)bga.com> Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 11:23:40 -0600 From: Stu Green <stugreen(a)bga.com> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.03 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.0.33 i586) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: alg-l(a)lists.io.com Subject: [Fwd: The Caldera lawsuit vs MS: alive and well] Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------9A07051BBF5BBA9469DB7E8D" Sender: owner-alg-l(a)lists.io.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: alg-l(a)lists.io.com This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------9A07051BBF5BBA9469DB7E8D Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --------------9A07051BBF5BBA9469DB7E8D Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Received: from mail1.realtime.net (mail1.realtime.net [205.238.128.217]) by zoom.bga.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id LAA21596 for <stugreen(a)bga.com>; Tue, 10 Feb 1998 11:00:38 -0600 Received: (qmail 28812 invoked from network); 10 Feb 1998 17:00:33 -0000 Received: from rim.caldera.com (207.179.39.2) by mail1.realtime.net with SMTP; 10 Feb 1998 17:00:33 -0000 Received: (qmail 4352 invoked by uid 87); 10 Feb 1998 17:00:23 -0000 Delivered-To: majordom-caldera-users(a)rim.caldera.com Received: (qmail 4340 invoked by uid 87); 10 Feb 1998 17:00:21 -0000 Received: (qmail 4331 invoked from network); 10 Feb 1998 17:00:18 -0000 Received: from bigbird.telly.org (198.53.146.159) by rim.caldera.com with SMTP; 10 Feb 1998 17:00:18 -0000 Received: from elmo.telly.org [204.187.86.2] by bigbird.telly.org with smtp (Exim 1.73 #1) id 0y2J2d-0004bq-00; Tue, 10 Feb 1998 12:00:15 -0500 Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 12:00:15 -0500 (EST) From: Evan Leibovitch <evan(a)telly.org> To: Caldera Users Mailing List <caldera-users(a)rim.caldera.com> Subject: The Caldera lawsuit vs MS: alive and well Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980210114438.27088G-100000(a)elmo.telly.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: majordom-caldera-users-owner(a)rim.caldera.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: caldera-users(a)rim.caldera.com Personal note: This amendment appears to be fairly significant. Previously, the suit was only against practises related to MS-DOS; now Windows95 and 3.1 are part of the deal. At this point a settlement seems unlikely; November could be a *real* interesting month. - Evan ----------------------------------------------------------------- FEDERAL COURT ALLOWS CALDERA TO FILE AMENDED ANTITRUST COMPLAINT AGAINST MICROSOFT Nation's Only Private Antitrust Lawsuit Against Microsoft Adds Claim that Microsoft Illegally Tied MS-DOS Into Windows 95 Orem, UT -- Feb 10, 1998 -- The Federal Court hearing Caldera's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft has agreed to allow Caldera to amend its complaint and introduce evidence at trial that Microsoft illegally created a technical tie of MS-DOS into Windows 95. Caldera claims that the unnecessary technical tie of MS-DOS into Windows 95 artificially created an impression that DOS on the desktop was dead. In court, Caldera will show that this act and other practices illegally eliminated competition to MS-DOS. This latest court decision allows Caldera to extend its claims of illegal behavior and its request for financial damages to include both historical and existing practices. With this amendment, the courts are allowing Caldera to include consideration of Microsoft's Windows 95, Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS market shares when calculating both the industry effect of Microsoft's alleged monopolistic practices and the financial damages being sought by Caldera. "This amendment to our antitrust case is not about the benefits or features of Windows -- it is about an illegal tie of MS-DOS into Windows 95. We allege Microsoft created this illegal, artificial tie for the dominant purpose of eliminating competition," said Bryan Sparks, President and CEO of Caldera. "The evidence we have to support this new claim coupled with the evidence we have to support our other claims extends our conviction that we will win." Caldera can demonstrate that Windows 95 runs on DR-DOS, Caldera's version of DOS, demonstrating that no technological dependency exists between MS-DOS and Windows 95. In court, Caldera will use this fact to prove that the unnecessary tie between MS-DOS and Windows 95 is one of the many illegal and predatory tactics Microsoft has used and continues to use to maintain its desktop monopoly power. In November 1997, the court denied Microsoft's motion to change the venue of Caldera's trial from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Seattle, Washington. This case is currently scheduled for jury trial in November 1998 in Federal Court located in Salt Lake City, Utah. --------------9A07051BBF5BBA9469DB7E8D-- --- To unsubscribe send the message "unsubscribe alg-l" without quotes to majordomo(a)lists.io.com Send questions to owner-alg-l(a)lists.io.com

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Sen. Feinstein explains why she supports crypto-restrictions
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 11:00:33 -0800 (PST) From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> To: politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Sen. Feinstein explains why she supports crypto-restrictions ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 20:15:42 -0800 From: Christopher Allen <ChristopherA(a)consensus.com> Subject: Re: Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein I received a response to the "Letter to Senator Feinstein" today. It reads as follows: February 3, 1998 Mr. Christopher Allen President and CEO Consensus Development Corporation 2930 Shattuck Avenue Suite 206 Berkeley, California 94705 Dear Mr. Allen This is in response to a January 16th unsigned letter from a group of high technology companies on encryption policy. In this letter, you urge me to meet regularly with representatives from the companies who sent the letter. I want to assure you that both I and my staff do meet regularly with executives from California firms who are concerned about all aspects of our government's laws and policies regarding the high tech industry. Indeed, I cannot recall ever rejecting a request for a meeting with a CEO on the issue of encryption or other matters of great import. Should you or any of your co-signers wish to meet with me, please just call my or my scheduler, Trevor Daley at 202/224-9636. With regards to my position on encryption, I have no one solution that I favor, included mandated key recovery. However, I am concerned that whatever solution is devised must provide solutions to the issues raised by FBI Director Louis Freeh, which have been reinforced by classified briefings and public hearings that I have attended. Should you have any additional questions about my views on encryption please review a Question & Answer interview I gave to the San Jose Mercury News last September. My answers, though general in nature, accurately set forth my thinking. However I recognize the complicated nature of encryption and am eager to hear industry proposals. I look forward to a continuing dialogue on this issue with you and your colleagues. With warmest personal regards. Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein United States Senator DF:seg (enclosure: "Why Feinstein is supporting encryption curbs", San Jose Mercury News, Monday, September 15th, 1997, page 1E) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ... ** NOTE NEW OFFICE ADDRESS & PHONE NUMBER ** .. ... Christopher Allen Consensus Development Corporation .. ... President & CTO 2930 Shattuck Ave. #206 .. ... <ChristopherA(a)consensus.com> Berkeley, CA 94705-1883 .. ... <http://www.consensus.com> o510/649-3300 f510/649-3301 ..

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GOOD NEWS ABOUT BAD ACCOUNTS
by search＠peoplefinders.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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"Corporations selling your ass down the road for a dollar"
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 13:56 -0400 2/10/98, Michael Sims wrote: >I am aghast. Why not just pull some "facts" from the National >Enquirer or another equally reputable source? > >I would ask Declan how the hearings went but I suspect there'll be a >Netly piece involved. Yep, I'll probably write about this. There are three, maybe four, other Net-related hearings today, which I won't be able to go to, unfortunately. >None of this is news to Declan of course. I just get disappointed >when I see industry mouthpiece after industry mouthpiece without a >single goal in mind except maximum profit. Libertarianism in >action - corporations sell your ass down the road for a dollar and >some stock options. I'm sure Michael was upset and not typing clearly. He knows as well as anyone that libertarians are not pro-business; they're pro-individual rights. Libertarians spend quite a bit of time complaining about the Republican habit of funding corporate subsidies. The pursuit of profit in the free market is not to be discouraged -- without it, we wouldn't have the Internet we have today. Rather, we should be suspicious of the intersection between the government and the market in Congress and in federal agencies. I've written elsewhere about the dangers of industry sellouts on civil liberties -- sellouts and compromises which are of course opposed by libertarians. The libertarian Cato Institute opposes the McCain bill at issue in this hearing. -Declan

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Fourier & Signal Analysis...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, There is one final point I would like to make regarding at least one comment on Fourier Analysis of signals in a noisy environment. Fourier signal analysis is not good for this sort of stuff, what you want is a function called a Laplace Transform. Fourier is a method to take a complex signal and break it down into component trigonometric functions (eg sin) such that we can apply filtering and other frequency dependant operations to the signal to improve the signals characteristic signature or operate on a particular component (ie a component that is resonating with something and decreasing the s/n ratio - ringing on a pulse edge for example). If you want to find a signal in the noise you want to apply a Laplace. What it does is convert the amplitude-time variant signal (ie f(t)) into a power-frequency variant signal (ie f(s)). What this does is take, for example, a sample of a signal and describe how that signals power is divided between the various frequencies in that signal (eg McLauren Series). In most applications the grass of the signal will be evenly distributed across the s-mapping while the signal (at least its carrier component) itself will show up as a spike of noticeable amplitude. The reason you do this in signal analysis is because that transormation function will often be a simpler equation to solve numericaly that actualy trying to deal with f(t). So, if you want to find a signal in a complex environment use a Laplace Transform, once you've found the signal and want to know about its components use a Fourier Transform. Good hunting! ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The obvious is sometimes false; | | The unexpected sometimes true. | | | | Anonymous | | | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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Re: FCPUNX:time to learn chinese?
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-- At 10:24 PM 2/9/98 GMT, Adam Back wrote: > The interesting aspect of her speculation was on the > possibility of an economic and political process of change > which would result in a transition directly from communism > to a free market based political system, by-passing > democracy and socialism. She viewed democracy and > socialism as mistakes made by the west to be learned from > and avoided. In other words, instead of China taking over Hong Kong, Hong Kong takes over China. We shall see. Right now Hong Kong is being run by some rich capitalist chinese. (What else is new, you may ask) The problem with such systems is that they are vulnerable to the same disease that struck down Venice. Rich merchants aquire state power, soon are tempted by the easy and safe returns from confiscation and taxation, rather than the difficulty and risk of commerce, soon become aristocrats, equally contemptuous of the poor, of real businessmen, and of earning an honest living. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG f/S+Mn40UqaSQjsUULlWtwVMEkmnupDDQNCEyHSC 44TB2tTSr9ueaMq5FhuDDot2crWmnd7SePUYV0Qux --------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the state. http://www.jim.com/jamesd/

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Blind signatures dead in the water. What now?
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-- At 09:25 AM 2/9/98 -0800, Tim May wrote: > Sadly, the ideas of David Chaum are more needed than ever, > but his stuff is essentially nowhere to be seen. (To > reflect Lucky's comments back to him, > :-), spare us any citations of how Mark Twain Bank will let > :some people > open a cumbersome Digicash account.) Why are blind signatures dead in the water? One obvious reason is that people attempting to do business with David Chaum seem to get rather irritable. Still, despite that, Digicash actually exists, but no one uses it. One reason is that the network to convert Digicash into other forms of value is rather limited, whereas the credit card network is fast and spans the world. Another is that people do not wish to hold large amounts of Digicash] for long periods, (security, no interest) and converting money back and forth between interest bearing forms and Digicash attracts rather high charges. (Or used to attract rather high charges when last I looked.) So where do we go from here? One obvious solution is nymous money-- money that is not anonymous, but is not required to be connected to one's government approved and registered name either. This is arguably better than the half-anonymous money that has in fact been implemented by Digicash. What nymous money projects are happening, and how are they going? --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG LYaOPLZKNwSNWeffnb7uS95ByY1zFrrw5ORiNblo 4jCWkLjLNXwKCdAtmb4IoOno/9n7A5bv6OhoyZ2Ki --------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the state. http://www.jim.com/jamesd/

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