[Gllug] Re: XNS and .NET

[Mike Brodbelt]

Axel Segebrecht wrote:


> for example = my main 'alias' is called "Axel Segebrecht"
> and instead of sending an email to "alexander at smatrix.de" you would
> send it to 'Axel Segebrecht' - yes! no @ no email - just the name :)

Hmmm. So, if you're name's Fred Smith, you're probabably out of luck
then?
 
> Of course, it's still in it's infancy (both, .NET/XP and XNS), so
> we need to sit back and wait until ISPs take up on it.
> Which, believe me, they will - cause M$  _IS_  rolling it out with
> XP and by 2002 there will be no more W98 or W2k plus the fact that
> M$ wants to make money with it and push ISPs and commerce sites into
> it anyway!!!

There are plenty of companies out there still using Win95. Considering
the hardware eating abilities of XP, plus the product activation and the
rest, I'd be very surprised if it takes off quickly. 18 months on, Win
2000 rollouts still have less of the market than NT, and *massively*
less than 95/98/Me. At a stage when many people think their PC's are
"fast enough", and hardware sales are slowing, I think the takeup of XP
will be sluggish. I might be wrong, but the trade press recently has
been surprised by the level of general disinterest provoked by XP.
 
> Why should I sign up now? Well, it's FREE for the first 1mio
> subscribers and in the future you will have to "pay" $12.99 to
> register your unique "alias". Although I believe it's not gonna
> take off if they make us pay for it - maybe I misunderstood... .

Sounds dubious to me....
 
> Fact is, it's a good thing 

Is it? What advantages does it offer over what we already have? A flat
namespace on the Internet seems to be one of the more stunningly stupid
ideas I've seen recently.

> and the more people show their
> "appriciation" now, the quicker and stronger we have something that
> can actually compete against M$ - otherwise, the majority of 'users'
> will use M$ XP and Passport, most commerce site (ie: Amazon,
> Blackstar, etc) will only use it to accept and verify people and
> we missed out on a realistic chance to counter the evil Dr. B!

I dislike the idea of Hailstorm, not because it's from MS, but just
because I think it's a thoroughly unpleasant idea. I'm not in favour of
looking for alternatives to it that are non Microsoft - that would be a
case of cutting ones nose off to spite ones face, from where I stand.
 
>From the article:-

================
Engst describes XNS as a "global identity management, privacy control,
and XML-based data exchange technology." He adds, "The main place where
XNS offers an alternative to Microsoft products is in naming,
authentication, and privacy control."
================

I don't want anyone managing my identity, or controlling my privacy.
That's not "not Microsoft", that not *anyone*. I can control my own
privacy quite happily, thank you, and why should I trust these guys any
more than MS. CDDB was "open", and now look at it. With the commercial
value of this kind of database, the only safety is in not having it
exist at all. 

When you look closer, you see the communication agent technology is
*PATENTED*. Oh F**king great. These people are better than Microsoft
how?

Mike.

P.S. Apologies for ranting :-)

-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at linux.co.uk
http://list.ftech.net/mailman/listinfo/gllug