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Domain: com.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to com.com.
Comments · 7,252
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Re:Mac bashing?
Yes, the iPod plays unprotected music, but what mainstream site sells them? Ofcourse we have allofmp3 (which I buy my music from), but I'm talking about true mainstream large retailers (wallmart, msn, yahoo). The average consumer in possession of an iPod has no choice other than Apple's store.
The fact that they haven't been convicted like MS doesn't mean that they are any more ethical. They have already been sued in Europe:
http://news.com.com/Apple,+Sony+sued+over+DRM+in+F rance/2100-1027_3-5575417.html
The fact remains that Apple is deliberatly restricting consumers options. They are free to license WMA for their iPods and they are free to let competitors license their DRM. Both would increase consumer freedom considerably. -
Things to deal with.Um, you can't destroy what doesn't exist.
Love the "Um".Article 30. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
This isn't hard. You said:
"So, you know, all those rights -- you can have them as long as the UN says so."
The Declaration denies the ability of the UN to perform any act aimed at the destruction of the rights the Declaration itself recognizes. So the UN has created a document which doesn't allow it to take away recognition of these rights. And the UN doesn't give you these rights, it recognizes them. It's up to the governments of the world to live up to those standards. (On a personal level, despite your seeming hatred of the UN, I think you'd at least have to acknowledge that the Declaration is an inspiring document.)
You also shot back, "The UN still isn't getting any kind of control of the internet"
Maybe this will surprise you, but I'm not currently in favor of the UN or ITU administering the root servers. The United Nations is outstanding at investigating global health issues and mediating global health and justice crises that no other nation will touch. They also have an important role to play as a venue that induces nations to work out disagreements diplomatically instead of with war.
But the Internet isn't broken, and doesn't need diplomacy or mediation. As a system of information exchange, its freedom is unparalleled. It's difficult to see how the UN could improve it, and easy to see ways in which it could injure it. So I don't think administration belongs with the ITU.
That said, there's little denying that the Internet has outgrown the US, and that the multinational interests associated with it deserve better representation. In a climate where "French toast" is eliminated in favor of "Freedom toast", it wouldn't be out of character for the US government to revoke
As an aside, I've been reading over some of your posts, and wondering why you feel the need to lie about yourself. In this post you describe yourself as a "left-wing liberal", and here you specifically include yourself as a liberal, but here you say socialism is distasteful, and just today, you've declared that poor people are dumb.
Looks to me, Randy, like you're a liar. Apparently you're willing to say anything in order to sound more believable. Kind of a shame you don't have more integrity, and that the evidence of your lack of it is on such public display.
Tell me again how you're a "left-wing liberal"? On second thought, nevermind. Go back to your regularly-scheduled mouth foaming, just with some other post. I'm done here. -
It's hard to root for the so-called "underdog" ...
when the "underdog" sleeps with the enemy.
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Re:Apple and Adobe
um, you are wrong. apple invested in adobe way back in the postscript days but sold all its shares in the late 80s for a signficant profit.
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?home&News ID=11340
perhaps you're thinking of microsoft's investment in apple:
http://news.com.com/MS+to+invest+150+million+in+Ap ple/2100-1001_3-202143.html -
Re:Pot, Kettle
It would be sheer idiocy to give goverments unaccountable to their people ANY control when we can avoid it. Unless you think it'd be okay for China's dictators to vote
How can you say this with a straight face?
The Bush administration is unaccountable to over 50% of the US population, who did not vote for them. Yeah, there are other governmental institutions than the Whitehouse (not that they're any more representative of their respective areas), but the Whitehouse seems to be the focus of power. Isn't it the Bush administration that just put a block on the
China want to censor anti-government feeling, Whitehouse wants to censor what it doesn't like. It'd censor anti-government feeling if it could get away with it, too. -
Details
As usual, the submission leaves out critical details.
The new Power Mac G5 highlights include dual core G5 processors (IBM PowerPC 970MP), PCI Express, DDR2 RAM, and dual gigabit ethernet on all models:
Single 2.0, single 2.3, or dual 2.5 GHz dual-core IBM PowerPC 970MP (G5) processor
1.0, 1.15, or 1.25 GHz frontside bus per processor
512MB PC2-4200 DDR2 RAM, expandable to 16GB
160GB or 250GB Serial ATA drive
16x dual layer CD-RW/DVD+/-RW SuperDrive
Three open PCI Express expansion slots: two four-lane slots and one eight-lane slot
NVIDIA GeForce 6600, 6600 LE, 7800 GT, or Quadro FX 4500 video
Dual gigabit ethernet
USB 2.0, FireWire 400 (IEEE-1394), FireWire 800 (IEEE-1394b)
AirPort Extreme (802.11g), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Analog and optical digital audio in and out
Mighty Mouse (Two button scroll mouse)
The new PowerBook highlights include higher resolution screens, longer battery life, and standard SuperDrives:
1.67 GHz Freescale PowerPC 7458[1] (G4) processor, 512MB PC2700 DDR RAM, expandable to 2GB, 80GB or 120GB Ultra ATA/100 drive
8x dual layer CD-RW/DVD+/-RW SuperDrive
1440x960 (15") or 1680x1050 (17") resolution screen
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128MB DDR SDRAM and dual-link DVI (supports 30" display)
Gigabit ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, PC Card slot
USB 2.0, FireWire 400 (IEEE-1394), FireWire 800 (IEEE-1394b)
AirPort Extreme (802.11g), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Illuminated keyboard
Analog and optical digital audio in and out
DVI/VGA/composite/S-Video out
Also new is the amazing pro photography software Aperture, as well as new lower pricing on Apple Displays.
I might as well send my writeup on last week's announcements as well, since the submission (and discussion) there were really light on info too...
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iMac G5
A new, even thinner, iMac G5 with an integrated 640x480 iSight camera and integrated media center software called Front Row.
1.9 or 2.1 GHz IBM PowerPC 970fx (G5) processor
512MB PC2-4200 RAM, expandable to 2.5GB
160GB or 250GB Serial ATA drive
8x dual layer CD-RW/DVD+/-RW SuperDrive
ATI Radeon X600 Pro or XT PCI-Express video
Gigabit ethernet, USB 2.0, FireWire 400 (IEEE-1394)
AirPort Extreme (802.11g), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
1/8" stereo audio or optical out, 1/8" line in
VGA/composite/S-Video out
Mighty Mouse (Two button scroll mouse)
The inclusion of PCI-Express and PC2-4200 RAM in the new iMac bodes well for the upcoming updates to the Power Macs and PowerBooks.
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Front Row
Media center software currently only included with the iMac G5. Allows for seamless interface with music, movies, movie trailers, pictures, TV shows, and so on via either the iMac's screen or an external screen such as a projector or TV. Includes an infrared remote control. A demonstration of Front Row is available here.
It is likely that Front Row will make its way to other products in the near future, such as the Mac mini. It is only available for the iMac G5 "at this time", according to Apple.
The one feature of typical media centers that Front Row does not support is TV recording. But Apple seems to have a different idea for TV shows, as will be seen below. (However, TV recording can be accomplished with a wide variety of third party tuners.)
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iPod (iPod video)
Apple introduced two new iPods to completely replace the existing "larger" iPods. The same height and width as the older i -
Re:Statist Musical ChairsI support the notion that the US should encourage freedom, because liberty is a human right
You mean "liberty" as in the right to travel freely, work where you want to, voice your opinion openly on public streets--that sort of thing?
Or do you mean it in a more defined sense, like freedom of the press, right to due process, right to bear arms--that sort of thing?
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of countries out there with similar, or worse restrictions than the U.S. But let's not kid ourselves and think ANY country is truly free, or above cracking down on the internet if it has the power.
-Eric
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Re:Sorry bud but Firefox ain't what it used to be
Wait...
'It's had more security bugs in this past year than IE'
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2005/07/26/ 211088/MicrosoftworksonfixasFirefoxisupdated.htm
True.
'Note: I still USE Firefox on all my machines but it's because I don't mind wasting time patching it every few weeks when another vulnerability comes out.'
Favourable comment regardless fo previous fact.
'Don't get me wrong, I love the features of Firefox but from a security standpoint I realize I'm taking a risk by using it.'
http://news.com.com/Symantec+Mozilla+browsers+more +vulnerable+than+IE/2100-1002_3-5873273.html
http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml ?articleID=163100338
Also True.
So how exactly is this flamebait?
People who graded this as a flame are burying there heads in the sand. Firefox has become more popular it has therefore come under more attack and yes it has been found not to be particularly secure. Theres a simple reason why. No Web Browser non of them witout exception are secure nor will they probably ever be.
Take a step back from your MS bashing two seconds to realise that IE has actually been working hard on sealing its bugs up non stop since its conception. MS wasnt leaving bugs in for a laugh, and the people working on this arnt rubbish programmers or incompetant. The problem is simply overwhelming.
The idea that Firefox, which hasnt had years of being tested against a vast army of crackers, and has only even been a particular target for spyware and such relatively recently, would be more secure is ludicrous.
Now whether the speed and how they handle the security flaws is good enough to counteract the greater numbers of bugs is another argument and not one Id want to speculate on. -
Re:Direct Democracy
If direct democracy is implemented in the USA, you better be welcoming your creationist, freedom oppressing overlords.
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Re:Bill gates on computing historyI would prefer the following.
"Knife the baby"
"Knife the baby" is a quote from an Apple excutive.
For example, Tevanian claimed Microsoft's Christopher Phillips had told Apple executive Peter Hoddie that the company should back away from QuickTime.
Tevanian told the court: "Mr. Hoddie said, 'Do you want us to knife the baby?,'" referring to QuickTime. "And Mr. Phillips said, 'Yes we're talking about knifing the baby.'"
So please make sure Apple gets the credit.
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Re:In other words...Bill Gates: Steal from the poor. Give a small slice back to the poor in order to allow the theft. Live richly.
I refuse to get on the "but he does some good" bandwagon here.
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Polymer Memory Technology
My best guess is that the non-volatile memory technology is polymer based. Polymer memory has extremely high read/write throughupt.
Having a superfast disk media will not improve boot times unfortunately. There are all ready windows benchmarks of booting directly from battery-backed RAM, and the results were not much better than using a standard hard drive. -
shame to miss this
Others want more money too...
http://news.com.com/Unions+seek+video+iPod+residua ls/2100-1026_3-5896766.html?tag=nefd.top -
Prelude to chipping people
There have been some attempts to chip people, but there is a pretty strong public dislike of it. There's a pretty strong business motivation for it, though -- lots of money at stake (look at e-voting, for instance). Putting chips in other things is a good way to get people used to the idea.
There have already been moves in this direction, towards tagging prisoners in Mexico (the Mexican AG is tagged to help people get used to the idea), towards tagging schoolchildren in part of Japan, and so forth.
On the whole, I don't really like the idea of tagging. We have a pretty robust social system precisely because it's not possible for a single group to tightly monitor and everyone in a state -- he'd be facing almost instant rebellion. However, at least tagging is better than biometrics (at least if someone compromises your chip, you can just get a new chip -- if someone compromises an iris scan, you have a problem).
The other problem is the huge number of companies who are trying badly to sell RFID tags for everything. RFID is the most oversold technology since XML. Not that RFID isn't useful -- it's convenient for a specific (not *that* common) case of having to scan unusually-shaped objects, where retrying a scan is acceptable, where the speed is not that high, where there are not multiple objects close together, and where the range is very short (a foot or two). This pretty closely describes what happens at a retail checkout counter, which is the big killer app for RFID. On many similar boxes you can have scannable labels, on high-speed packages you need to be able to do a read faster, and so forth.
The thing is, Wal-Mart has backed RFID in its products (which makes sense from its standpoint -- to handle that inventory problem), and now that there's a market, there are eight zillion companies trying to convince every business out there that they *need* RFID yesterday, which is absurd -- in many ways, RFID is a step *backwards* from less-complex technology.
As you can tell, I'm not really thrilled about the motivations of most of the people pushing stuffing chips into everything either -- if there's a direct, measurable, pragmatic benefit, then it's worth evaluating something like this. Otherwise, it's just technology without a purpose. -
Re:Learn from the IBM case.Now they're accepting SCO money to "partner" with them to develop MySQL so it works better on SCO's server software.
uhhhh...
From GrokLaw's interview with Marten Mickos:
no money went to SCO from MySQL, so MySQL is not supporting SCO financiallySo, MySQL isn't accepting SCO money.
From The official Press Release:
As part of the agreement, the companies will work together on a range of joint marketing, sales, training, business development and support programs that will benefit customers throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Additionally, SCO will include a trial subscription to the MySQL Network enterprise database service with each new copy of SCO OpenServer -- and offer full MySQL Network subscriptions through its reseller channel.So neither MySQL nor SCO is writing any special code -- they're just cooperating on marketing and training support.
From a Cnet article on the subject:
Part of the bad blood in the suit stems from a flopped partnership called Project Monterey under which IBM, SCO and now-extinct Sequent agreed to create a version of Unix for Intel's Itanium processors. SCO shared expertise with IBM about how best to run Unix on Intel processors for that project, the suit said.So, Project Monterey was a joint venture to rewrite an operating system for a new ISA. I fail to see any significant similarities between Project Monterey and the MySQL/SCO deal.
Nice FUD, though.
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Re:This stuff is a nightmare in manufacturingThis stuff is a nightmare in manufacturing
With the cost of developing a chip as high as it is, these little attempts at humor can be very expensive. When this article re-appears in 2007, let's hope all the examples are the same old ones.
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Re:Trading With The Enemy
A quick google for "ibm nazi" proves you wrong. IBM helped automate the death camps with a punch card system. Here's a link to a review of Edwin Black's book "IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation."
Whether there was a high level strategic alliance between IBM and the Third Reich, as the book alleges, is open to debate. That IBM helped automate the death camps is a simple historical fact. -
Re:I have four bank accounts...
Here we go, RSA is currently piloting a solution that will let people access multiple websites with a single token. Nice!
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Re:Oh, B.S.
2) The EU is trying to be relevant here. And they'd like a way to control the internet for taxation purposes. They've stated that many times in the past.
The problem that many countries (and the EU) has with the current situation is that they don't have any say over its current administration. For instance, there was the trouble with ICANN demanding fees from the reqional registrars without being able to promise any form of stability in return, which Nominet (the
4) Lets fact it the EU has a fundamentally different view of free speech than the U.S. we can't reconcile it here or anywhere, so that disagreement will always be there.
In what way? There are some minor differences, but in both the US and the EU the freedom of speech if firmly enshrined in law. -
Re:The box still looks better than the screenshots
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Re:The box still looks better than the screenshots
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Re:The box still looks better than the screenshots
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Re:Damn!
Thats okay. The United States is the global leader in sending spam anyways.
http://www.techweb.com/wire/26804974/
http://news.com.com/U.S.+cooks+up+most+spam/2100-1 024_3-5322803.html/
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117336,0 0.asp/ -
While I don't agree with the EU or the others...The interesting argument I have heard when it comes to "freeing up" the body that governs the domains is the fact that decisions for the entire world (the internet is, afterall a global community) have been blocked or complicated by American Politics.
I don't agree with one country's moral constructs governing a global community/resource.
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Bye Bye Innodb!!
In case you haven't already heard, Oracle purchased the makers of Innodb! Bye Bye InnoDB
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Re:Do No Evil
Interesting that Microsoft are also being nice and friendly with AOL at the moment. Just what is going on in all those boardrooms at the moment?
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Re:marketing expedience
I've read about him doing these college talks several times in the near past. My guess is the video would show something similar to what he's been saying. Something about how they need more CompSci majors, especially with some kind of business masters type skills for project management assignments. I've *heard* that these project management jobs are tougher to outsource than the straight technical stuff but I'm not sure how much I believe it.
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mac annoncement, Wednesday 13.58 eastern
It's a new imac and a video ipod http://news.com.com/Apple+unveils+video+iPod%2C+n
e w+iMac/2100-1041_3-5893863.html?tag=nl -
In the case of criminally bad code, maybe
Not programming really, but there was a case of the military blacking out classified text in a PDF document and releasing it. Later they found out that placing black boxes over the text does not erase the text from the document. Reminds me of people that do "?username=foobar" or javascript authentication. Stupid things like that should not be tolerated. If you don't know the medium well enough to provide basic security, you should not be working with it. In the case of bugs? They happen to even good programmers, it's not negligence.
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Re:Guess what? Won't happen!
I *AM* an actual designer, and it never fails to amaze me how people will comfortably devote "years" to learning proprietary software that costs $485.00 http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Adobe_Photoshop_7_0/4 014-3633_16-8918085.html , but cannot be bothered to investigate the menus in Gimp for five minutes for free to discover all the features they claim Gimp is missing. But, uh, oh, yeah, *sure*, you guys are ALL THAT!
If you make a good living doing a job and there is one primary tool that you use for most of your work, the difference between free and $485 is meaningless. -
Re:Guess what? Won't happen!have (generally) spent years learning the Adobe suite.
I work with ACTUAL designers. They all think it's an ugly piece of shit.I *AM* an actual designer, and it never fails to amaze me how people will comfortably devote "years" to learning proprietary software that costs $485.00 http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Adobe_Photoshop_7_0/
4 014-3633_16-8918085.html , but cannot be bothered to investigate the menus in Gimp for five minutes for free to discover all the features they claim Gimp is missing. But, uh, oh, yeah, *sure*, you guys are ALL THAT! -
Blurring the line...
I remember when Amiga was talking about such an environment. Where the lines between appliances were blurred. They dubbed it Digital Convergence but never went very far with it.
The idea was that all of your devices serve a single purpose (they did in 1998, when this was published). But, Amiga had this vision that they'd develop a platform that could live on a TV, a computer, a mobile phone, even a PDA. You could watch TV on your phone. Or you could use your phone over the TV (huh?). Even better, your phone and your TV could be your computer.
The next ten years are definitely going to be interesting. Will Microsoft ever get this thing off the ground? Or will all of the litigation stifle it?
I realize what Microsoft is talking about is a bit different, at least on the surface. But if they have this portable "media OS" they can certainly take it to the next level -- the level of "Digital Convergence". -
Re:Bad journalism
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Amazing Apple Zealots
A story about Real and we already have 3 Apple worship posts.
Something Apple phans may not know: Real supported Linux when nobody else did. Only windows/apple people seem to bitch about Real.
MP3 and Real was all we had on Linux. Somebody supported Linux when somebody else was taking subsidies from Microsoft. -
Re:My reasons
Right on. I always install Adblock with Firefox or Mozilla. I haven't seen a pop-up or flash advertisement for months. They all seem to come from a few advertisers. Here is my adblock list:
http://.mediaplex.com/* http://.tribalfusion.com/*
http://.doubleclick.net/* http://.adbureau.net/*
http://.atdmt.com/* http://.emode.com/*
http://.advertising.com/* http://.tickle.com/*
http://.fastclick.net/* http://.falkag.net/*
http://.e.akamai.net/* http://.yieldmanager.com/*
http://.casalemedia.com/* http://.serving-sys.com/*
http://.pointroll.com/* http://.thinktarget.com/*
http://.zedo.com/* http://.com.com/cnwk.*/Ads/*
http://.qnsr.com/* http://ar.atwola.com/*
http://ads.guardian.co.uk/* http://rss.slashdot.org/~a/*
http://.starwave.com/* http://ads.ign.com/advertisers/*
http://ads.space.com/RealMedia/ads/* http://gfx.dvlabs.com/* -
Re:If I were RIM...
I think you'll find that eminent domain only applies to property, i.e., real estate. Whatever legal reasoning (if any) is behind the injunction's exception for government account holders, it has nothing to do with eminent domain.
And, actually, the USPTO keeps dismissing NTP's patents after re-examination, which is going to eventually throw this whole thing into further disarray. -
news.com.com version
http://news.com.com/IBM+Workers+genetic+data+off+
l imits/2100-11395_3-5892244.html?tag=nefd.top
I think the text was copied verbatim, but I'm not sure. -
Should be future legislation: RFID Kill SwitchI imagine stores that rely on RFID in house will also be required to destroy the RFID before you walk out of the place.
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Re:We've been over this beforeTake off your tinfoil hat and put on your thinking cap. Let's figure out how to take advantage of a great technology and figure out how to make it safe.
Rest assured that sooner or later, anything that can be abused will be.
Read this: http://news.com.com/2010-1069-980325.html
Check out the stuff Gillette Vice President Dick Cantwell says. Note his use of "at this time..." and "at this stage of the game..." That means something. The VP of a major, multinational corporation doesn't use expressions like that for no reason. -
Re:Canada getting ass-fucked yet again by the US o
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Wait just a second !!
I don't think anyone here knows what NTP is. They are the little guy in this case!
Before we stone NTP to death let's take a closer look at them.
NTP was found buy Tom Campana http://news.com.com/Key+figure+in+BlackBerry+case+ dies/2100-1041_3-5238198.html
a guy that invented staff, just like many others on this forum. He just did not wanted to be riped off by a big company! -
We've been over this before
Sure - in theory all that's possible. However, when the world's largest retailer (Wal-Mart) will be disabling them at checkout you can bet others will follow. The market will take care of itself. Look - people thought barcodes were going to do the same thing and now you wouldn't do without 'em (everything from UPS to all the food in your kitchen).
Personally I would like to have it in some items. Books and DVD's could be quickly added to my delicious library (currently I scan the barcode), I could manage the inventory in my kitchen much better (which would integrate well with recipe software) and it would be great if I could just put my wine on the racks in my cellar and not have to track it manually.
Take off your tinfoil hat and put on your thinking cap. Let's figure out how to take advantage of a great technology and figure out how to make it safe. -
Re:So, why does M$ hate Google?
Bill, AFAIK, doesn't hate Google. He just doesn't understand or agree with them
Ballmer, on the other hand tends to go a bit overboard. -
Re:Fair Use?But this has already been decided, until you mount a new challenge, or get Congress to chance the law:
- Joining a growing consensus among courts across the country, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York found that computer code is speech and therefore entitled to some First Amendment protections under the U.S. Constitution. But the court concluded that the material in this case is "content-neutral," and therefore entitled to considerably less protection than "expressive" content such as poetry or a novel.
"Neither the DMCA nor the posting prohibition is concerned with whatever capacity DeCSS might have for conveying information to a human being, and that capacity...is what arguably creates a speech component of the decryption code," the unanimous three-judge appellate panel wrote in a 72-page opinion that leaned heavily on the reasoning of a lower court.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-276353.html (url also includes link to complete decision)
That is -- while the code to break stuff is protected speech, the breaking still isn't. I can describe an algorithm to you in the most expressive means available that may circumvent a protection (as outlined in the DMCA) but --and this is where I diverge from your understanding-- as soon as your computer compiles or interprets that information, or you enact those instructions yourself by hand, you have broken the law (the act of manufacturing a device, using a device, and the circumenvention itself are all against the law, but there is no law against the description of said device). In short, you can write the program to circumvent something but it is illegal to compile it, run it, or follow it (and without a long battle in the courts you may not be able to distribute it [the code], "traffic" it, or discuss it in acedemic research). As the Act says: "No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device (or) component [that is primarily for circumventing copy protection]". Describe and research aren't in that list.
Of course, IANAL - Joining a growing consensus among courts across the country, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York found that computer code is speech and therefore entitled to some First Amendment protections under the U.S. Constitution. But the court concluded that the material in this case is "content-neutral," and therefore entitled to considerably less protection than "expressive" content such as poetry or a novel.
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Re:Yeah but...
"But Xbox games have come close. Steel Battalion looked stunning and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory looked even better. The PS2 demos looked even better, showing facial detail that I'm not even sure we'll see in the next generation."
WTF? The PS2 demos looked better than things we'll see in the next gen?! Can I have what you're smoking? You need to look back at the PS2 demos and point out to us exactly where this phenominal facial detail was! FFX, God of War, Killzone, GT4, etc. blow away those demos, which look like trash today.
"What free MMORPGs? True Fantasy Live was all I've ever heard of in that department, and it was never planned to be free."
Yes, it was (no monthly fee).
"Downloadable game demos? Well we got levels, but demos are the developer's and publisher's call. They just didn't want to."
So? How does that change the fact that MS promised them but they didn't come?
"With what support? People try to make comments about the 360, ignoring that the PS2's HDD solution fell flat on its face."
This is hilarious. You first claim that it's not Microsoft's fault that developers did not issue game demos via xbox live, but then slam sony's developers for not utilizing the hard drive? Not that that's fair to sony, since i don't recall them ever claiming that every ps2 game would support the hdd, while MS could have easily posted game demos that were already being released on CD.
"Again, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory looks MUCH better than Toy Story. I won't say the same for The Incredibles or Finding Nemo, but Toy Story's been easily met. Also, I've only heard those claims regarding PS2 previews."
If you believe that Splinter Cell looks better (from a technical standpoint) than toy story then I'm afraid the only thing I can offer you is advice to see an optometrist. Here's some shots from toy story just as an example:
http://www.kefk.net/Film/Filme/T/o/Toy.Story/Abbil dungen/0004.JPG
http://www.kefk.net/Film/Filme/T/o/Toy.Story/Abbil dungen/0009.JPG
http://www.kefk.net/Film/Filme/T/o/Toy.Story/Abbil dungen/0001.JPG
"Also, I've only heard those claims regarding PS2 previews."
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+got+game+Xbox+unveil ed/2100-1040_3-250632.html
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,40970, 00.html?tw=wn_story_related -
Gawdammit Slashdot.When the law was passed, Congress mandated the register of copyrights revisit the anti-circumvention section every three years
Really Slashdot? How interesting. I wonder when the next review is due... Right now? Ya don't say! And comments are due by Dec 1, 2005!? Well fancy that. Certainly some kind souls out there must have submitted this information as a story. I wonder why we aren't reading about it? Ahhh, door handles of the future, I see. That's much more important. THAT is 'stuff that matters' I tell ya. Well, if anyone is still interested after reading about said door handles... here are some other interesting links regarding the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions:
- Lexmark brings DMCA lawsuit against SCC for refilling Lexmark printer cartridges.
- SCC brings lawsuit against ISV for refilling Lexmark printer cartidges after beating the same rap itself in the Lexmark case.
- Makers of universal garage door remotes slapped with DMCA lawsuit.
- Robot dog modders threated with DMCA.
- Mobile phone services stifling competition with DMCA.
Hmm... looks like the DMCA is being used to make lawyers rich and stomp on innovation and competition. And to think, I thought copyright was about 'promoting progress.' Silly me.
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This HAS been beaten to death before
slashdot 2004
news.com 2002 - there was a
a quick Google should find plenty more explaining how this was tied to the Microsoft Antitrust lawsuits and how they managed to weasle partly out of it -
Re:A sign of things to come?It is really hard to find that particular information again. I did some research and here are the results. First, I had a look at the WP page about the Google platform. In the year 2003 Google released some specifications: "15,000 servers ranging from 533Mhz Intel Celeron to dual 1.4Ghz Intel Pentium III". One year later - the year of the IPO - someone (see the article) estimated the following specs:
- 719 racks
- 63,272 machines
- 126,544 CPUs
- 253 THz of processing power
- 126,544 GB of RAM
- 5,062 TB of hard drive space
Here is a rather interesting interview with Urs Hoelzle. No numbers in here, but still a good read. You can also watch an interview with Urs as he talks about the software and hardware of Google. They use NetScaler as load balancers (link) and I think I read about the 120k machines in an article about the NetScaler load balancers a year ago.
The amount of servers could be something between 100.000 and 200.000 servers. -
Re:Great for Yahoo, bad for Google
The number you're looking for is 12 : http://news.com.com/Google+to+bid+on+AOL/2100-103
8 _3-5873485.html -
Re:Largest DB Vendor in the world
Ummm.....cites? According to this, IBM is the market leader with 36%, Oracle follows closely with 32.6%, while MS isn't even close with 18.7%. Or is this "ships more units" as in "ships it with every copy of Windows Server", whether it gets used or not?
