Slashdot Mirror

yoey writes: "Blast from the past in an article at the Economist: There are those who do not believe in the desirability of introducing anything as esoteric as electronics into business routine at all. Others believe that there is a limited field for electronic methods, provided that they fit into, and do not disrupt, established business systems. But there is a third group ... who consider that a major revolution in office methods may be possible. This revolution would involve scrapping the greater part of the established punch card calculating routine and substituting a single 'electronic office' where the giant computor [sic] would perform internally all the calculations needed for a whole series of book-keeping operations, printing the final answer in and on whatever form was required."

(Last of two parts): Is globalism as relentlessly evil and corrupt a force as all those nasty demonstrations in Seattle and Milan would suggest? Anti-globalists sometimes seem to confuse corporatism with globalism, lumping in all sorts of issues under one term. There are plenty of economists and social scientists who maintain that globalization -- including the spread of new information and business technologies -- can not only be a great force for good, but in some forms represents the only feasible cure for global poverty and inequality. They also argue that political leaders have to meet more, not less, about these problems.

Many anti-globalization interests, Jay Walljasper writes in the latest Utne Reader, have coalesced in the belief that growing poverty, environmental destruction and social breakdown, with continuing bloodshed seen around the world, are the direct results of an international political and economic system that places most of the world's wealth and power in the hands of unaccountable and powerful corporations. "To these activists," writes Walljasper, "a new era of global peace and justice can be achieved by reinvigorating local communities and creating a new international system that promotes cooperation over competition."

Sounds great. In fact, it sounds like the early Wired Magazine manifestos about the Net, some of which I wrote. But would such a system work? Even if it did, who would pay for it and maintain it? And who will curb those corporations whose economic, lobbying and political power far outstrips any of those groups protesting their existence? Why would citizens in the west pay to "reinvigorate" local communities elsewhere and create a new international system? Globalism thrives on the contributions of corporations who want to profit from it, not from the efforts of governments or civic groups advancing democratic ideals.

The idea that globalism could even bolster those ideals is a view not widely held by fundamentalists or by certain educated elites in Europe and the United States. The institutions that to most minds represent the global economy -- the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization -- have become reviled and distrusted in these circles, their meetings developing into bloody standoffs. Political leaders in economically-advanced countries can no longer meet to talk about trade or economic issues without sparking riots.

The protesters opposing them represent a variety of causes, from the loss of good domestic jobs to the lowering of global wages to denouncing sweatshops to decrying environmental desctruction. They have quieter allies, too; even in prosperous Western economies, support for trade liberalization has declined and governments are accused of caving in to business interests. Liberal politicians from Bill Clinton to Britain's Tony Blair have expressed puzzlement and frustration at this sometimes anarchic, unthinking political fury; they claim such organizations are vital if wealth, technology and economic opportunity ever gets equitably distributed around the world.

Moreover, an editorial in the Economist magazine argues that anti-business protesters have their arguments upside down -- with genuinely dangerous consequences for the sometimes just causes they hope to advance. On the whole, says the Economist, stricter regulation of international business won't reduce profits. "What it may well do, though, by disabling markets in their civilizing role, is to give companies new opportunities to make even bigger profits at the expense of society at large." Companies pressured to increase wages will simply move, close overseas plants or charge more, thus make more profits. Afterwards, "The companies, having shafted their third world competition and protected their domestic markets, count their bigger profits (higher wage costs notwithstanding). And the third world workers displaced from locally-owned factories explain to their children why the West's new deal for the victims of capitalism requires them to starve."

If you follow these violent and confusing protests -- many now organized online -- you get the impression that some of these demonstrators confuse globalism with corporatism, since large companies are among the most vocal advocates of globalism and so far are its primary beneficiaries. The trappings of corporatism -- using technologies to create low wages and new markets, while suppressing individual enterprise and distinctive cultures -- have already encircled the world. McDonald's is much more symbolic of globalism than a small village in India getting wired for the Net, even though the latter may ultimately be more significant. And many political scientists equate Afghanistan's poverty, political extremism and instability to the fact that globalization hasn't yet reached the country.

The world's biggest companies sometimes appear more powerful than the world's biggest governments. (Microsoft's long and successful battle with the U.S. Justice Department is a good case in point). In the United States, they control our media and popular culture and are the primary contributors to the political system. Their lobbyists are the single most influential political force in Washington.

It's not surprising that many people feel instrinsically uncomfortable with globalism. Humanists aren't the spokespeople for globalization -- economic interests are. Corporations appear to be unchecked, and corporations have little inate social responsibility. They exist to generate profits, not advance social agendas or protect the environment, so they inevitably spark enormous resentment in foreign cultures whose citizens want jobs but are then puzzled by their own resulting lack of prosperity. These foreign workers also find that new globalizing technologies undermine their own national identities and religious and political values, all increasingly subsumed by the homogenized Disneyfication and Wal-Marting of the world that has swallowed up U.S. popular culture and countless small business, from pharmacies to family farms. The U.S. comes to seem like a remote, sometimes monstrous, always greedy and insensitive force.

But Giddens argues that democracy -- and the globalism inextricably linked with it -- is the most powerful emerging idea of the 21st century. Few states in the world don't call themselves democratic now, even when they aren't, like China and North Korea. In fact, the only countries are explicitly refer to themselves as non-democratic are the remaining semi-feudal monarchies or fundamentalist entities -- Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria.

Democracy's spread has now in fact created a bloody confrontation with fundamentalism, a holy war. Both sides refer to one another in evil blasphemers. Lost in this confrontation is the idea that Democracy isn't only about multi-national markets, cheap labor and business opportunities. It's about the liberation of information, freedom of religious and cultural choice, and a brorader value system with a complex civic structure. Yet another good reason why multinationals ought not to appear more powerful than governments (they aren't) and become the sole face and voice of globalization.

evenprime asks: "The Economist is running an article about a program that takes gang members in Milwaukee, sends them through rehab, and teaches them web development so that they can have a decent paying job. I think this type of program - one that gives people the ability to help themselves - is a great idea, and it is something that many of us could help with. Do slashdot readers know of any similar programs in other places? If so, what type of qualifications do you think they would require before allowing someone to help teach web design?" Such programs are just too damned cool. Are there any others like it?

evenprime asks: "The Economist is running an article about a program that takes gang members in Milwaukee, sends them through rehab, and teaches them web development so that they can have a decent paying job. I think this type of program - one that gives people the ability to help themselves - is a great idea, and it is something that many of us could help with. Do slashdot readers know of any similar programs in other places? If so, what type of qualifications do you think they would require before allowing someone to help teach web design?" Such programs are just too damned cool. Are there any others like it?

cyberkine writes: "The Economist has an interesting article on Microsoft's technology strategies that ends with a very astute comparison with IBM's downfall and resurrection in the wake of its own antitrust battles. 'Microsoft's biggest underlying fear is that it will become like IBM - --a company that still has a strong business but no longer sets computing standards.'"

Sara Chan writes: "This week's edition of The Economist has the cover story and lead editorial devoted to how geography affects the Internet after all. The whole of China is basically firewalled. In France, Yahoo! is appealing the court ruling that banned its selling Nazi memorabilia. In Iran, ISPs are required to block immoral sites. Each country wants to impose its own laws on others, of course without reciprocation. The editorial concludes thus: "The likely outcome is that, like shipping and aviation, the Internet will be subject to a patchwork of overlapping regulations, with local laws that respect local sensibilities, supplemented by higher-level rules governing cross-border transactions and international standards." Not all new, but worth pondering."

Sara Chan writes: "This week's edition of The Economist has the cover story and lead editorial devoted to how geography affects the Internet after all. The whole of China is basically firewalled. In France, Yahoo! is appealing the court ruling that banned its selling Nazi memorabilia. In Iran, ISPs are required to block immoral sites. Each country wants to impose its own laws on others, of course without reciprocation. The editorial concludes thus: "The likely outcome is that, like shipping and aviation, the Internet will be subject to a patchwork of overlapping regulations, with local laws that respect local sensibilities, supplemented by higher-level rules governing cross-border transactions and international standards." Not all new, but worth pondering."

Sara Chan writes: "This week's edition of The Economist has the cover story and lead editorial devoted to how geography affects the Internet after all. The whole of China is basically firewalled. In France, Yahoo! is appealing the court ruling that banned its selling Nazi memorabilia. In Iran, ISPs are required to block immoral sites. Each country wants to impose its own laws on others, of course without reciprocation. The editorial concludes thus: "The likely outcome is that, like shipping and aviation, the Internet will be subject to a patchwork of overlapping regulations, with local laws that respect local sensibilities, supplemented by higher-level rules governing cross-border transactions and international standards." Not all new, but worth pondering."

mwillems writes: "The Economist posts this story this week about how old computer hardware can be worth money. At the Vintage Computer Festival East, a lot of old hardware was seen, swapped and admired. An industry is emerging, it seems: an Apple One apparently fetched $25,000 at auction. Time to dust off my Ohio Scientific OSI Challenger 4-p!" These festivals sounds like a lot of fun -- can anyone offer some first-hand reports from the Boston one? Hmm. The local thriftstore has a working Mac IIci for $1.98 -- maybe I should put it on eBay as a collectable.

GuyFromAccounting writes: "Tomorrow's Economist has a new article describing research that shows that the number of human genes is more than twice the estimate made a few months ago.The article describes why it is so hard to estimate the number of genes."

GuyFromAccounting writes: "Tomorrow's Economist has a new article describing research that shows that the number of human genes is more than twice the estimate made a few months ago.The article describes why it is so hard to estimate the number of genes."

Sara Chan writes: "The Economist has an interesting story about software in a country described as 'The land that time forgot.' This country has wealth and technology to rival the USA, and over 125 million people. Yet it has a software industry that discourages creative thinking and gives no chance to entrepreneurs. Firms that specialize in custom software charge a pre-fixed amount for a system. And Microsoft has little presence there, because most software runs on the antiquated mainframes with which the software came bundled. Yes, it's Japan. (And if you're not well familiar with Japan's culture, it's also worth reading the articles now appearing in The Atlantic Monthly.)"

Jeff Scarpace writes: "The Economist is reporting that last week, at the International Conference on Quantum Information in Rochester, New York, physicists from the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico explained how to build a system that will broadcast uncrackable messages via satellite."

Jeff Scarpace writes: "The Economist is reporting that last week, at the International Conference on Quantum Information in Rochester, New York, physicists from the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico explained how to build a system that will broadcast uncrackable messages via satellite."

This being Slashdot, I know quite a few of you are interested in any advances in display technology and wearable computing. Well then you might then be interested in some of the happenings that occurred this week in San Jose. The Society for Information Display kicked off their 32nd annual conference this week, featuring the bleeding-edge in display technology, including Organic LED screens and what may be the coolest head-mounts seen yet. You can get the skinny in a report from Chris DiBona.

The following report is from Chris DiBona:

This week the Society for Information Display held their 32nd annual conference at the San Jose McEnery Convention center. I found out about the show because a company I follow, Micro-Optical, a manufacturer of Head Mounted Displays had noted on their site that they would be exhibiting there. The Society for Information Display is a 6000+ member organization representing all aspects of the display industry. In essence if you build something that glows then you probably are a member of SID.

After receiving my press pass and bag-o-stuff, I went straight to the exhibit hall to walk the aisles. Entering into the hall was like stepping into the future. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but the only way that it could have been cooler would be if the lights had been dimmed. Everywhere I looked my eyes fell on something that was either luminescent, gleaming or simply groovy. Maybe I'm just a freak for neat displays, but it was just exciting to see there.

Walking the show floor I saw any number of wonders. There was the 60" HDTV plasma screen that panasonic was showing off, a five foot diagonal screen that was simply awe inspiringly large and beautiful. There was the NEC plasma mounted on Plexiglas (lots of that at this show) so you could see it's innards. There were more LCD flat panels than you could shake a stick at, not to mention the old CRT technology, and let me tell you walking the floors of this show it was clear that CRT's are seriously old news.

One thing I noted was that Organic Light Emitting Displays (technology primer, past slashdot story on OLEDS) were simply everywhere. There were OLEDS for palm devices (one company even had a palm running an OLED sister screen), OLEDS for cell phones, for video and for data. They ranged from a small 64x64 1" screen for a cell phone to the 800x600 13" full color display that Sony promised was on display mounted in their booth. There were monochrome and full color screens and I left the SID show knowing that OLED is the future, big time, so get used to it. While it won't supplant LCDs in the short term, you can bet by mid-decade they will be at least as ubiquitous as LCDs, if not more so. The OLED displays are simply put, beautiful. Extremely viewable, bright and clear.

Also at the show were the LCD manufacturing support people, advertising the substrates, cutters and adhesives that make panels possible. This stuff was mostly beyond me, but I goggled at the laser cutter they had going that was cutting glass panels there on the floor. Also on the floor was company that makes the panel enclosures for military and ruggidized applications.

One thing that also impressed was an almost palm sized high-density 1200x1600 LCD screen. Samsung had a palmtop style demo that was pretty amazing. They showed full color high density text and it was exceptionally readable and super cool. (see pictures below).

As I noted, the reason I was at this show was to check out Micro-optical's HMDs. They didn't disappoint, in fact, if there was any disappointment it was that they weren't passing out freebies to the press. Their HMDs are mems-based and very, very small. Mounting on the side of or as part of a normal pair of glasses. Ranging from 20 to 52 grams, the company offers 2 resolutions, 320x200 and 640x480, however the in glass mounted , and thus easier to disguise, model only handles 320x200. That said, the one that mounts on the temple they now offer in a variety of really bitchin' colors. They can be operated from one of those Sony camcorder batteries if you are away from a socket.

I of course tried them on, adapting to them was a little weird at first but the potential for this stuff is mind boggling. The display that was mounted as part of the glass was more troublesome as they actually have to be fitted by an optometrist so I sort of had to hold the spectacles in an odd manner, but that was okay. The image was a bit dimmer than the on-temple one, but they offer a brighter monochrome mode that is much easier to resolve. Having the image floating there in front of you can be a bit disorienting as your eye is trying to focus on too many things at once, I'd imagine you'd get used to it pretty quickly, but if I were to purchase it, I'd probably select a sunglass for them to mount it on to aid the transition.

To wrap up, the future is OLEDs and me saving up money to become a Stephensonesque gargoyle. Another interesting thing about the conference is the realization that there was absolutely no-one that I knew from the local or national open source scene. It was pretty refreshing in its way, and it really drives home how much is going on in technology at any one time. It's great being part of this business.

Resources:

Society for Information Display
A small picture gallery from the show.

InfiniteWaitState writes: "Lighter weight laptops may soon be more affordable and have better displays ... Forget LCD, according to this article in The Economist, soon OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diodes) will be in mass production." These organic screens keep getting promised, but this article says that at least 30 companies now have plans to produce them, and that Sony has some biggish plans for TVs as well as computer screens, as well as a 13" demo model to show off.

agallagh42 writes "Check out this article at ComputerWorld Canada by Peter de Jager, about how the best IT workers are really just "kids with big toys". How many of you have come across IT workers that obviously have no real interest in technology, and how much does it affect the quality of their work?" (Read more for another article on the more serious side.)

Code_Poet writes: "For anyone that has tried explaining to management the importance of well structured IT in a corporation, here is an excellent article over at The Economist on-line edition that explains the need quite well. Many companies when in a crisis situation just want the problems fixed and want to move on. Few understand it's an integral function of a corporation these days..."

Upshot? Toys are fun, fun is important.

agallagh42 writes "Check out this article at ComputerWorld Canada by Peter de Jager, about how the best IT workers are really just "kids with big toys". How many of you have come across IT workers that obviously have no real interest in technology, and how much does it affect the quality of their work?" (Read more for another article on the more serious side.)

Code_Poet writes: "For anyone that has tried explaining to management the importance of well structured IT in a corporation, here is an excellent article over at The Economist on-line edition that explains the need quite well. Many companies when in a crisis situation just want the problems fixed and want to move on. Few understand it's an integral function of a corporation these days..."

Upshot? Toys are fun, fun is important.

LarsWestergren writes "The latest issue of The Economist has an interesting group of articles on software, including The Beast of Complexity, Open Source, Sun, Microsoft and the Battle of the (next generation) Platforms, XML alphabet soup, and Software Integration. Not technical, in-depth or error free, but still a good overview, and a hint of what the suits of the world find interesting in computer culture." A good thing to point your boss to, if necessary. Economist articles often include some interesting graphs -- in this case, for instance, there's an interesting chart (though from aging data) on Linux developers by their email suffixes attached to the second of these articles.

LarsWestergren writes "The latest issue of The Economist has an interesting group of articles on software, including The Beast of Complexity, Open Source, Sun, Microsoft and the Battle of the (next generation) Platforms, XML alphabet soup, and Software Integration. Not technical, in-depth or error free, but still a good overview, and a hint of what the suits of the world find interesting in computer culture." A good thing to point your boss to, if necessary. Economist articles often include some interesting graphs -- in this case, for instance, there's an interesting chart (though from aging data) on Linux developers by their email suffixes attached to the second of these articles.

LarsWestergren writes "The latest issue of The Economist has an interesting group of articles on software, including The Beast of Complexity, Open Source, Sun, Microsoft and the Battle of the (next generation) Platforms, XML alphabet soup, and Software Integration. Not technical, in-depth or error free, but still a good overview, and a hint of what the suits of the world find interesting in computer culture." A good thing to point your boss to, if necessary. Economist articles often include some interesting graphs -- in this case, for instance, there's an interesting chart (though from aging data) on Linux developers by their email suffixes attached to the second of these articles.

LarsWestergren writes "The latest issue of The Economist has an interesting group of articles on software, including The Beast of Complexity, Open Source, Sun, Microsoft and the Battle of the (next generation) Platforms, XML alphabet soup, and Software Integration. Not technical, in-depth or error free, but still a good overview, and a hint of what the suits of the world find interesting in computer culture." A good thing to point your boss to, if necessary. Economist articles often include some interesting graphs -- in this case, for instance, there's an interesting chart (though from aging data) on Linux developers by their email suffixes attached to the second of these articles.

LarsWestergren writes "The latest issue of The Economist has an interesting group of articles on software, including The Beast of Complexity, Open Source, Sun, Microsoft and the Battle of the (next generation) Platforms, XML alphabet soup, and Software Integration. Not technical, in-depth or error free, but still a good overview, and a hint of what the suits of the world find interesting in computer culture." A good thing to point your boss to, if necessary. Economist articles often include some interesting graphs -- in this case, for instance, there's an interesting chart (though from aging data) on Linux developers by their email suffixes attached to the second of these articles.

LarsWestergren writes "The latest issue of The Economist has an interesting group of articles on software, including The Beast of Complexity, Open Source, Sun, Microsoft and the Battle of the (next generation) Platforms, XML alphabet soup, and Software Integration. Not technical, in-depth or error free, but still a good overview, and a hint of what the suits of the world find interesting in computer culture." A good thing to point your boss to, if necessary. Economist articles often include some interesting graphs -- in this case, for instance, there's an interesting chart (though from aging data) on Linux developers by their email suffixes attached to the second of these articles.

An Anonymous Coward (what, nobody reads The Economist?) sends us this excellent piece: "This is a review of several developments in internet regulation, pointing out several ironies and possibilities, quite lucid and clear. Stop Signs on the Web." There are a lot of thoughtful points in this article - it bears a thorough reading. It is my belief that the end of online "freedom" is just around the corner, and I think this article lays out a number of the forces that are going to cause that to happen.

Patrick_Keogh writes "This article in The Economist discusses some research work from the Helsinki Institute of Physics which confirms what Scott Adams knew, and a lot of us suspected, that nobody talks to their boss. The research uses some novel mapping and visualisation techniques to map the communication interactions within a large engineering organisation." It's an interesting idea, but I would guess that it can't capture verbal communications very well, and that seems like a major flaw.

Patrick_Keogh writes "This article in The Economist discusses some research work from the Helsinki Institute of Physics which confirms what Scott Adams knew, and a lot of us suspected, that nobody talks to their boss. The research uses some novel mapping and visualisation techniques to map the communication interactions within a large engineering organisation." It's an interesting idea, but I would guess that it can't capture verbal communications very well, and that seems like a major flaw.

nvf writes "The Economist has a story about Iridigm's new technology that uses wavelength interference between two tiny mirrors to create a pixel of the appropriate color. The article does say it will be years before a commercial product is out, I hope it's worth the wait." I s'pose when these come into service, I might care less about anti-aliased text *Grin*

nvf writes "The Economist has a story about Iridigm's new technology that uses wavelength interference between two tiny mirrors to create a pixel of the appropriate color. The article does say it will be years before a commercial product is out, I hope it's worth the wait." I s'pose when these come into service, I might care less about anti-aliased text *Grin*

OCatenac writes: "This article at the Economist regarding the 100th anniversary of Max Planck's discovery of Quantum Physics is interesting. Thought other /. readers might find it interesting too."

John Warden, architect of the Gulf war air campaign, believes that by 2025 90% of combat aircraft will be unmanned. Next spring, the first armed aircraft without pilot, the X-45A UCAV will make its maiden flight. Replacing the pilot by a ground controller cuts the price of each unit by two-thirds, and makes it easier to transport. The Economist has more, and states 'the decision to fire weapons should be made by a human, to reduce the risk of "friendly fire."' This is not logical: Since the planes can be networked and thus know each other's relative positions, preventing friendly fire is a much simpler problem than the visual recognition required to determine what to shoot at, unless you don't mind hitting non-military targets. I wonder what Asimov would think.

Johan writes: "The Economist is reporting that a British scientist has invented a way to make perfect lenses. Previously, the smallest feature a lens could resolve has been limited by half the wavelength of the radiation used (for light this is in the millionths of a metre range ... very small but not good enough for many applications). With perfect lenses, this limit has been eliminated."

Johan writes: "The Economist is reporting that a British scientist has invented a way to make perfect lenses. Previously, the smallest feature a lens could resolve has been limited by half the wavelength of the radiation used (for light this is in the millionths of a metre range ... very small but not good enough for many applications). With perfect lenses, this limit has been eliminated."

ThesQuid writes: "I caught this article in The Economist the other week. If practical, the electrolytic process described could make the production of titanium as cheap as aluminum. Ridiculous? Just remember, aluminum used to be refined by a process somewhat similar to how titanium is refined nowadays, and when a practical electrolytic refining process was discovered the price of it went from more precious than gold to something, well, as cheap as aluminum is nowadays."

bbt wrote in to tell us about Gnute, Rolls wrote in to tell us about the Tabloids' Web site promoting Napster mischief, and Jeckle shared the Washington Post article about the Canadian band, Kittie, using the web to propagate their music. I love Kittie. Oscarfish wrote in about a fantastic "Wall Street Journal article at ZDNet reporting that Napster executives are in meetings with record label executives. This here is a good one. KingOfBongo told us about the Economist article that suggests "...the music industry could easily build a closed commercial news distribution service superior to rogue freeware Napster."

LL writes "We might soon be seeing commercial delivery of autoimmune security systems. Rather than the surface bit pattern detections of antivirus checkers, these system attempt to provoke virii in a secure area (IBM) or match network packets against signature tags (Forrest). The interesting plug is that the author suggests that large programs such as operating systems should be made in such a way that no two copies are exactly alike. Now guess what favourite beast has this trait?"

This week, for your questioning pleasure, we have assembled a four-member panel of antitrust experts who are willing to speculate on what might happen to Microsoft next - if anything. But before you start posting questions, please hit some of the links we've provided to several other stories about the potential results of Judge Jackson's Nov. 5 Findings of Fact. (more below)

First, let's introduce our guests:

Don Weightman was the gentleman who did our Instant Legal Analysis immediately after the Findings of Fact announcement. We had many requests for him as an interview guest. So here he is.

Richard Hawkins engaged in the general practice of law for five years prior to obtaining his Ph.D. in Economics and Statistics. He is currently a visiting assistant professor of economics at the University of Northern Iowa, and practices only in antitrust and other economic issues in the law. His past includes both hardware and software development, including the mail-merge patch for LyX.

John Lederer is a retired lawyer in Oregon, Wisconsin. He is currently active in technology and intellectual property issues. He practiced in the antitrust and transportation areas and argued three U.S., Supreme Court cases.

David Niemi is a system engineer with a background in economics as well as software. He has been administering and developing for UNIX and Linux since 1987, and has been following Microsoft's antitrust adventures closely since 1993.

Next, a few selected stories about the Microsoft Saga that you may not have read:

• Findings of Fact, A Two-Themed Opus (from The Linux Show.)
• Jerry's Take On The Microsoft Decision: Wrong! (Jerry Pournelle in Byte.)
• Microsoft willing to settle antitrust case (from the Boston Globe.)
• Now bust Microsoft's trust (from The Economist.)
• Militant Microsofties Bunker mentality... (from SF Gate.)
• Don't You Sass Me, Mr. Micro-Smartypants! is a humor piece we couldn't resist including that talks about how things might go if Judge Judy was in charge of the Microsoft trial. It's from - believe it or not - The New York Times. (Free registration required to read.)

Necessary Legal Disclaimer: Although three out of our four panelists are attorneys, all they are providing here is speculation. While our panelists are smart and well-read, no one can predict the future accurately, so you should not base business or personal decisions on their answers to Slashdot readers' questions. For legal or investment advice, please arrange a personal consultation with a qualified professional.

Now Let's Get Down to Business

As usual, moderators will select the most interesting questions, and Tuesday afternoon Slashdot editors will do the final "cut" and forward 10 - 15 chosen questions to the panelists - who are all Slashdot readers, just so you know. Answers will appear Friday. So ask away!

This week, for your questioning pleasure, we have assembled a four-member panel of antitrust experts who are willing to speculate on what might happen to Microsoft next - if anything. But before you start posting questions, please hit some of the links we've provided to several other stories about the potential results of Judge Jackson's Nov. 5 Findings of Fact. (more below)

First, let's introduce our guests:

Don Weightman was the gentleman who did our Instant Legal Analysis immediately after the Findings of Fact announcement. We had many requests for him as an interview guest. So here he is.

Richard Hawkins engaged in the general practice of law for five years prior to obtaining his Ph.D. in Economics and Statistics. He is currently a visiting assistant professor of economics at the University of Northern Iowa, and practices only in antitrust and other economic issues in the law. His past includes both hardware and software development, including the mail-merge patch for LyX.

John Lederer is a retired lawyer in Oregon, Wisconsin. He is currently active in technology and intellectual property issues. He practiced in the antitrust and transportation areas and argued three U.S., Supreme Court cases.

David Niemi is a system engineer with a background in economics as well as software. He has been administering and developing for UNIX and Linux since 1987, and has been following Microsoft's antitrust adventures closely since 1993.

Next, a few selected stories about the Microsoft Saga that you may not have read:

• Findings of Fact, A Two-Themed Opus (from The Linux Show.)
• Jerry's Take On The Microsoft Decision: Wrong! (Jerry Pournelle in Byte.)
• Microsoft willing to settle antitrust case (from the Boston Globe.)
• Now bust Microsoft's trust (from The Economist.)
• Militant Microsofties Bunker mentality... (from SF Gate.)
• Don't You Sass Me, Mr. Micro-Smartypants! is a humor piece we couldn't resist including that talks about how things might go if Judge Judy was in charge of the Microsoft trial. It's from - believe it or not - The New York Times. (Free registration required to read.)

Necessary Legal Disclaimer: Although three out of our four panelists are attorneys, all they are providing here is speculation. While our panelists are smart and well-read, no one can predict the future accurately, so you should not base business or personal decisions on their answers to Slashdot readers' questions. For legal or investment advice, please arrange a personal consultation with a qualified professional.

Now Let's Get Down to Business

As usual, moderators will select the most interesting questions, and Tuesday afternoon Slashdot editors will do the final "cut" and forward 10 - 15 chosen questions to the panelists - who are all Slashdot readers, just so you know. Answers will appear Friday. So ask away!

A reader wrote to us saying that The Economist has an interesting article/editorial in this week's issue about Silicon Valley and politics. Mostly that they just don't get it, but are finally coming around to playing the game the same old way and trying to change it at the same time. It's an interesting, changing landscape - maybe this is the election that the Internet really starts to matter.

Anachronomous Chowder writes " The Economist has a smashing issue devoted to E-Business. Andy Grove: In five year's time all companies will be Internet companies or they won't be companies at all. "

Things have been a bit crazy: server troubles, spent some quality time in the ER after the gf got in accident (she's fine), and unusually stressful 'biz stuff (note:in utopia everyone pays their bills ontime instead of leaving us with a nearly empty checking account, a massive looming bandwidth bill, and all these unpaid invoices? I seem to be balding at an accelerated rate :) As for the images on port 81 of flotsam, I'm sorry about that- those of you behind firewalls will be glad to know that the new server will be in soon and hopefully the dust can settle. Allright, some quickies already: Toddius Maximus wrote in to tell us that Performance Computing has started a bi-monthly Linux Section Anthony Fuentes sent us an Interview with John Carmack webslacker sent us a nice little article on Pixar if you're curious what Steve Jobs' other company is up to. Wouldn't be quickies without Star Wars: James McP sent us linkage to a wired story about a Star Wars fan site featuring toy based mini movies, webslacker noted the new 12" Star Wars figures, and Dave Lowe sent us Star Wars Parody Music More cool movie stuff: patowic noted that Bruce Cambell (of Army of Darkness/Evil Dead fame) has his own web page, which features a sound bite archive And some Slashdot media sightings: Duke of URL noted that the recent Katz/Littleton stories got a mention on Suck. RKemp noted that The Economist noticed too. nene noted that an article about Slashdot appeared in Der Standard (although, with a name like that, its no surprise that it ain't English :)

Eric Hillman writes "I've been telling people for years that the Dvorak keyboard is mostly hype. Contrary to popular belief, and unlike certain "standards" I could name, the QWERTY keyboard won its market share fair and square. Now, that bastion of (mostly) unbiased reporting, The Economist, has come to my side of the fray. " I've been telling people forever that that tale is urban legend, glad to see I'm not the only one.

Curious writes "The Economist this week talks about the growing use of emulation technology and Transmeta's newest patent involving hardware/software hybrid in multi-host emulation." Whatever they emulate, their employees win Harley's at conferences, so they're doing something right.

buzz lightyear writes "Today's Economist notes the value of Open Source together with some interestingly juxtaposed articles about deflation and lowering of prices..."

Isaac writes " Check out this article from The Economist about slow progress in implementing high-speed internet access from home. In true form, The Economist pulls no punches with this analysis, detailing, in clear, readable language, why cable and telco companies are deliberatly stalling on broadband access for the home market. Chock full of examples on how the consumer is being forcibly bent over yet again by media-merger-mania. For once, an "evil corporation" article that doesn't focus on Microsoft. Worth a read. "

Terry Griffin writes "This leader in this week's Economist speculates that the PC revolution is nearing its end and will be followed by a revolution in PDAs and other specialized devices. Much of their argument is based on the unstability and therefore the unsuitability of today's PC for many tasks. I think they're right to conclude that these other devices are the wave of the future but not because of the unstable PC. As Slashdot readers know, a PC is perfectly stable if you put the right OS on it. "

Terry Griffin writes "This leader in this week's Economist speculates that the PC revolution is nearing its end and will be followed by a revolution in PDAs and other specialized devices. Much of their argument is based on the unstability and therefore the unsuitability of today's PC for many tasks. I think they're right to conclude that these other devices are the wave of the future but not because of the unstable PC. As Slashdot readers know, a PC is perfectly stable if you put the right OS on it. "

Kevin Postlewaite writes "The Economist has this article about a wireless network being built at Carnegie Mellon. The network will be for all students, will allow 2 Mb/s data rates to each machine on campus and will seemlessly switch to 19.2 Kb/s via cellular when off-campus. "

Kevin Postlewaite writes "The Economist has this article about a wireless network being built at Carnegie Mellon. The network will be for all students, will allow 2 Mb/s data rates to each machine on campus and will seemlessly switch to 19.2 Kb/s via cellular when off-campus. "

Rob Clark was the first to write us about a Linux article currently running in The Economist. Much of this is familar info to us, but the graph of user satisfication is interesting, and more important to the overall goal of World Domination (tm) this will be running in the print edition as well. Stefane Fermigier wrote as well, mentioning that this article says that Oracle will be ported to Linux. Anyone know anything more?