Slashdot Mirror

It just not so bad that theres any need for something as expensive as the shuttle yet. No immediate crisis for government action, and certainly no profitability for the private sector.

No crisis? So there was no problem when China used a "ballistic missile to destroy one of its defunct weather satellites"? And the experts are all wrong? It was just a mirage when an American commercial satellite and a Russian retired satellite collided? " Close calls in orbit happen all the time--scientists estimate that launch vehicles and other objects come within striking distance of one other over 1000 times a day." That article says how the collision of the two satellites created a cloud of debris that spread around the world in a few hours. Further it says "The junk was in the orbital path of the Hubble Space Telescope and just 250 miles higher than the orbit of the International Space Station."

there really isn't that much salvage value in most of the stuff floating around

There isn't? The Pop Mechanics article above says that best possible space-junk solution: salvage isn't allowed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. It prevents businesses from salvaging defunct crafts. I don't know if without the treaty it would be profitable now or not, but when one or more critical crafts collides with space junk people will think differently. Personally I think those who put the junk in space should be responsible for it, but because the US put a lot of it there I doubt that will happen. Nor do I think Russia or China will agree.

Falcon

I4I said they would have sued sooner but were having financial problems.

I checked out the i4i web site. My impression is that i4i had financial problems because they were a dinky little company with almost no significant products. I suspect they had no more than one software developer, and were probably lucky to stay in business all this time. I doubt MS even bothered to ever meet with them. Their business, so far as I can tell, doesn't even significantly benefit from the patented idea, and in no way competes with Microsoft. I don't see how Microsoft's patent infringement hurt them in the least.

In other words, i4i is simply patent-trolling. A lot of tiny companies do this when they have hard times.

Would it be MS who said "well, we had a business meeting with them, lets implement their plan without them and run them out of business"?

Yes, this is the traditional Microsoft business strategy. There are lots of cases where they did this:

- These guys were the disk-compression company MS drove under. They won $120M in a lawsuit considered one of the best examples ever of how software patents can protect innovation.
- Casualties include WordPerfect, and QuattroPro

There are also a lot of patent trolls sucking the life out of Microsoft:

- They were ordered to pay $521M to the "inventor" of browser plug-ins
- They were ordered to pay $367M to Alcatel/Lucent in some sort of user interface patent nonsense.
- They were ordered to pay $388M to Uniloc, for a patent about registering software during installation.
- Korea is one of the few other countries to jump on the patent-troll suck-life-out-of-MS bandwagon.

All I can say is Microsoft made their bed, and now they have to sleep in it. No other company did more to force software patents through congress. D'oh!

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Disgruntled_System_Admin_Holds_San_Francisco_Network_Hostage_20523.html

The naivety around here is astounding.

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Disgruntled_System_Admin_Holds_San_Francisco_Network_Hostage_20523.html

There are many ways to segregate access to data and resources.

The "you have to trust somebody" is just an excuse from people that don't have enough technical know how to secure their data and systems properly.

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Disgruntled_System_Admin_Holds_San_Francisco_Network_Hostage_20523.html

The only solution is proper segregation of privileges at the OS level.

It should trust no one:

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Disgruntled_System_Admin_Holds_San_Francisco_Network_Hostage_20523.html

Heh, typical media blowing things out of proportion... Remember the cybercriminal hyperactivities that exploited Obama's victory? I wonder if they've prescribed the cybercriminals Ritalin for their hyperactivities...

In other news, Facebook is banning pictures of mothers breastfeeding their infant children because it's vulgar

You'd think they'd learn from the fuss when LiveJournal tried something similar. There are some battles that just aren't worth fighting.

In other news, Facebook is banning pictures of mothers breastfeeding their infant children because it's vulgar

Information Week, PC Mag, The Register, and eFlux to name a few.

Choosing between a family vacation and a new iMac isn't going to go in Apple's favor. If they are going to remain relevant in a tough economy, they are going to have to seriously lower their prices

While I can't explain why, while we are in a tough economy now Apple's sales are actually good.

In case this Google news topic disappears:

• "Survey: Next 90 days look good for Apple"
• "Survey: Plans to buy a Mac hit an all-time high"
• "Survey: Apple riding high on news of economic woes"
• "Next 90 Days Look Good for Apple despite Consumer Electronics Spending Down"
• "Mac sales may hit record highs despite decline in consumer spending"
• "Consumer electronics spending down, but not for Apple"
• "ChangeWave: Apple Mac planned purchases for next 90 days hit new all-time high"
• "Demand for Macs remains high in spite of spending"
• "Report: Mac Spending Up Despite Poor Outlook for Consumer Electronics"

Falcon

Most people run the OS that came with their unit. I'd hardly look at upgrade numbers to gauge much of anything.

Those Dells come with either XP or Vista, and some come with both. I don't look at version number much myself. The last Windows I was enthusiastic about was NT4, which was the only version of Windows I didn't have trouble with. I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro I got about 13 months ago. It came with 10.4, Tiger, and though I got Leopard later I haven't installed it yet. I might but don't know if I will. Leopard doesn't add anything I care about much right now. On the other hand I might order a new one, which will come with Leopard, in the coming months. This one's graphics is 1680 X 1020 and I want to get one with 1920 X 1200 resolution. I want to start a photography business so I want the higher resolution.

I haven't looked to see what OS the laptops I see are running but I've been seeing more and more MacBook/ MacBook Pros (which is growing in market share),

Yes it is growing and that's good for the industry as a whole. But even so Vista is still easily outselling OSX at 5 to 1, and probably more like 8 to 1.

While PC sales are a mixed bag Mac sales are setting new records. According to one poll 34% of respondents plan to buy Mac laptops and 30% desktops. Now I don't know the poll methodology, which probably effects the outcome. However even though consumer spending is down people say they are more likely to buy a Mac.

the glowing apple is easy to spot but I know of no way to tell what version of Windows is running without looking at the OS.

You can't tell what version of OSX they are running either without looking at the OS. You'd be suprised how many are still running 10.4 or earlier.

Perhaps I went about it wrong but one point I wanted to get across is that I've been seeing more people with Mac laptops than I used to see.

As for Vista, its really not -that- hard. A glace at the taskbar will give you a pretty good idea in most cases.

I try not to look at other people's screens, Mac or Windows. Heck for all I know some may be running Linux, whether on a Mac or PC. Actually before I got my Mac I was thinking of installing Ubuntu up it to dual boot. But not seeing a good reason I decided not to.

Falcon

According to this article, Microsoft claims 400 Million Passport/Windows Live users worldwide. How is it that OpenID is becoming the defacto standard again?

1. They already doubled production.
2. The whole business model of the consoles is based on creating a large user base for their closed product rather than profit from sales. Reaching that target slower is counter profitable. Wii still has to take over PS2's base.
3. They are pulling their TV ads because they are unable to meet demand.
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Wii_TV_Ads_Canceled_In_UK_11531.html

Pulling ads is not something a company that wants to create artificial demand does.

Interesting note (that I heard about this in a more reputable place... Nature?): per http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Capsaicin_Mixed_with_Lidocaine_Gives_Less_Risky_Anesthetic_09293.html

Capsaicin mixed with a lidocaine derivative produced an anesthetic that affected only pain transmitting neurons, without affecting motor neurons. The lidocaine derivative was unable to penetrate nerve cells on its own, but the capsaicin opened pores that are only present in pain neurons.

IANAD, and only in rats for now.