Slashback: Decade, Fragmentation, RDRAM

Slashback brings you updates and amplifications on the SSSCA, the future of RAMBUS and Intel, fragmentation of filesystems, a book reviewer who's been publishing online longer than some slashdot readers have walked erect, and more. Read on for the details.

A screenplay written by Jack Valenti? cc_pirate writes: "Apparently Sen. Fritz Hollings (D - Disney, er - SC) completed his hearings today on how the media needs to have content protection included in computers. Intel and other high tech companies resist and are chastized by Hollings."

Penguins are the new Turtles. Gerein writes "After many months of extreme lobbying, personal attacks, public petitions and surveys, the war over the future OS of the Bundestag (German parliament) is finally over (previous /. stories). As heise reports (in german, use the fish) Linux won't make it to the desktops (they're going with XP) but will take over the 150 servers. The last critical question over the directory service has finally been decided in favor to OpenLDAP instead of Active Directory. It's not the complete victory for Linux, many had hoped for, but it's a start for more Open Source in the German government."

Full disclosure seems like a nice idea. Merlynnus writes: "Yahoo! is running a story, Copy-protected CD makers lose battle, in which Music City Records, Fahrenheit Entertainment and digital rights management company Sunncomm have 'agreed' to stop collecting personal info, and to label copy-protected CDs as defective, er, play-challenged in certain devices. The agreement came as the result of court action by a Cali resident, Karen DeLise, over the Charlie Pride CD, 'Charley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves.' Did that CD really need copy-protecting?"

This should have been transparent. Metrollica writes: "It turns out the transparent aluminium article at Spiegel was misunderstood. Sci-fighter published a correction. The transparent substance was not aluminium but alumina, shorthand for aluminium oxide. Slashdot reported on transparent aluminium here."

Odds are, somebody's written a thesis on it ... and here one is. Whether in response to this Ask Slashdot question or just a lucky guesser, Cine writes: "The standard filesystem benchmarking tools such as Bonnie++, Postmark , Mongo and others all test the optimum case for the block layouting algorithm. But in practice one also is interested to know how a filesystem performs when it is or was heavily used over a longer period (e.g. months and years).So Constantin Loizides has written a Master Thesis about the performance of filesystems under the influence of fragmentation."

Intel-Rambus break not as simple as portrayed. Controlio writes: "Tom's Hardware Guide has posted a clarification regarding the EBN story with the sensational headline, 'Intel to drop support of Rambus in new CPU products'. The article was also posted on Slashdot. Tom reports:

EBN had the sensational headline Intel to drop support of Rambus in new CPU products, but the story goes on to say, "Intel will continue using Direct Rambus memory with its network processors. Also, although not new products, the next iterations of its 850 and 860 chipsets, supporting a 533MHz front-side, will support RDRAM when they arrive, probably in the second half of this year." A little misleading, wouldn't you say? Hard to tell, but you read it for yourself, and make your own call.

Great. More sensational journalism. Maybe someone should submit Jack Robertson's resume to Fox News."

Finally, some congratulations are in order. danny writes (does he ever): "February 28th marks the 10th anniversary of my first book review; there are now over six hundred. I have written an account of ten years writing book reviews, which illustrates something of how online publication has changed over the years."

Comments

walking erect???

[Anonymous Coward]

"a book reviewer who's been publishing online longer than some slashdot readers have walked erect,"

Waitaminnit! How come nobody told me we were supposed to be walking erect??!! Dammit!

-ac

The little dog?

[DCram]

"The content community ... has historically feared technology," Vadasz said. Yet every technological breakthrough -- from Thomas Edison's little dog to the invention of home taping and digital devices -- "has proven to be a major growth catalyst for the studios."

THOMAS EDISON INVENTED THE DOG!!!
OH MY GOD!

I am at the moment trying to invent something as cool as the dog. I was going to go for a rabit/antelope combo but saw one for sale in the cabellas catalog. Now I think ill just strive for something like a human without any genetic defects. I think I could get a post on /. about it.

WOW .. the dog!!! damn that man was good

Re:The little dog?

[teslatug]

Well he keeps on inventing even though he has been dead for a while...first the electric hammer and the three legged chair, and now the dog

Re:The little dog?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know how many times I have seen this misconception in print. Thomas Edison did NOT invent the dog. He did, however, invent the LITTLE DOG. Think of it as the transistor of the dog world.

For those of you wondering how this fits into the music industry, some of the earliest recordings made for Edison's phonograph are the little dog barking, and these are generally thought to be the early influences of such artists as Britteny Spears, Christina Arugula, and N'Sync.

Re:The little dog?

[Coward, Anonymous]

the three legged chair

Six legged chair.

There's a conspiracy afoot

[iPaul]

Every time I open a window to go the the common caue site to lookup the amount of money Fritz (Adolph? - I get names mixed up) Hollings received in contributions from whome (who?), Internet Exploder - well - explodes. There must be a conspiracy afoot.

Since IE seems to not want to go to common cause's website, I can only assume that Adolph (Fritz?) Hollings has long and gratifyingly suckled from the teat of the MPAA/RIAA. (BTW www.commoncause.org and click on the soft money laundry - very informative).

"If you do not put ze kopy protektion in de device vee vill put it in for you."--Fritz Hitler (or is it Hollings?)

Anyway, Intel's right. I don' t want my PC turned into a VCR. I also don't want to live in a world where my O/S crashes because the DRM built into the CD player doesn't play with the DRM built into the motherboard. However, the crash confuses the DRM on the hard disk to notify the BSA that I was running a pirated copy of Linux and gcc. In turn it notifies Microsoft that I was dual booting, which generates a revocation of my EULA and a nasty letter. Using the magic of .Net web services, Microsoft also notifies the BSA, BATF, FBI, and the Boy Scouts, who all raid my home, looking for pirated software and Elian Gonzales.

Did that CD need a copy-protection?

[porky_pig_jr]

I don't think so. A simple label 'Warning: this is a country music' would suffice.

Walking erect

[quark2universe]

I've been walking erect since I first saw that Farrah Fawcett poster in the '70s. Perhaps I've been around longer than the online book publisher.

Walk Erect? How Leg-centric...

[Wraithlyn]

"who's been publishing online longer than some slashdot readers have walked erect"

I would submit that some /. readers don't walk erect at ALL, thereby invalidating any sense of seniority this statement might otherwise have implied. Consider a wheelchair bound reader. Or possibly a child who hasn't learned to walk yet, but sits on a parent's lap and stares at the screen, or similarily some type of animal.

These last two don't count as reading, you say? I beg to differ. And for incontestable proof, I turn to Jamie Lee Curtis, keeper of all thoughts wise:

Otto: "Aha! Apes don't read Nietzsche!"
Wanda: "Yes they DO, Otto, they just don't understand it!"
- A Fish Called Wanda

(Yes, it's been one of those days)

Moderation Totals: Silly=2, Directionless=1, Waste of Electrons=3, Total=6

Re:Transparent aluminum

[lscotte]

Agreed. Aluminum Oxide being transparent is non-news - that's what they've been coating laminate florring with for years. Yawn.

In other non-news, an amazing discovery has been made on how to make water nearly transparent!

Re:"...maybe I could be a rock star..."

[sparcv9]

Three cheers for the unabashed candor of Mr. Zappa during the PMRC and Senate Commerce Committee hearings:

Senator Danforth: There is nothing on the face of the album which would notify you if the record has pornographic material or material glorifying violence?

Tipper Gore: No, there is nothing that would suggest that to me.

Frank Zappa: I would say that a buzz saw blade between the guy's legs on the album cover is good indication that it's not for little Johnny.

Re:Transparent aluminum

[(outer-limits)]

I agree with the previous post, what has it come to when well known trolls are supplying stories. Will we have

1. sweetandsourjesus articles on how is bored and lonely
2. articles with the latest information on, (and links to) goatse.cx
3. how to widen a web page
4. tips on getting a first post
5. how to get around the lameness filter
6. trolls getting modded up, rather than down?

The mind boggles. I could go on, but this will probably lose me enough karma as it is.

Paraphrasing from another time

[FreeUser]

In an alternate history near you:

Throughout history, technology has been key to opening up new markets. It only represents a problem if it is allowed to undermine existing markets

said Buggy whip manufacturers, demanding that a one hundred year old law banning horseless carriages within the United States be renewed for another century. In other news, hundreds of eye witnesses reported a mysterious flying object high above the skies of Los Angeles. Subversive elements claim it is was an Aeroplane, the rumored heavier-than-air flying device said to have been in use in much of the rest of the world for the last seventy years or so ... almost as long as Europeans are alleged by radicals to have had widespread use of the horseless carriage.

"Nonesense," said Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C. (chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee), "the United States remains the leader in world technology, and will continue to do so, without endangering the hard earned profits of buggy whip manufacturers and liveries everywhere. Anyone alleging the existence of horseless carriages or mysterious flying Aeroplanes is Unamerican and a traitor to the republic."

Thankfully, our leadership in the early part of the twentieth century was nowhere near as pathetic as it has become today.

Re:my first defective CD

[clare-ents]

Invoice them.

Dear Sir,

I regret to inform you that the mastering on the new Alanis Morissette CD catalogue number $foo is faulty. Using my own ehanced proprietry CD mastering toolkit I have been able to remaster the CD correctly such that it complies with the CD Audio standard [reference $document_at_phillips] and now plays correctly on all devices bearing the CD Audio mark which your disc did not.

I regret to inform you that the cost of doing this has been

blank media $1
mastering time $50

I enclose an invoice for the following amount and a correctly mastered CD for your use.

I hereby grant you license to sell the remastered Alanis album for a royalty of $0.01 per copy.

If in future you wish to avoid the royalty I can supply you with a standards compilant mastering writer for the sum of $10000.

Please pay the invoice by cheque payable to $my_name within 28 days.

Yours Sincerely

$yourname

Director, CD Fix Ltd.