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

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?

[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.

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.

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.