Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: SGI, Exploding Dell, Gizmo
Slashback tonight brings some clarifications, and updates to previous Slashdot stories including: the possibility of selling OpenGL to save SGI, a denial from Dell that it knew of the overheating battery problem, an update on the Skype competitor Gizmo, and a response from the Chinese folks that reverse-engineered the Skype protocol. Read on for details.
SGI's McKenna Considers sale of OpenGL. delire writes "The Computer Business Review has an article on McKenna's strategies to salvage the flailing SGI from bankruptcy ... one of which may include selling assets like OpenGL. As Gnome developer Christian Schaller aptly put it, 'I hope this gets picked up by a friendly entity, especially if there are some patents still attached to OpenGL.'"
Dell Denies It Knew of Overheating Battery Problem. Billosaur writes "A report from ConsumerAffairs.com staties that according to inside information, Dell knew about the overheating problem in its laptop batteries for years. According to the report, an un-named insider 'leaked scores of documents to CRN, a computer industry publication, that indicated Dell knew of a dangerous battery malfunction for two years before a shocking video of an exploding laptop forced the company to recall batteries for about 22,000 laptops.' This on top of Dell's warning about lower than expected second quarter profits may cause the company some problems on Wall Street."
Gizmo: free VoIP to landlines in 60 countries. KrispyGlider writes "The more-standards-compliant Skype competitor Gizmo has launched a promotion in a bid to rapidly grow its userbase: free VoIP-to-landline calls to 60 countries, and even to mobiles in many countries. There aren't too many onerous catches to the deal Gizmo was previously covered in a Slashdot article from 2005 where it was noted that the Gizmo network has interoperability with other SIP networks, unlike Skype. However, the new version, 2.0 also has the ability to directly log in to open-source Asterisk VoIP servers, so you don't even have to use Gizmo's VoIP network any more."
When is it Okay to Reverse Engineer? Charlie Paglee writes "Last week Slashdot covered a story about a team of engineers in China reverse engineering Skype. Reaction on Slashdot was largely negative and raised many questions: Just when is it okay to reverse engineer and then innovate? The Chinese team issued a statement clarifying their actions: 'The domain of P2P innovation is limitless. We are very honored to work side by side Skype to promote P2P technologies in the VOIP industry. Our team is composed of the most talented P2P engineers in the world. We are working day and night to build a superior quality P2P network.'"
Dell Denies It Knew of Overheating Battery Problem. Billosaur writes "A report from ConsumerAffairs.com staties that according to inside information, Dell knew about the overheating problem in its laptop batteries for years. According to the report, an un-named insider 'leaked scores of documents to CRN, a computer industry publication, that indicated Dell knew of a dangerous battery malfunction for two years before a shocking video of an exploding laptop forced the company to recall batteries for about 22,000 laptops.' This on top of Dell's warning about lower than expected second quarter profits may cause the company some problems on Wall Street."
Gizmo: free VoIP to landlines in 60 countries. KrispyGlider writes "The more-standards-compliant Skype competitor Gizmo has launched a promotion in a bid to rapidly grow its userbase: free VoIP-to-landline calls to 60 countries, and even to mobiles in many countries. There aren't too many onerous catches to the deal Gizmo was previously covered in a Slashdot article from 2005 where it was noted that the Gizmo network has interoperability with other SIP networks, unlike Skype. However, the new version, 2.0 also has the ability to directly log in to open-source Asterisk VoIP servers, so you don't even have to use Gizmo's VoIP network any more."
When is it Okay to Reverse Engineer? Charlie Paglee writes "Last week Slashdot covered a story about a team of engineers in China reverse engineering Skype. Reaction on Slashdot was largely negative and raised many questions: Just when is it okay to reverse engineer and then innovate? The Chinese team issued a statement clarifying their actions: 'The domain of P2P innovation is limitless. We are very honored to work side by side Skype to promote P2P technologies in the VOIP industry. Our team is composed of the most talented P2P engineers in the world. We are working day and night to build a superior quality P2P network.'"
not you
PS tinkering with your gadget != masturbation DS
Is Gizmo peer to peer, decentralized and secure like Skype? I couldn't find the answer on the site so that's why I'm asking.
Does Gizmo support multi-user chat, audio and video?
I am
----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
(cough cough Apple cough cough)
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Well since all the cool kids are doing it, guess I will go write one too.
I keep telling myself I'm not the desperate type.
(Can you imagine what would happen if Microsoft bought it? Does anyone seriously believe ANY implementation would be safe, MESA included?)
Failing that, Google must have some spare change. Hell, they could probably buy SGI for less than the value of the machines in SGI's inventory, which would seriously boost their server power.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I hope an entity like Microsoft doesn't end up buying rights to too much of OpenGL, and thus lock it up for years. It's a superb cross-platform language for development... pretty much all there is for high-end games or similar real-time rendering when you want to develop something open source. It would pretty much suck if no further standards could safely rely on a base of OpenGL/GLSL/GL* to attract an audience and technology base in the future. DirectX isn't bad on windows... but I'd hate for that to be all there is for upcoming years.
Still... perhaps a something new from the ashes could form a more lasting standard that's better than going through major-company approval process of the OpenGL ARB. Even if DirectX continues to be the basis of future graphics card development, new open-source standards can use the same hardware hooks for better ends. I can't imagine that the graphics card manufacturers wouldn't be interested in helping a new standard form if enough of the developer community had a hunger for newer cross-platform 3d graphics library. GLSL is very nice - but perhaps a better set of standard could be developed in conjunction with future hardware in mind.
Ryan Fenton (Who has been reading through the GLSL Orange book for the past few weeks)
In what alternate universe did Slashdot react badly to reverse engineering?
Reverse engineering meaning what FOSS groups do every day...meaning WINE, Gaim, Samba etc...? I am actually shocked. This is a very good thing - I'm not sure if the Chinese group plan to release source code, but hopefully if they can, then others can, and we'll end up with FOSS Skype programs.
But you make a good point. Isn't Stargate SG-1 on?
Reading about Dell and the exploding batteries reminds me of the story about Ford and its Firestone tyres (oh and Cadbury's and its recall of chocolates because of salmonella). In the latter two cases both companies knew about the problem yet nothing was done (or things were just glossed over by management) until the bad PR forced them to do something. However I'm sure it's bad PR to have to do a product recall at all as it starts making people wonder as to whether your other products have major faults too.
Video Game cheats, hints a
In some parts of the world it's Saturday morning and the weather in England makes it too hot to sleep.
Video Game cheats, hints a
"Our packages start at $1 per month and include 20 MB space and 500 MB bandwidth"
"Our hosting policy is unlimited everything"
Do you get your bandwidth from an entity not of this universe? What other gotchas does your service offer?
Perhaps this has caused skype some problems. Oh well, it happens. Perhaps this has caused Skype users some issue with security. Well, if reverse engineering can break security,then that is what is called bad security. If they want to interface with Skype, that is as good wanting the messaging services to interface. If they want to block it, as much as we may not understand, i think that soveriegnty is something everyone can agree upon. After all, you do not give keys to your house to just anyone, or let just anyone put stuff on you lawn.
Reverse engineer, especially in software, is what is going to save this generation of computing technology. Can you imagine how much a PC would be if Dell did not have support MS 40% profit margin, if Dell were truly free to put whatever software it wished on the computer and charge for the privilege? This will happen when MS is forced to standardize, as is happening with the EU case, and a truly compatible WIndows runtime is present.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
tyre: an ancient nation whose land area was once home to carthage, which was conquered and plowed under by the romans.
tire: a generally rubber donut shaped object used to assist the traction of vehicle wheels.
diction nazi has spoken! *bows*
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Isn't Stargate SG-1 on?
at the risk of being modded -1 "putz".. sg1 has gone stale..with this recent season it seems like they just put season 1-8 into the vcr, hit rewind, then slapped a few new names and skins onto the goauld XD..
i'll tune back in in another 3 seasons when things start getting interesting again.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Who among you is pathetic enough to post a comment on a slashback article on a Friday night?
:) I thought, "Finally an SGI product I'd buy!" but no, they're only selling stupid OpenGL.
Hey, I only came here because I thought SGI had come up with a Gizmo to make Dells explode
Blah... Just call for what it is: chumbucket!
Actually, it's Saturday morning here already ... and I try to be as unproductive as possible on Saturday mornings. Hence this post :).
an obvious troll of me modded up.. i must be doing something right to have so many of detritus's supporters spending modpoints just to rip on me ^^;
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
Who among you is pathetic enough to post a comment on a slashback article on a Friday night?
Those of us still at work, "being productive".
If you go to Gizmo's website and read the fine print, it's not really all it seems to be. In order to make free calls, the other person has to be registered and active on Gizmo as well. It should read "free calls to other Gizmo user's numbers."
Kind of pointless if you have to make everyone you want to call register and use Gizmo.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
That's the first thing I thought. Apple, I hope, will buy it if only to protect their quartz extreme investment. What would be the coolest thing would be for them to buy it, continue using as normal, and keep it open and free for anyone else that wanted to use it. The kudos from that would easily be worth the money they paid for it.
spoonerize "magic trackpad"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I find it a bit frustrating how closed minded people are being about this exploding laptop issue.
Yes, its definitly possible that the battery exploded due to overheating or overcharging caused by failure of its protection circuit. However, it is also possible that it suffered impact damage. (e.g. someone dropped the battery while changing it, or the laptop was dropped but survived.)
It is a bit of a pity everyone tends to ignore other likely causes simply because they enjoy talking down the same companies over and over.
You must be new around here...
What else would I be doing? Something social, you say?
Slashdot's social, right?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 Whoops, silly middle mouse button...
another open source client out there that is way better for me. it also based on mozilla .. yay !
http://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/zfone/index-start .html
I'll admit, I'm not as big a fan as I was. I miss Jack...
Personally, I'd've just shut it down. Send Jack into retirement, Jackson to Atlantis, Carter to Area 51, and Teal'C back to the Jaffa. Wait a year and try to talk Richard Dean Anderson into an SG-1 movie.
well.. the biggest thing about sg1 s1 - 8 is they don't win because of technological superiority, but tactical superiority stemming from some habit of human nature.
Atlantis followed the same route.. where the interplay between the species hinges on differences in their propensities.
I'm not seeing that in 9-10.. im seeing tactical blunders a first grader could point out, blatant allusions to current politics.. in short.. its selling out and the writers are getting lazy.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
SGI doesn't have any valuable rights in OpenGL. The specification is a public document. The reference implementation is open source. You can't copyright an API (SCO and Microsoft have both tried and failed). There's a charge to use the OpenGL trademark in a closed-source implementation, and that's it.
SGI's higher level APIs, like Inventor and Performer, have little if any resale value.
I feel ya, I just finished a software deploy
Jump from something tall-ish (a 4-6 ft drop)
1) In hard-soled shoes
2) In bare feet
Which hurts most?
The battery is generally WITHIN a laptop.
Also, the vid doesn't show the battery being dropped. It is just sitting there.
If Dell can show that falling damage is the reason, why haven't they?
I suspect that the problem is that the lithium-ion technology is inherently unstable and should not be put in consumer gear.
(contemplating the 2 Li-ion powered devices I usually carry)
The sooner CNT supercaps or fuel cells are available to provide this kind of energy density without having to worry about it blowing up, the better.
Tech Public Policy stuff
The show is dead and gone...all that remains is the shell.
He is the one that brought it into greater attention in the gaming world. He has been releasing his engines with the GPL license. He likes to give back to the community, and that would be a big give-back.
In communist China, working "side by side" means "in direct and absolute collision course to destroy the capitalistic ways of a corporation" *_* :p
Nice to know!
Because I have BackSlash marked as "dont display" in my preferences here. So now we have regular slashdot, then backslash and now slashback. Whats next, dotslash?
I sort of resent this analogy. The reason you wouldn't put regular gasoline into certain expensive (sports) cars is that it is bad for the car if you do this. These cars were designed to use high-octane gasoline and if you don't, bad things will eventually happen. Using a cheap memory card won't damage your camera (unless it's incredibly defective).
The submitter implies in his or her intro that buying an expensive camera and a cheap memory card is a bad idea. I'm assuming that the implication is that this will cause reliability or speed problems. This isn't necessarily true. Any digital SLR (aka an "expensive camera") has a memory buffer, so the shot-to-shot time is primarily dictated by the camera hardware, not the memory card. Doing a *very* long burst will cause a slowdown. In this case, a faster memory card would help. But frankly, I find such situations to be exceedingly rare and generally avoidable.
If your camera is expensive, but doesn't have a memory buffer, then it's probably not very speed performance-oriented. Your price is probably going into some other feature, such as small size or image resolution.
Buying a fast memory card is more like putting a performance exhaust on your car, since it increases the speed incrementally.
Camera Ricers.
crap how did this get posted into the slashback article? was supposed to be in the memory card article.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
Erm, what's wrong about bringing a dangerous product to light? Especially when the manufacterer knows about it and says nothing.
My wife bought a Dell Inspirion 1100 laptop. Dell said there would be no interest for 3 months. They lied, then they refused to do anything about it. The laptop kept overheating and randomly turning off. We sent it in and they not only updated the BIOS, they said there was a bad hard drive (which there was not) and they removed the DVD drive and replaced it with a CD drive for some reason. Well, they sent a refurbished DVD drive to replace the one they (well, their representative) stole.
While the random turn-offs stopped, the laptop continued to overheat and scarred my wife's legs. Over time, we had Dell replace the laptop twice. We even asked about extending the warranty to which they said no, and then later after the orginal warranty lapsed they said we should have purchased a new warrenty. They told us the 12-month warrenty after only 11 months.
The power supply, after it started shooting sparks on our carpet, we found out it was recalled. I called Dell and they refused to help me because I was not the owner. They called back my wife but never helped her-- mostly because she could not understand the person. My wife ended up purchasing a new power supply at a decent cost from an online store. On top of that, the battery no longer charges after less than a year.
Over all of this, I've talked to Dell custome service somewhere between 10 and 20 times. Hold times ranged from 20 minutes to over 3 hours, they constantly transfered me on certain calls, provided me with a non-existant phone number on one occasion, they refused to tell me how much to pay to fully pay off the laptop (leading me to overpaying and they never sent back the excess, it was something like $2 but still), but I never once had a good customer service or technical call. My wife usually couldn't understand them and while I could understand them they often wouldn't help me because I was not my wife. (Yes, this is back when all customer service was outsourced to India.) Every call was easily grade F service. To add insult to injury, Dell launched an advertising campaign claiming they had A+ service-- I was personally livid.
Every person I have ever known who owns a Dell laptop until recently has had some sort of laptop failure. And every person I have know who has talked to Dell has had bad customer service.
To be fair, I have personally never seen a problem with a Dell desktop machine. My wife has asked me to "let it go" and I have for the most part. However-- I recommend to any person who asks me what type of computer or laptop to get to avoid Dell at all costs. They were once pretty good but they have since fallen apart in the reliability department in a major way.
I do not mean to rant, but how many bad experiences must I go through with them before it's not simply "a company's mistake" and rather "a company's incompetence"? I refuse to believe that I have experienced over a dozen back-to-back simple mistakes on Dell's part. It is of my opinion that Dell has simply become incompetent.
So... no I don't believe this to be a case of closed minds. I believe this to be a case of company not being able to handle its size and trying to hide their problems and still being caught.
--Dave Romig, Jr.