No RPM itself has not improved at all. It is still the same as it's always been. If you decide to download and install a single piece of software by using #rpm -ivh {application}, you will probably start hitting the downward spiral into dependency hell.
However, YUM has solved this, as well as many other package management tools, that act just like APT-GET and others. Now you can #yum install {application} and it will look for that app in the available repositories, check to see what dependencies it has, cross check with what you have installed on your machine, and then let you know what else you need. Simply say "yes" (or "no" if you want to be a jerk about it) and your app will be installed, with all dependencies in a very easy process. This becomes even easier when you throw a GUI on top of it like Yumex (rpm equivalent of Synaptic, but I still like Synaptic better), and searching for apps becomes much more manageable.
YOU CAN!
Here's how I do it. Every Myth setup has a Video section. This is a file browser that will launch mplayer or your media player of choice. In the Video Setup secion, it will ask you to define the directory for video (this is separate from your Myth recorded TV shows). Specify a directory (mine is/video/movies). Then all you have to do is just place some media in that folder. If you're downloading a DVD rip of a tv show from BitTorrent, you will be downloading a folder containing mulitiple mpeg's or avi's. Simply tell bittorrent to save the files to your MythTV video directory and the files will automagically appear in the Video browser.
In my apartment, the MythTV system acts as my file server. The/video partition (where all of the mythv media sits) is shared out to the rest of my computers via NFS. Using the computer in my office, I can browse for torrents and download them directly to the shared folder and then enjoy them from the living room couch. This is also great for my mp3's and oggs. All downloaded or ripped music goes to the Myth box and then you can listen to music either at my desk with xmms, in the living room through the stereo system and MythMusic, or from the laptop in any room (or even outside while in range of my router). The great thing about Myth is that it is a server for ALL of your media.
Have you ever actually set up a full MythTV system that is both a frontend and backend? Because if you have, you would reallize that yumming mythtv will only get you about half way. This command will put the mythtv software on your computer, but it will not configure your remote, it will not set up the mysql database, and it will not configure the software itself to recognize your cable service, picture settings, display type, etc. MythTv is by far the most difficult project I have ever undertaken in Linux. Plus, don't forget about all of the preparation before you even run that little yum command you speak of. There is lots of research to do and decisions to make. What kind of hardware? What Linux distro? How should you partition your hard drive, and what filesystems to use? Is this a frontend, a backend, or both?
For those out there considering a MythTV install, don't be misled. MythTV is a huge undertaking for even an advanced Linux user. But don't let me discourage you either. For those who like a good challenge and like to tinker, and like to create something none of your friends and neighbors have, it is a lot of fun and you will learn a ton. My suggestion is to do your homework in advance. Find out what hardware configuration will give you the smoothest install. Building your own computer from scratch where you have hand picked EVERY component will be the path of least resistance. The more oddball parts involved, the more difficult it will be.
Other than some of the arguments already stated about Knoppmyth using an older version of MythTV, there are other reasons that MythDora is a good thing. I am currently running MythTV on a Fedora Core 4 x86_64 system. It took me a couple tries to get to a point where I could live with it, and one of those tries was Knoppmyth. Since I was having so much trouble getting things configured properly (remote, some DVD issues, etc.) I decided to give KnoppMyth a try in hopes that it would be a simple and quick setup that would not require any further tweaking. Unfortunately, I have some unique hardware that interfered with this theory. First, while SATA is technically supported, it isn't supported very well. I had to jump through some hoops to get it to work. Also, my monitor is an old Gateway Destination monitor which is just a 27" CRT that weighs more than Texas. KnoppMyth did not like this monitor and all text was incredbly small and illegible. Tweaking with X and with resolutions didn't solve the problem so I went back to Fedora, where I knew all of my hardware was supported. Doing the Fedora install a third time went a lot smoother than the first and a lot of the original problems went away and I had a very usable system. It's been chugging along nicely for almost a year now with some small quirks. Lirc doesn't work, but the arrow keys and number pad have equivalents on the remote control, so i can navigate the interface, select options and change the channel without a problem. Exiting things requires the keyboard. I will be doing some hardware upgrades soon, and will probably do a fresh install. I will seriously be looking a MythDora because I know that because it's fedora based, hardware compatibility will not be an issue and hopefully things like Lirc will function better out of the box. Furthermore, since I also use this system as a media server to my other computers, I will need to do some further tweaking of my own. Since Fedora is the distro I know best, especially for some of the backend server type of things, I will be more confident that all of my server needs will be taken care of quickly with less down time trying to figure out the ins and outs of a Debian distro.
Plus, competition is good. KnoppMyth does the same thing, essentially, but MythDora does it differently, which may be good for some and bad for others. But the good thing is that we have this choice.
I think I saw the show you're talking about, but can't remember what it's called. Anyway, I've seen this demonstrated in chemistry class, and on video in the class for some of the more volatile substances. Basically it involves any of the elements found in the far left hand column of the periodic table, the alkalai metals. This includes Lithium, Sodium, Potasium, Rubidium, Ceasium and Francium. The farther down the vertical axis you go, the more volatile. Simply drop in water and watch the fireworks. Sodium will flare up and bounce around on top of the water. Potasium will give you a nice little boom, and as you go down the list, it goes from neat party trick to world domination. Keep in mind, the amounts of the elements used for these demonstrations is very very small (can you say tweasers?), and the lower down the table you go, the more rare (Francium is extremely hard to come by). The show you saw didn't go all the way down to Francium, I think it was Ceasium. But yes, they dropped a gravel sized piece into a bathtub of water, and the bathtub was vaporized.
Not sure but I assume when security is checking for explosives, etc. All of those elements are on their hit list.
You are correct that if all of the car companies chose a different source of energy, it would never work, because of the many (redundant) infrastructures that would have to be created to support so many energy standards. However, you are thinking about it on too small a level. The grand parent is correct that diversification of energy sources is the only way, but he did not mean that every car company would go their own way. What he meant is that each industry would choose the best energy source for their purpose. That means the auto industry as a whole decides on a standard energy source, whether that be hydrogen or ethanol, or kittens. Other industries, such as those that provide heat and electricity to your home, would probably go another route. But even still, providing energy to the home is probably the easiest to micro-diversify. Depending on where you live geographically, different methods can be used to supply energy, and even a combination can supply one home.
It is lack of diversity that got us in this mess in the first place. Our economy and lives became dependent on oil, so if you take oil out the equation, everything collapses. This is why Ireland had a potato famine and why there can never be a "master race." Diversity creates strenght and flexibility. If Ireland didn't rely only on potatoes as its sole food source (let alone only one "breed" of potato) they would not have all starved when the potato crops failed. In the same fashion, if we cleansed the world of everyone but whites of western european origins, a genetic disease that is only carried by only by whites of western european decent, the entire population would be wiped out (I know there is one that exists, but I can't remeber what it is). Even slick Wall Street types know to diversify your assets. This is the approach we should be taking with our energy.
This just strikes me as odd. You would think that someone might have something to say about any of those subjects, even if it was just spoonfed FUD from upper management. "What do you think about ODF?" -- "hsssss!! Heathen! May the power of Gates compel you!" Were all of the employees wearing muzzles that day, or is a lobotamy standard protocol when you join Microsoft?
The thing I don't get about Microsoft, is that they don't really need this deal with Novell. This is afterall about the server market. In the server market, Microsoft is not just an OS vendor, they have other mission critical software that connects to many other machines. For instance, Active Directory. If Microsoft made Active Directory interoperable with *nix clients, then I think that Active Directory use would go up. Afterall, Active Directory's market is limited to those whose datacenters are mostly Windows. What about the rest of the world that probably has some kind of hybrid. Some Windows here, some Linux there, maybe some Unix or even a Mac server thrown in somewhere. For these types of situations, they either use something like OpenLDAP or maybe use a third party AD add-on for the interoperability. Most are probably using a *nix based solution. If Active Directory were able to handle any client, I think more companies would consider AD since it would be more flexible. If you're all windows, using AD locks you into more windows and makes adding a linux server very difficult. On the desktop market, MS have a monopoly they can exploit, but not so much with the server market. The same should be applied to MS SQL server, Exchange and all the rest. The more flex you give the customer, the more likely they are to choose your product (unless it's a complete piece of crap)
I think a cars transmission is perfect for illustrating the two different kinds of complexity/simplicity. The first being technical complexity with a simple interface. An automatic (the normal kind) is very complex behind the curtain. There are all kinds of moving parts and gizmos that decide what gear so on. In front of the curtain, where the transmission interacts with the user, it couldn't be simpler. Want to go forward? Put it in drive. No need to operate a clutch, only one shift is necessary in the beginning, and the layout of the "gears" is in a straight line (no up-down-left-right like a manual). Then we can look at the technical simplicity with a complex interface. This is the manual transmission. There is not much going on behind the curtain. You have maybe 5 gears, a clutch, and a shifter. The shifter chooses the gear and the clutch allows the transition to each of those gears. On the frontend, it's fairly complex for the uninitiated, so think of it as "Advanced Users Only". It takes some coordination to shift smoothly and it takes some knowledge for proper gear selection, but because of all of the control being at the user end, one can make those simple mechanical parts do many complex things (i.e. optimize amount of power for type of driving, start car with a dead battery/faulty starter, stop car without brakes, do wicked burnouts without destroying the transmission).
One thing everyone should keep in mind when considering the quality of the cell service, is that often times the phone itself can play a large roll. I was originally an AT&T customer until the big merger, now I'm Cingular. I've had serveral phones, different brands and different kinds of tech. on them. My first phone was a Panasonic and was probably one of the best I've ever had. Reception at my parents house was fairly low, but most of the time I could still send and receive calls, even with only 1 bar. The next phone was a SonyEricson with an internal antenna. This phone practically didn't work at all at my parents house and I would only get the voicemail alerts. I was then sent an "upgrade" from Cingular. This was also a SE phone with internal antenna, but reception was slightly better. It still didn't match the Panasonic, but it was a little more usable. Then I upgraded to a nice LG flip phone with an external antenna and life was good. Halfway decent reception at the 'rents house, sometimes full depending on where you stood, and overall, I would have no problem with it. That phone ended up in the laundry and it was a sad day. Since I had to pay retail for a new one, I ended up with another LG, but this one was an unlocked phone. This one still had good reception, but the reliability of that reception was poor. As the life of the phone went on, more and more I would experience what the parent experienced where calls were directed to voicemail even if the phone showed full reception. As battery life and reliability worsened, it was time for yet another phone, my current phone. This was another LG, but this time, it wasn't unlocked. As soon as I got the new phone, reliability immediately improved. Where before I wouldn't get the calls, and then get the voicemessage hours, even days later, I seemed to always get the calls and if I didn't (due to reception) the voicemail was received in a timely fashion.
Given my experiences, I've been led to the conclusion that the phone itself is a second, but just as important factor in the quality of your cell service. Internal antennas are a no no if you need as much reception as you can get (rural or mountainous/obstructed areas). Unlocked phones are a no no, as a colleague of mine informed me that, at least for Cingular, unlocked phones might not receive all frequencies on the Cingular network, and therefore, have a lower reliability. I certainly experience lower reliability with the unlocked phone. As an earlier post mentions, the reliability issues (not receiveing calls, etc.) occur on all of the networks, but this does not happen to everyone. I think this is where the phone may be the culprit.
I've got a great do-it-yourself robotic cat toy that will keep your cat occupied for hours on end.
All you have to do is tie a piece of string from a ceiling fan and turn the fan on the low setting. The string should be long enough so that it touches the ground when hanging from the fan.
Cat's are notorious for rejecting any "toy" that cost you money unless it is laced with massive amounts of catnip.
Would you rather keep your priceless heirlooms in a safe under your bed, or would you rather keep them in a safe deposit box in a bank vault? Sure you could spend the money to build a vault in your own home to protect them, but you'd probably have to sell the heirlooms to pay for it. Plus, you know jack shit about bank security. What do you do when someone actually attempts to break into your super vault?
I'm guessing you would feel much safer with the bank.
Last time I checked, 73% market share does not constitute a monopoly. Google still has plenty of competitors, they are just the most popular. I also don't see the problem with recommending your own products/services over your competitors. When you buy a car, they always recommend that you get the car serviced at the dealer. Why would the dealership recommend going to a competitor? It makes no sense. If the dealership told you that Joe's Garage can take care of it for half the price, I would be a little confused as to why they are even telling me this.
Don't blame the poster, blame the fucking article.
From the fucking article:
The IEEE will work to standardize 100G Ethernet over distances as far as 6 miles over single-mode fiber optic cabling and 328 feet over multimode fiber.
Also Network World is based in the United States, so it can be assumed that the majority of their readers are also United Statesmen, and therefore, would recognize miles and feet more quickly than kilometers and meters. As for the rounding, I could really care less if 6 miles is not exactly 10km. There close enough, I get the idea.
Keep in mind that in a democracy (or whatever we call this) there is always a winning team and a losing team. The losing team will never be happy about losing. I don't care what the past/present/future administration is doing, there will always be people who are unhappy with something, and these people may decide to organize a "peaceful demonstration." When people are passionate about a subject, tensions are sure to rise, and there is a good possibility that the crowd could get angry and out of control. Imagine if Roe v. Wade was overturned tomorrow. the Pro-lifers would be out demonstrating. What if the very next day, Roe v. Wade was upheld once again. The Pro-Choicers would be out demonstrating. It's a loose-loose issue. Furthermore, riot gear is not just for political demonstrations. There are other reasons people riot. For instance, whenever Guns 'n Roses doesn't show up to one of their concerts, riots break out (see their tour w/ Metallica in the '90s and a Philadelphia show in the early '00s). People riot over sporting events (see Soccer Hooligans). There are lots of reason to riot other than over what the government is doing.
If I understand the article correctly, assets gained in a game would be taxable, even if they are never converted into "real" money
The problem is that even if you don't convert your Linden dollars to real dollars, you still have the capability of converting them. So if every Linden dollar earned in the virtual world can be exchanged for say US Dollars, then a Linden dollar would have to be recognized as a real currency since it actually has a real world value (the value of which constantly fluctuates within the virtual world just like currencies in the real world). This seems to be a problem with Second Life and as far as I know, ONLY Second Life. This feature of the game is something I don't think they should have included, mostly because I don't think they understand the implications of such a capability.
By allowing the virtual money to be converted into real world money, by participating in the game (at least on an economical level) you are investing money in the game. By signing up and paying for a subscription, you are allotted the default Linden dollar amount and you can either squander or grow that amount. If you grow that amount, then you can cash out/liquidate or whatever you want to call it and receive actual real world dollars for your investment and turn a profit, just as if I were to purchase a stock while it's low, and sell it when its high. So one should have to pay a capital gains tax. If I have to pay it for selling my stocks, so should a Second Life participant.
Now if people are actually able to turn profits and make a livelihood from this virtual world, then that also means the virtual assets should be protected in some way, since those virtual assets have a real world value (see converting Linden to US dollars above). So now if I were to steal someone's asset in Second Life, should I be prosecuted? Well if someone came into my real world place of business and emptied the register, I would certainly want the offender to be prosecuted, so how is this different. Someone has stolen something from me that has a real world value. So should the real police get involved, or should Second Life operate as an autonomous nation, that would have to police itself. It would have to for some sort of governing body and make decisions on what kind of government that would be. Dictatorship? Democracy? Republic? Some combination or something completely never seen before? Either way, the real government(s) would have to become involved somehow. If not autonomous, the real governments would have to police it. If autonomous, then the Second Life government would have to engage in foreign policy. If Second Life is harboring cloudsong thieves, then G-Dub would call Second Life a terrorist supporter. Do you see where I'm going with this?
The end result I outlined above may or may not be realistic, but the first signs of this have already begun. The government has acknowledged the fact that Second Life can be used to earn a real life income, and with that, comes the realization that no one should be getting a free ride. I pay my taxes for real world money I earn in a real world job, so should Second Lifers, who earn real world money in a virtual job.
Woz: It's about nothing.
Jobs: Right.
Woz: Everybody's doing something, we'll do nothing.
Jobs: So, we go into the patent office, we tell them we've got an idea for a patent about nothing.
Woz: Exactly.
Jobs: They say, "What's your patent about?" I say, "Nothing."
Woz: There you go.
(A moment passes)
Jobs: (Nodding) I think you may have something there
I'm sure the consulting company I work for is drooling over this, though. More services and products to sell to our clients. Whenever a new law costs companies money, there's always a consulting company out there that will have record profits.
While I am sure there probably were some things that may have lowered my upfront expenses, there were also a lot of things I did that lowered my ongoing payments (which is what really cuts into the disposable income). However, I am not here to argue about what I could or could not have done. My point in stating this was that young people who are just coming out of college, or newly entering the working world do not have much disposable income purely because 1) transitioning from being parents dependant to living completely on your own has a lot of expenses involved. 2) Even those making better than decent salaries, still don't have a lot of disposable income because of point 1. They are making great money, but they are not rich.
I appreciate your concern, but I am pretty happy with where I am and with the decisions I made. I am living quite comfortably within my means and the girlfiend that probably looks like some leech I picked up off the streets, is actually someone I have been seeing for several years and am more than happy to help support her. I am saving money and investing it wisely and given that my job shows promise, I will not be in the same financial situation forever.
I'm living that now. So much fun. When I was in my final year of college, and I got that job offer and looked at the number they were offering, a big grin appeared on my face and I screamed "WHOOOO!!! I'M RICH BIOTCH!!!!" Then I graduated and all of a sudden I had a lot of expenses piling up before I had even started the job. I had to find a new apartment and pay the deposit, and the rent (before I was being paid). Then I bought a car and had to pay for my insurance. Then there was my credit card bill that was getting bigger everyday with all of the new apartment expenses and pre-new-job expenses (mainly work clothes). After I got that first paycheck, there was nothing left for even a nice cold relaxing beer let alone a $3k computer. Now that most things are paid off and I'm getting the steady paycheck, the amount of savings is still small. Throw in the live-in girlfriend who doesn't make enough to support herself, and the savings account is pretty stagnant. Life is good, but high end electronics are not part of it.
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No RPM itself has not improved at all. It is still the same as it's always been. If you decide to download and install a single piece of software by using #rpm -ivh {application}, you will probably start hitting the downward spiral into dependency hell.
However, YUM has solved this, as well as many other package management tools, that act just like APT-GET and others. Now you can #yum install {application} and it will look for that app in the available repositories, check to see what dependencies it has, cross check with what you have installed on your machine, and then let you know what else you need. Simply say "yes" (or "no" if you want to be a jerk about it) and your app will be installed, with all dependencies in a very easy process. This becomes even easier when you throw a GUI on top of it like Yumex (rpm equivalent of Synaptic, but I still like Synaptic better), and searching for apps becomes much more manageable.
YOU CAN! Here's how I do it. Every Myth setup has a Video section. This is a file browser that will launch mplayer or your media player of choice. In the Video Setup secion, it will ask you to define the directory for video (this is separate from your Myth recorded TV shows). Specify a directory (mine is /video/movies). Then all you have to do is just place some media in that folder. If you're downloading a DVD rip of a tv show from BitTorrent, you will be downloading a folder containing mulitiple mpeg's or avi's. Simply tell bittorrent to save the files to your MythTV video directory and the files will automagically appear in the Video browser.
/video partition (where all of the mythv media sits) is shared out to the rest of my computers via NFS. Using the computer in my office, I can browse for torrents and download them directly to the shared folder and then enjoy them from the living room couch. This is also great for my mp3's and oggs. All downloaded or ripped music goes to the Myth box and then you can listen to music either at my desk with xmms, in the living room through the stereo system and MythMusic, or from the laptop in any room (or even outside while in range of my router). The great thing about Myth is that it is a server for ALL of your media.
In my apartment, the MythTV system acts as my file server. The
Have you ever actually set up a full MythTV system that is both a frontend and backend? Because if you have, you would reallize that yumming mythtv will only get you about half way. This command will put the mythtv software on your computer, but it will not configure your remote, it will not set up the mysql database, and it will not configure the software itself to recognize your cable service, picture settings, display type, etc. MythTv is by far the most difficult project I have ever undertaken in Linux. Plus, don't forget about all of the preparation before you even run that little yum command you speak of. There is lots of research to do and decisions to make. What kind of hardware? What Linux distro? How should you partition your hard drive, and what filesystems to use? Is this a frontend, a backend, or both?
For those out there considering a MythTV install, don't be misled. MythTV is a huge undertaking for even an advanced Linux user. But don't let me discourage you either. For those who like a good challenge and like to tinker, and like to create something none of your friends and neighbors have, it is a lot of fun and you will learn a ton. My suggestion is to do your homework in advance. Find out what hardware configuration will give you the smoothest install. Building your own computer from scratch where you have hand picked EVERY component will be the path of least resistance. The more oddball parts involved, the more difficult it will be.
Other than some of the arguments already stated about Knoppmyth using an older version of MythTV, there are other reasons that MythDora is a good thing. I am currently running MythTV on a Fedora Core 4 x86_64 system. It took me a couple tries to get to a point where I could live with it, and one of those tries was Knoppmyth. Since I was having so much trouble getting things configured properly (remote, some DVD issues, etc.) I decided to give KnoppMyth a try in hopes that it would be a simple and quick setup that would not require any further tweaking. Unfortunately, I have some unique hardware that interfered with this theory. First, while SATA is technically supported, it isn't supported very well. I had to jump through some hoops to get it to work. Also, my monitor is an old Gateway Destination monitor which is just a 27" CRT that weighs more than Texas. KnoppMyth did not like this monitor and all text was incredbly small and illegible. Tweaking with X and with resolutions didn't solve the problem so I went back to Fedora, where I knew all of my hardware was supported. Doing the Fedora install a third time went a lot smoother than the first and a lot of the original problems went away and I had a very usable system. It's been chugging along nicely for almost a year now with some small quirks. Lirc doesn't work, but the arrow keys and number pad have equivalents on the remote control, so i can navigate the interface, select options and change the channel without a problem. Exiting things requires the keyboard. I will be doing some hardware upgrades soon, and will probably do a fresh install. I will seriously be looking a MythDora because I know that because it's fedora based, hardware compatibility will not be an issue and hopefully things like Lirc will function better out of the box. Furthermore, since I also use this system as a media server to my other computers, I will need to do some further tweaking of my own. Since Fedora is the distro I know best, especially for some of the backend server type of things, I will be more confident that all of my server needs will be taken care of quickly with less down time trying to figure out the ins and outs of a Debian distro.
Plus, competition is good. KnoppMyth does the same thing, essentially, but MythDora does it differently, which may be good for some and bad for others. But the good thing is that we have this choice.
I think I saw the show you're talking about, but can't remember what it's called. Anyway, I've seen this demonstrated in chemistry class, and on video in the class for some of the more volatile substances. Basically it involves any of the elements found in the far left hand column of the periodic table, the alkalai metals. This includes Lithium, Sodium, Potasium, Rubidium, Ceasium and Francium. The farther down the vertical axis you go, the more volatile. Simply drop in water and watch the fireworks. Sodium will flare up and bounce around on top of the water. Potasium will give you a nice little boom, and as you go down the list, it goes from neat party trick to world domination. Keep in mind, the amounts of the elements used for these demonstrations is very very small (can you say tweasers?), and the lower down the table you go, the more rare (Francium is extremely hard to come by). The show you saw didn't go all the way down to Francium, I think it was Ceasium. But yes, they dropped a gravel sized piece into a bathtub of water, and the bathtub was vaporized.
Not sure but I assume when security is checking for explosives, etc. All of those elements are on their hit list.
You are correct that if all of the car companies chose a different source of energy, it would never work, because of the many (redundant) infrastructures that would have to be created to support so many energy standards. However, you are thinking about it on too small a level. The grand parent is correct that diversification of energy sources is the only way, but he did not mean that every car company would go their own way. What he meant is that each industry would choose the best energy source for their purpose. That means the auto industry as a whole decides on a standard energy source, whether that be hydrogen or ethanol, or kittens. Other industries, such as those that provide heat and electricity to your home, would probably go another route. But even still, providing energy to the home is probably the easiest to micro-diversify. Depending on where you live geographically, different methods can be used to supply energy, and even a combination can supply one home.
It is lack of diversity that got us in this mess in the first place. Our economy and lives became dependent on oil, so if you take oil out the equation, everything collapses. This is why Ireland had a potato famine and why there can never be a "master race." Diversity creates strenght and flexibility. If Ireland didn't rely only on potatoes as its sole food source (let alone only one "breed" of potato) they would not have all starved when the potato crops failed. In the same fashion, if we cleansed the world of everyone but whites of western european origins, a genetic disease that is only carried by only by whites of western european decent, the entire population would be wiped out (I know there is one that exists, but I can't remeber what it is). Even slick Wall Street types know to diversify your assets. This is the approach we should be taking with our energy.
This just strikes me as odd. You would think that someone might have something to say about any of those subjects, even if it was just spoonfed FUD from upper management. "What do you think about ODF?" -- "hsssss!! Heathen! May the power of Gates compel you!" Were all of the employees wearing muzzles that day, or is a lobotamy standard protocol when you join Microsoft?
The thing I don't get about Microsoft, is that they don't really need this deal with Novell. This is afterall about the server market. In the server market, Microsoft is not just an OS vendor, they have other mission critical software that connects to many other machines. For instance, Active Directory. If Microsoft made Active Directory interoperable with *nix clients, then I think that Active Directory use would go up. Afterall, Active Directory's market is limited to those whose datacenters are mostly Windows. What about the rest of the world that probably has some kind of hybrid. Some Windows here, some Linux there, maybe some Unix or even a Mac server thrown in somewhere. For these types of situations, they either use something like OpenLDAP or maybe use a third party AD add-on for the interoperability. Most are probably using a *nix based solution. If Active Directory were able to handle any client, I think more companies would consider AD since it would be more flexible. If you're all windows, using AD locks you into more windows and makes adding a linux server very difficult. On the desktop market, MS have a monopoly they can exploit, but not so much with the server market. The same should be applied to MS SQL server, Exchange and all the rest. The more flex you give the customer, the more likely they are to choose your product (unless it's a complete piece of crap)
I think a cars transmission is perfect for illustrating the two different kinds of complexity/simplicity. The first being technical complexity with a simple interface. An automatic (the normal kind) is very complex behind the curtain. There are all kinds of moving parts and gizmos that decide what gear so on. In front of the curtain, where the transmission interacts with the user, it couldn't be simpler. Want to go forward? Put it in drive. No need to operate a clutch, only one shift is necessary in the beginning, and the layout of the "gears" is in a straight line (no up-down-left-right like a manual). Then we can look at the technical simplicity with a complex interface. This is the manual transmission. There is not much going on behind the curtain. You have maybe 5 gears, a clutch, and a shifter. The shifter chooses the gear and the clutch allows the transition to each of those gears. On the frontend, it's fairly complex for the uninitiated, so think of it as "Advanced Users Only". It takes some coordination to shift smoothly and it takes some knowledge for proper gear selection, but because of all of the control being at the user end, one can make those simple mechanical parts do many complex things (i.e. optimize amount of power for type of driving, start car with a dead battery/faulty starter, stop car without brakes, do wicked burnouts without destroying the transmission).
One thing everyone should keep in mind when considering the quality of the cell service, is that often times the phone itself can play a large roll. I was originally an AT&T customer until the big merger, now I'm Cingular. I've had serveral phones, different brands and different kinds of tech. on them. My first phone was a Panasonic and was probably one of the best I've ever had. Reception at my parents house was fairly low, but most of the time I could still send and receive calls, even with only 1 bar. The next phone was a SonyEricson with an internal antenna. This phone practically didn't work at all at my parents house and I would only get the voicemail alerts. I was then sent an "upgrade" from Cingular. This was also a SE phone with internal antenna, but reception was slightly better. It still didn't match the Panasonic, but it was a little more usable. Then I upgraded to a nice LG flip phone with an external antenna and life was good. Halfway decent reception at the 'rents house, sometimes full depending on where you stood, and overall, I would have no problem with it. That phone ended up in the laundry and it was a sad day. Since I had to pay retail for a new one, I ended up with another LG, but this one was an unlocked phone. This one still had good reception, but the reliability of that reception was poor. As the life of the phone went on, more and more I would experience what the parent experienced where calls were directed to voicemail even if the phone showed full reception. As battery life and reliability worsened, it was time for yet another phone, my current phone. This was another LG, but this time, it wasn't unlocked. As soon as I got the new phone, reliability immediately improved. Where before I wouldn't get the calls, and then get the voicemessage hours, even days later, I seemed to always get the calls and if I didn't (due to reception) the voicemail was received in a timely fashion.
Given my experiences, I've been led to the conclusion that the phone itself is a second, but just as important factor in the quality of your cell service. Internal antennas are a no no if you need as much reception as you can get (rural or mountainous/obstructed areas). Unlocked phones are a no no, as a colleague of mine informed me that, at least for Cingular, unlocked phones might not receive all frequencies on the Cingular network, and therefore, have a lower reliability. I certainly experience lower reliability with the unlocked phone. As an earlier post mentions, the reliability issues (not receiveing calls, etc.) occur on all of the networks, but this does not happen to everyone. I think this is where the phone may be the culprit.
I've got a great do-it-yourself robotic cat toy that will keep your cat occupied for hours on end.
All you have to do is tie a piece of string from a ceiling fan and turn the fan on the low setting. The string should be long enough so that it touches the ground when hanging from the fan.
Cat's are notorious for rejecting any "toy" that cost you money unless it is laced with massive amounts of catnip.
Would you rather keep your priceless heirlooms in a safe under your bed, or would you rather keep them in a safe deposit box in a bank vault? Sure you could spend the money to build a vault in your own home to protect them, but you'd probably have to sell the heirlooms to pay for it. Plus, you know jack shit about bank security. What do you do when someone actually attempts to break into your super vault?
I'm guessing you would feel much safer with the bank.
Wait, so let me get this straight...
The Department of Homeland Security actually wrote something that would PRESERVE our Constitutional rights?!?!
Who are you and what have you done with our fascist overlords?
Last time I checked, 73% market share does not constitute a monopoly. Google still has plenty of competitors, they are just the most popular. I also don't see the problem with recommending your own products/services over your competitors. When you buy a car, they always recommend that you get the car serviced at the dealer. Why would the dealership recommend going to a competitor? It makes no sense. If the dealership told you that Joe's Garage can take care of it for half the price, I would be a little confused as to why they are even telling me this.
So you're saying you agree with the parent?
From the fucking article: Also Network World is based in the United States, so it can be assumed that the majority of their readers are also United Statesmen, and therefore, would recognize miles and feet more quickly than kilometers and meters. As for the rounding, I could really care less if 6 miles is not exactly 10km. There close enough, I get the idea.
Keep in mind that in a democracy (or whatever we call this) there is always a winning team and a losing team. The losing team will never be happy about losing. I don't care what the past/present/future administration is doing, there will always be people who are unhappy with something, and these people may decide to organize a "peaceful demonstration." When people are passionate about a subject, tensions are sure to rise, and there is a good possibility that the crowd could get angry and out of control. Imagine if Roe v. Wade was overturned tomorrow. the Pro-lifers would be out demonstrating. What if the very next day, Roe v. Wade was upheld once again. The Pro-Choicers would be out demonstrating. It's a loose-loose issue. Furthermore, riot gear is not just for political demonstrations. There are other reasons people riot. For instance, whenever Guns 'n Roses doesn't show up to one of their concerts, riots break out (see their tour w/ Metallica in the '90s and a Philadelphia show in the early '00s). People riot over sporting events (see Soccer Hooligans). There are lots of reason to riot other than over what the government is doing.
By allowing the virtual money to be converted into real world money, by participating in the game (at least on an economical level) you are investing money in the game. By signing up and paying for a subscription, you are allotted the default Linden dollar amount and you can either squander or grow that amount. If you grow that amount, then you can cash out/liquidate or whatever you want to call it and receive actual real world dollars for your investment and turn a profit, just as if I were to purchase a stock while it's low, and sell it when its high. So one should have to pay a capital gains tax. If I have to pay it for selling my stocks, so should a Second Life participant.
Now if people are actually able to turn profits and make a livelihood from this virtual world, then that also means the virtual assets should be protected in some way, since those virtual assets have a real world value (see converting Linden to US dollars above). So now if I were to steal someone's asset in Second Life, should I be prosecuted? Well if someone came into my real world place of business and emptied the register, I would certainly want the offender to be prosecuted, so how is this different. Someone has stolen something from me that has a real world value. So should the real police get involved, or should Second Life operate as an autonomous nation, that would have to police itself. It would have to for some sort of governing body and make decisions on what kind of government that would be. Dictatorship? Democracy? Republic? Some combination or something completely never seen before? Either way, the real government(s) would have to become involved somehow. If not autonomous, the real governments would have to police it. If autonomous, then the Second Life government would have to engage in foreign policy. If Second Life is harboring cloudsong thieves, then G-Dub would call Second Life a terrorist supporter. Do you see where I'm going with this?
The end result I outlined above may or may not be realistic, but the first signs of this have already begun. The government has acknowledged the fact that Second Life can be used to earn a real life income, and with that, comes the realization that no one should be getting a free ride. I pay my taxes for real world money I earn in a real world job, so should Second Lifers, who earn real world money in a virtual job.
Wozniak's idea for a patent.
Woz: It's about nothing.
Jobs: Right.
Woz: Everybody's doing something, we'll do nothing.
Jobs: So, we go into the patent office, we tell them we've got an idea for a patent about nothing.
Woz: Exactly.
Jobs: They say, "What's your patent about?" I say, "Nothing."
Woz: There you go.
(A moment passes)
Jobs: (Nodding) I think you may have something there
Now you've got yourself a stew goin'
Anyone else want "Arrested Development" back?
I'm sure the consulting company I work for is drooling over this, though. More services and products to sell to our clients. Whenever a new law costs companies money, there's always a consulting company out there that will have record profits.
While I am sure there probably were some things that may have lowered my upfront expenses, there were also a lot of things I did that lowered my ongoing payments (which is what really cuts into the disposable income). However, I am not here to argue about what I could or could not have done. My point in stating this was that young people who are just coming out of college, or newly entering the working world do not have much disposable income purely because 1) transitioning from being parents dependant to living completely on your own has a lot of expenses involved. 2) Even those making better than decent salaries, still don't have a lot of disposable income because of point 1. They are making great money, but they are not rich.
I appreciate your concern, but I am pretty happy with where I am and with the decisions I made. I am living quite comfortably within my means and the girlfiend that probably looks like some leech I picked up off the streets, is actually someone I have been seeing for several years and am more than happy to help support her. I am saving money and investing it wisely and given that my job shows promise, I will not be in the same financial situation forever.
I'm living that now. So much fun. When I was in my final year of college, and I got that job offer and looked at the number they were offering, a big grin appeared on my face and I screamed "WHOOOO!!! I'M RICH BIOTCH!!!!" Then I graduated and all of a sudden I had a lot of expenses piling up before I had even started the job. I had to find a new apartment and pay the deposit, and the rent (before I was being paid). Then I bought a car and had to pay for my insurance. Then there was my credit card bill that was getting bigger everyday with all of the new apartment expenses and pre-new-job expenses (mainly work clothes). After I got that first paycheck, there was nothing left for even a nice cold relaxing beer let alone a $3k computer. Now that most things are paid off and I'm getting the steady paycheck, the amount of savings is still small. Throw in the live-in girlfriend who doesn't make enough to support herself, and the savings account is pretty stagnant. Life is good, but high end electronics are not part of it.