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User: dotancohen

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  1. Re:What? on Why Apple Should Acquire Adobe · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Really. This is news? This kind of "should be" nonsense belongs on Digg, not /.. Didn't I just read that / has no intention of drawing the digg folks over?

    Now tell me that Apple bought Adobe, that's news.

  2. Re:Commercials on Single Nanotube Becomes World's Smallest Radio · · Score: 1

    Will someone with modpoints rate this the Insightful that it deserves. I'd never realized this until now. Goes for television too, I suppose.

  3. Instability on OpenDocument Foundation To Drop ODF · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    It's instability like this that usually plagues proprietary software, not open source software. Even if they no longer endorse odf, programs like Abiword, Open Office, and Koffice should still support it. That's the future-proofness of FOSS. In fact, it was stupid, arbitrary changes like this that drove me from MS Office to OOo in the first place, way before I discovered Linux.

    While this decision will only hurt them, I do not think that it will undermine the value of odf, nor will it have governments such as South Africa rethink their open source strategies.

  4. Re:Linux on UK Schools Warned Off Microsoft Deal · · Score: 1

    Wow, that's good to know. I use a US market Dell laptop as my daily driver. I haven't pulled it apart yet, but now I know to check that before I fiddle with the motherboard. I cannot imagine having to ship this thing to US (I'm in Israel) to have the BIOS reset. It would be nice if the lappy came with some type of warning.

  5. Re:Linux on UK Schools Warned Off Microsoft Deal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    At my university their are XP machines locked down so that one cannot even open the file manager, they are web-browser only (supposedly). To access my disk on key, I found that I can simply browse the filesystem in IE's File -> Open dialog.

    When I decided that I'm sick of that setup, I tried to boot Slax but discovered that the BIOS is set to boot from the harddisk first, and is password protected. So I unplugged the machine, and using a broken mechanical pencil managed to pop to battery off the motherboard through air vents in the locked case. Five minutes later, hehehe, I opened the now-default-settings BIOS, set it to boot from CD, and away I was.

    Moral:_ANYTHING_ can be bypassed so long as the intruder is determined, and having physical access to the hardware (locked case or not) certainly helps. Linux probably might have helped prevent me from using the disk on key, but it would not have helped prevent me from defeating the BIOS.

  6. Re:Of course it's slow on A Run Through Windows Server 2008 · · Score: 0

    Might be interesting to see how many people do the XP->2008 transistion over XP->Vista. I know of almost 20 people who have done the XP -> Ubuntu transition. I bet that will happen more than non-pirate XP -> Vista and XP -> 2008 upgrades combined.

    Conspiracy theory: maybe Vista sucks so much because Server 2008 is so expensive. So those who insist on using MS products, and are willing to pay (AKA: everyone who's actually bought Windows instead of pirating it) will buy the nice expensive Server product instead. Hell, MS might even profit from a few XP -> Vista -> MS Server 2008 upgrade paths.
  7. Re:Yes, but does it have... on GIMP 2.4 Released · · Score: 1

    I do not like virtual desktops. That's what the taskbar is for: helping get to the app I need quickly. I tried configuring the taskbar to show all apps regardless of desktop, but that doesn't help me alttab between a fully spread Gimp and Firefox.

    Gimp is good enough that I use it instead of opening a legal copy of Photoshop 7 in wine, but it frustrates me with the MDI.

  8. Typo in TFA on String Theory in Two Minutes · · Score: 1

    Columbia University physicist Brian Greene recently chose the winner of the String Theory in Two Minutes of Less user-generated video contest Two minutes of less? Have dumbass blogging typos become suddenly acceptable on mainstream intertubes websites?

  9. Re:Prior art on NASA Offering $2 Million Prize for Lunar Lander · · Score: 1

    Breathing? Who still does that?

  10. Re:Yes, but does it have... on GIMP 2.4 Released · · Score: 1

    Let's assume that KDE has this feature. How would one go about activating it?

  11. Prior art on NASA Offering $2 Million Prize for Lunar Lander · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...takes off vertically, climbs to a defined altitude, flies for a pre-determined amount of time, and then land vertically on a target that is a fixed distance from the launch pad. After landing, the vehicle must take off again within a predetermined time, fly for a certain amount of time and then land back on its original launch pad. Er, don't helicopters do this? Grow the moon an atmosphere (Anybody see the movie Red Planet?) and it'll fly there too.
  12. Yes, but does it have... on GIMP 2.4 Released · · Score: 1

    ... a single document interface yet? It's not a chat program, why can't it have a single document window that I can alttab into and out of? And no, I don't like Gimpshop, thank you very much. I really, really, like the Gimp and find it no less intuitive than Photoshop for most jobs. Unless I need to alltab into a browser or PDF tutorial. In those cases it has me pulling my hair out.

  13. Re:I don't suppose anyone has considered on IBM Seeking 'Patent-Protection-Racket' Patent · · Score: 1

    You're a dick.

  14. Re:Installed by millions... on RealPlayer Zero-Day Flaw Under Attack · · Score: 1

    It's called a zero day exploit because zero is the amount of days that you have to patch a system vulnerable to exploit. Pretty much, that means that the attackers have been exploiting the weakness in the wild even before the exploit was known to security firms. http://what-is-what.com/what_is/zero_day_exploit.html (full disclosure: I'm affiliated with that site)

  15. Re:Count Two on Do OpenOffice Users Save In Microsoft Format? · · Score: 2, Funny

    You are too pessimistic. I had a period where I was only sending odfs, with an explanation, and I found that people were very receptive. I should probably go back to that policy.

    Here's an idea. The wife has her circle of friends that send each other docs and ppts all day. I should convert them to odf and send them along with an explanation. Might help get the word out (pun intended).

  16. Dilbert marketing claims on Nokia Takes Third Swing at Internet Tablet · · Score: 1

    The N810 is slightly smaller than its predecessor, the N800, and slightly heavier, leading users to "perceive more value" in the device, predicts Olavi Toivainen, Nokia's director of product management. Hey, Dogbert, how can we turn "heavier" from a disadvantage into an advantage?
  17. In our house... on Do OpenOffice Users Save In Microsoft Format? · · Score: 1

    ...we save everything as .odf so that we have an original to modify. Whatever gets sent we send as .pdf as well as .odf. We also include a small note explaining why two formats are necessary. (OT: that's the first time in my life that the word "neseccary" didn't get a red underline in my spell checker. woot!).

  18. Re:Sig digs on Jammie Appeals, Citing "Excessive" Damages · · Score: 1

    When Jammie writes that check, she's not going to write "222,000". She's going to write "222000.00". Checks require the significant digits for a reason. Otherwise, it's a rounded figure. Regardless of whether or not the difference between the rounded figure and the accurate figure is 0.

  19. Re:Or, somone set us up the Goatse statute! on History of Slashdot Part 3- Going Corporate · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ...somone set us up the Goatse statute... You asked for it
  20. Re:Sig digs on Jammie Appeals, Citing "Excessive" Damages · · Score: 1

    I'm not talking about dollars, gasoline, or shoe size. If 222,000 is to be expressed with eight significant digits of accuracy, then it should be expressed as 222000.00. If I would need to multiply 222,000 by pi for some reason, I would multiply by 3.14. However, 222000.00 would get multiplied by 3.1415926. That's the purpose of significant digits.

  21. I want some... on Electronic Paper's Past and Future · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ...electronic rolling paper. Maybe some electronic hits while I'm at it. Creepy, it's been years since I've seen stamps dancing on their own...

  22. Re:Sig digs on Jammie Appeals, Citing "Excessive" Damages · · Score: 1

    You know where to put it! The grammar nazis can shove it right between their significant digits...
  23. Re:Sig digs on Jammie Appeals, Citing "Excessive" Damages · · Score: 1

    222,000 != 222000.00

    222,000 is a rounded figure. It has three significant digits. A opposed to the five significant digits of 151.20, or the eight significant digits of 222000.00. You can cast 222,000 all you want in your mind to help you compare it to 151.20, but it remains a rounded number.

  24. No dissipative ceramic bonding tips? on Hitachi Promises 4-TB Hard Drives By 2011 · · Score: 1

    I wonder how Steven and Mary Reiber are handling the news.

  25. The best thing... on Promising Blood Test for Alzheimer's · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...about Alzheimers is all the new interesting stories on /. every time I refresh.

    (sadly, the same cannot be said about the goatse comments)