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  1. Re:From a phsychological point of view... on Not Enough Women In Computing, Or Too Many Men? · · Score: 1

    I don't know that the specific ratio as it stands is natural and not worth challenging, but I do know that there are some natural differences that go a long way towards explaining why that ratio -- and other ratios -- aren't 50/50, as some would seem to naively expect. And I know that those natural differences are often papered over by people who seem to be uncomfortable with the facts.

    Past that, I don't see how your points in general relate to mine at all... however:

    In the year since I was laid off and become a consultant, I've observed (and had confirmed to me by many) that my social skills are one my greatest assets. I'm technically as good as anyone I'm competing against, but I'm far better at customer relations than most. That seems like a distinctly female strength.

    Oho, a sample size of one. I, also, am far better at customer relations than most. Is that now a male strength? Or are self-imposed inferiority complexes now a female strength? Personally, I would argue for neither.

  2. Re:From a phsychological point of view... on Not Enough Women In Computing, Or Too Many Men? · · Score: 1

    So your comment is proof that we don't all know this already, but some of us do, thanks, and and an article about that would be much more interesting than this better-career-choice food fight fare.

    Yes, there are significant biological differences between the brains of men and women... different hormones, different development, different structure. Actually, the way a man's brain works is more like the way a computer works, because there is more localized processing taking place; the way a woman's brain works is more like the way a computer network would work, because there are more connections and communication between processing centers. Two different designs, two different results, and if there were more articles about that than about this garbage, then no one would be surprised.

  3. Re:Ain't plausible on Is It Time for a 'Kinder, Gentler HTML'? · · Score: 1

    My point was, of course, to expose the flaws in the reasoning of the original post. Yes, people have problems with Windows (and with HTML).

    Also, same here, re: the clean Windows setup and use of Gentoo. :)

    Cheers!

  4. Ain't plausible on Is It Time for a 'Kinder, Gentler HTML'? · · Score: 1
    I love how the first sentence is:

    Windows needs fixing.
    O RLY? Windows is probably the most widely deployed operating system in the entire history of computing (after DOS, which I'm not sure counts as an "operating system"). An unknowably huge amount of content is authored on it every day. All but a tiny fraction are successfully saved and distributed to millions of clients ranging from dual-core desktop PCs to mobile phones.

    It's one thing to say "Windows is ugly" (to which I'd agree) or "Windows needs extending" (I'd agree with that too) but "Windows needs fixing"? Really? Is there anybody in the planet who wants to do something online today but can't because of problems with Windows?
  5. Duh, on What to Protect in Open Source Software · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Didn't Red Hat already demonstrate this principle, years ago? Hopefully for his sake, they didn't trademark it too, pfft...

  6. Or in short... on Humans Not Evolved for IT Security · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "IT Security Not Evolved for Humans".

  7. Re:Like A Paper Trail Means Anything on US Paperless Voting Bill Advances · · Score: 1

    ...and that is why you'd have a voter-verified paper trail instead. And recounts, don't forget the recounts.

  8. Re:Good News, Everybody! on Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence · · Score: 4, Informative

    Libby was fairly sentenced in accordance with the sentencing guidelines that everyone else has to live by -- everyone, that is, who doesn't get special treatment from the White House. But also note the obvious conflict of interest here -- the obstruction of justice in question is quite likely protecting that self-same White House!

    As for the fine, that's nothing Scooter Libby's defense fund won't easily take care of. And he'll likely have no trouble getting work because of those self-same contributors to his defense fund. As for the felony conviction, we'll see--he could still get pardoned eventually!

    So I don't see anything fair about this, especially coming from a President who has used these same powers so little up until now, and still finds the time to rail against "activist judges". Well now you know what an "activist President" looks like.

  9. Re:MS has allowed this for AGES on Ubuntu Linux Validates As Genuine Windows · · Score: 1

    Yep. I did this last year with Wine (and "GenuineCheck.exe") on Gentoo; I thought it was amusing, took a screenshot, downloaded whatever it was that I was downloading at the time, and went on my merry way. Yawn.

  10. Oh really... on Six Multi-Service IM Clients Reviewed · · Score: 1, Troll

    Trillian, now at version 3.1, remains the client to beat.


    What, did they release a Linux version? No? Then it's already been 'beaten', as far as I'm concerned...
  11. Are you sure? on Record Store Owners Blame RIAA For Destroying Music Industry · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's not every day that you see a NY Times piece use the word 'boneheadedness' to describe the strategy of an organization

    So you're saying that they don't write nearly enough about the Bush administration? Or Congress? Or the justice dept? (or government in general...)
  12. Yep... on Vista Taking a Nibble Out of Apple in OS Wars? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if we do assume that their figures are incredibly accurate, this is how it shakes out:

    Windows: +0.20
    Linux: +0.15
    Mac: -0.30


    Not a huge deal, although I think the Linux uptick is a bit of an unreported story here. Also, what's with the share of Windows NT growing from 0.71% to 0.80% (the only other MicroSoft OS showing growth)? That's like a 12.7% increase for an ancient OS! So, yeah, given that anomaly, I'm somewhat disinclined to give their figures that much weight.

  13. No they didn't? on Transistor Made From Bose-Einstein Condensate · · Score: 1

    RTFA Much?

  14. Agreed. on Vista to Allow "One Significant" Hardware Upgrade · · Score: 1

    They lost me ~10 years ago. I went from DOS, to DOS and Windows 3.1, to DOS and Windows 3.1 and Linux, to Linux--I wasn't keen on the direction they were taking with Windows '95. Sure, I've played around with Windows since, or as needed, but never as the primary OS. And nowadays, it's much more fun watching it reboot in QEMU (or VMWare, or perhaps Xen if you can get it to work, or...), so that its inevitable idiocy doesn't impact anything important. Also, the hardware configuration doesn't generally change much in QEMU! :)

  15. Re:News corp got ripped off... on MySpace CoFounder Says Purchase Was A Scam · · Score: 1

    Aha--MySpace France? That's like CyberEuroDisney on crack! More proof of MySpace's inevitable downfall! Myspaco Delenda Est!

  16. Um. on Poll Says No Voter Support for Net Neutrality · · Score: 1
    Americans don't know what net neutrality is, and they don't want it
    You can't have it both ways. At least, not honestly.
  17. Re:Of course they are... on Consumer Reports Creates Viruses to Test Software · · Score: 1

    I could open them, but not randomly--there was a method to it.

  18. great timing... on Bioware Announces New Neverwinter Module · · Score: 1

    I was just playing this again the other day, testing out my new system, (now I can finally view the end video for HotU on Linux...) so I'll have to snag this too!

    Now all we need is a Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate II remake done using the NWN (Aurora) engine... hey, I can dream, right?

  19. embracing the overblown analogy for a moment... on The Thalamus - The Kernel in Your Mind · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are you sure that it doesn't sound more like a bootloader, or a DHCP server, or a firewall/router, at the edge of the network, protecting the main Beowulf cluster, etc., etc....

    Ok, enough of that.

  20. Re:Wow. on Dell to use AMD Chips in Desktop PCs · · Score: 1
    The increased number and width of the registers on x86-64 is transparent
    Sure, but depending on the task in question, the benefits might not be--not that I've benchmarked this yet, mind you. :)

    unless you do assembly programming or assembly level programming such as that for making compilers
    Who knows, I might do some of that too...

    If you really like ISAs and register architectures, you'll most likely like CPUs other than x86, anyway (any of the load/store ones and/or those that are more orthagonal like the 68k and/or VAX, for example).
    I like x86, but some of that is just familiarity, in many respects it is a beast (that's not to say that the VAX ISA wasn't!). On the other hand, I do feel that sometimes the RISC ISAs and their load/store approach can lead to bloat in the size of the generated executables, and thus, increased memory usage.

    Of course, as tools and relative CPU / memory speeds and costs evolve over time, the sweet spot inevitably moves around--for example, self-modifying code could be a useful performance hack back when main memory was faster relative to the CPU, but nowadays it's practically a myth.
  21. Heh, cute. on Dell to use AMD Chips in Desktop PCs · · Score: 1

    Actually, I generally consider both aspects together--it's all about the price/performance ratio, baby! (Go AMD! :))

    However, for companies like Dell, it's all about their bottom line--and in combination with whatever deals they may have in place with vendors and manufacturers, that's a vastly different computation.

  22. That wouldn't surprise me at all. on The FBI Software Upgrade That Wasn't · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I heard a story a while back about a three-letter government agency who wanted a new air conditioning system put in. So the company doing it said, ok, I'll need to know how many people will be working in the building on average, etc., etc., and they were told that that's all classified, so they were forced to make a guess. Later, when the system didn't work so well, the same agency wanted to sue them, but it didn't get anywhere, due to the lack of fundamental information provided which was required for the optimal operation of the system in the first place. Typical.

  23. Re:Wow. on Dell to use AMD Chips in Desktop PCs · · Score: 1

    Yep, I got my current AMD64 chip because of those innovations--dual core and virtualization extensions, and at a reasonable price! (not to mention the increased number and width of the registers on x86_64, which is a welcome improvement for the x86 architecture...)

  24. Amazing. on Dell to use AMD Chips in Desktop PCs · · Score: 1

    I thought this day would never come--Dell has been practically synonymous with the WinTel monopoly for so long that I was almost positive that they had some incredibly sweet deal or long-term contractual obligation binding them to Intel and Microsoft. I guess, after all this time, it just wasn't worth it anymore--but considering the deal I got recently on a new Dual Core AMD64 3800+, maybe I shouldn't be as surprised as I am--it's all about the bottom line! Go AMD!

  25. Re:Graphical Install For Debian?!? Bah!! on Major New Features in Debian Etch · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hah, you had it easy--in my day, we had to use dselect!