Oh and while I'm on a rant, there is no such thing as Direct2D. If you want to access a 2D surface in Direct3D you can use something like IDirect3DDevice8::GetBackBuffer to get you an IDirect3DSurface8 which you can do whatever you like with!!
Obviously you are a person who has never programed in COM or DirectX. The whole point of COM is that when you add new features you add a new interface, you do not change anything that already exists.
If I wanted to use DirectDraw in DirectX8 I would simple create an IDirectDraw7 interface exactly as I had done in DirectX7. You recompile DX7 code in DX8 and it still works, you run DX7 code with the DX8 runtime and it still works.
I've never heard such misinformed FUD in my life!!
Certification is one of my pet hates. My partner is an accountant and she is unable to practice unless she pays her membership fee each year. To me this sounds like a protection racket as there are only two bodies which are recognised and they both charge.
On a side note there is an investigation being started in the EU as to whether these practices restrict an individuals freedom in the workplace.
If you live in Britain you should be aware that this is where the BCS would like to end up, pay us a fee or don't work in computing!
I find this deeply concerning, without companies rolling out xDSL options for home consumers, the average Joe public may find themselves stuck at 56kbps. How can the Internet go forward if the home user is bottlenecked like this? We will be stuck in the perpetual age of the web, as nearly all the other really interesting services require more bandwidth.
What I know from experience is that I do all my serious stuff online at work (fat pipe) and the odd browsing at home (thin pipe).
Maybe the nations communications infrastructure should be deemed an essentially public service? (Check out the article about Canada looking at this very option).
This is just patently untrue. The quick launch bar is available in all version of Windows since 98. Even if it isn't initialy visible you are only a right click on the taskbar away from it.
This story was kicking around inside BT about twelve months ago. The office gossip then was that BT had been aproached by a legal company who had dug this up and where offering to take it on a no win no fee basis.
Apparently BT's own people weren't aware that it owned a patent on hyperlinking (after a fashion:)
Please note this was office gossip, it may be inaccurate or just plain wrong!
Doesn't this say it all for the industries attitude towards linux. Lets use linux for reliable servers where licensing is cheep. As for client desktops, we don't fancy the cost of supporting inexperienced users on many different flavoured distributions.
I've got a Matrox G400 DualHead (running under 2k admittedly), but the reason there is no acceleration for the second monitor is becuase the second monitor isn't actually accelerated on the card.
Yes this sucks, even the mouse pointer on the second monitor isn't accelerated, its done entirely in software. You can look forward to lots of pointer flicker on rapidly refreshing windows (like video) with this card.
I have a phone with predicitive input and it really is a useful innovation. There are few things which have a real effect on your life but this is one of them.
The vast amount of reactionary trading which is done by private individuals can only lead to a damaging effect on the markets in the long run. Companies are being forced to make ill-advised decisions purely to satisfy investors who have no real concern for the companies involved, other than short termism profiteering.
One possible solution is for government regulation to mandate minimum values for trading, outside of the reach of small investors. Another solution could be to delay trading by 48 hours on small trades, minimizing the "herd" effects.
This is really spot on, the only people who feel benefit from a breakup of Microsoft are people who enjoy the fractured inconsistent world of Linux computing.
Your average home users, like my parents, would gain no benefit and most likely would have a harder time.
As far as I know, MAC Addresses make up part of GUID's which are used far and wide in Windows.
This is why Microsoft guarentees GUID's to be unique if they are generated on a computer with a network card. They are only "mathematically likely" to be unique if they are generated on a computer without a network card.
I like to skin winamp as much as the next man, but skinning things as fundamentally core to the os such as basic windows and menus does not lead to a productive environment.
WindowBlinds had a novelty value for about 5 mins before it was rapidly removed. I need a clean, consistant and clear interface to get work done.
Reading through the OpenAL Scratchpad I came across this point ALC/Windows are the OpenAL bindings for Win32 [RFC: a layer on top of DirectSound? [NOTE: At first. I was wonder how this parallels OpenGL. I'm fairly sure under windows it isn't a layer on D3D.
You're missing the point on copy protection. The fact that the digital media makes it easy to copy things does not give you the right to copy those things.
id Software spent allot of time, money and effort creating Quake III Arena. It belongs to them and they are well within there rights to do what is neccessary to stop people from stealing from them.
The problem with this is that there is no such thing as the "surgical strikes" that the media are so in love with. Just as with conventional weaponary, cyberwarfare can produce collateral damage. What is the difference between bombing the power station and hacking it? War is messy and there will always be collateral damage.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh and while I'm on a rant, there is no such thing as Direct2D. If you want to access a 2D surface in Direct3D you can use something like IDirect3DDevice8::GetBackBuffer to get you an IDirect3DSurface8 which you can do whatever you like with!!
Obviously you are a person who has never programed in COM or DirectX. The whole point of COM is that when you add new features you add a new interface, you do not change anything that already exists.
If I wanted to use DirectDraw in DirectX8 I would simple create an IDirectDraw7 interface exactly as I had done in DirectX7. You recompile DX7 code in DX8 and it still works, you run DX7 code with the DX8 runtime and it still works.
I've never heard such misinformed FUD in my life!!
Certification is one of my pet hates. My partner is an accountant and she is unable to practice unless she pays her membership fee each year. To me this sounds like a protection racket as there are only two bodies which are recognised and they both charge.
On a side note there is an investigation being started in the EU as to whether these practices restrict an individuals freedom in the workplace.
If you live in Britain you should be aware that this is where the BCS would like to end up, pay us a fee or don't work in computing!
I find this deeply concerning, without companies rolling out xDSL options for home consumers, the average Joe public may find themselves stuck at 56kbps. How can the Internet go forward if the home user is bottlenecked like this? We will be stuck in the perpetual age of the web, as nearly all the other really interesting services require more bandwidth.
What I know from experience is that I do all my serious stuff online at work (fat pipe) and the odd browsing at home (thin pipe).
Maybe the nations communications infrastructure should be deemed an essentially public service? (Check out the article about Canada looking at this very option).
This is just patently untrue. The quick launch bar is available in all version of Windows since 98. Even if it isn't initialy visible you are only a right click on the taskbar away from it.
This story was kicking around inside BT about twelve months ago. The office gossip then was that BT had been aproached by a legal company who had dug this up and where offering to take it on a no win no fee basis.
:)
Apparently BT's own people weren't aware that it owned a patent on hyperlinking (after a fashion
Please note this was office gossip, it may be inaccurate or just plain wrong!
How about introducing new generations of phones which are safer than the last "safe" generation of phones?
:)
Works for the automobile industry
Doesn't this say it all for the industries attitude towards linux. Lets use linux for reliable servers where licensing is cheep. As for client desktops, we don't fancy the cost of supporting inexperienced users on many different flavoured distributions.
I've clocked up 270ish units so far with SETI, but following the conversation here I'm inclined to find a new distributed project to take part in.
I'd like to do something that is going to "expand the sphere of human knowledge" rather than cracking encryption and the like.
Any ideas?
I've got a Matrox G400 DualHead (running under 2k admittedly), but the reason there is no acceleration for the second monitor is becuase the second monitor isn't actually accelerated on the card.
Yes this sucks, even the mouse pointer on the second monitor isn't accelerated, its done entirely in software. You can look forward to lots of pointer flicker on rapidly refreshing windows (like video) with this card.
I'd like to see prolonged Netscape uptime on linux :)
I have a phone with predicitive input and it really is a useful innovation. There are few things which have a real effect on your life but this is one of them.
Its just soooo sweeeet :)
The vast amount of reactionary trading which is done by private individuals can only lead to a damaging effect on the markets in the long run. Companies are being forced to make ill-advised decisions purely to satisfy investors who have no real concern for the companies involved, other than short termism profiteering.
One possible solution is for government regulation to mandate minimum values for trading, outside of the reach of small investors. Another solution could be to delay trading by 48 hours on small trades, minimizing the "herd" effects.
Whilst there are jobs in the world which don't require computer literacy, they are rapidly disappearing and the ones which remain pay minimum wage.
This is really spot on, the only people who feel benefit from a breakup of Microsoft are people who enjoy the fractured inconsistent world of Linux computing.
Your average home users, like my parents, would gain no benefit and most likely would have a harder time.
As far as I know, MAC Addresses make up part of GUID's which are used far and wide in Windows.
This is why Microsoft guarentees GUID's to be unique if they are generated on a computer with a network card. They are only "mathematically likely" to be unique if they are generated on a computer without a network card.
I like to skin winamp as much as the next man, but skinning things as fundamentally core to the os such as basic windows and menus does not lead to a productive environment.
WindowBlinds had a novelty value for about 5 mins before it was rapidly removed. I need a clean, consistant and clear interface to get work done.
Reading through the OpenAL Scratchpad I came across this point ALC/Windows are the OpenAL bindings for Win32
[RFC: a layer on top of DirectSound?
[NOTE: At first. I was wonder how this parallels OpenGL. I'm fairly sure under windows it isn't a layer on D3D.
You're missing the point on copy protection. The fact that the digital media makes it easy to copy things does not give you the right to copy those things.
id Software spent allot of time, money and effort creating Quake III Arena. It belongs to them and they are well within there rights to do what is neccessary to stop people from stealing from them.
The problem with this is that there is no such thing as the "surgical strikes" that the media are so in love with. Just as with conventional weaponary, cyberwarfare can produce collateral damage. What is the difference between bombing the power station and hacking it? War is messy and there will always be collateral damage.