You have a point and I'm not sure what the original poster was suggesting, but for many geeks OS X has become a hassle-free linux environment. Only a fraction of linux (GUI) apps are nicely ported to OS X, but for many people that's enough considering the X server included by Apple and the workable BSD subsystem.
So for me the biggest hassle in moving from a powerbook w/ OS X to a PC laptop with linux would getting the drivers working (esp. video, wifi w/ WPA2 and power management). That's not to say that the switch would be completely painless, but I don't think that I would be held back by apps - maybe just a flash or realplayer plugin.
So to some extent it would be easier to switch based simply on the demographics of a typical Mac user: they are more likely to be into Free software and less likely to be tied to a specific esoteric program (since there are far more esoteric windows-only programs than mac-only programs). I don't think Apple's Mail.app program plays a big role, though simply because it uses standard protocols instead of exchange.
The trouble is that everything winds up getting tunneled through the most QoS favored protocol. If VoIP suddenly get great QoS,for example, then every P2P filesharing network is going to add a feature make all traffic look like VoIP. Tunneling has been used to get around firewall port blocks for ages, and there's no doubt that it would be abused to get to get the best handling by a QoS aware router. I'm not sure that this is true for most people. It may happen for P2P traffic, but that doesn't matter because P2P users care about bandwidth instead of lag time. For instance, you could give a higher priority to SIP traffic but set a cap at 40KB/s each way on a 1MB/s Down, 300 KB/s Up broadband connection. In that case, it would make sense to try to masquerade as SIP traffic. It's fine if WoW decides to masquerade as SIP, but it wouldn't make a big difference to include a default WoW port (I assume it works that way) to use the same QoS as SIP.
I'm not against offering tiered services, but I do think it is a bad idea to use IP addresses as a method for bandwidth shaping/QoS. Also, I should mention that the prototypical Grandma may have been convinced to get broadband instead of using a modem, but would happily pay less per month to get slower service if she didn't notice the difference when checking the news. Right now because of last-mile monopolies and lack of public sophistication, there are very few options for the home user. Things are doubly complicated, as I'm sure you know, because cable companies are trying to sell phone service while the phone companies are trying to add fiber service providing internet and TV service; so there's likely going to be negative shaping of SIP over either provider because they're both trying to sell phone service. Until the government steps in to mandate leasing the lines to a third-party ISP, then we'll likely be screwed over by the bundling. The only acceptable preferential treatment of packets based on IP addresses is when the packets travel within the same ISP and don't need to be peered. But that's the exception to the rule, unless you have a multi-site business.
The blame lies on many levels. Nevertheless, most Americans want the government to play a role in mitigating the effects of natural disasters (or at least assist warning people and transporting those without cars when possible). Still, the point is that just because the government doesn't always solve the problem it spends money on, doesn't mean that it ought to stop providing said service or instantly attempt to privatize it.
Net neutrality doesn't prevent any ISP from prioritizing by packet type or port number; it only prevents shaping the bandwidth based on the destination or source of the packet. Any ISP can legally give gaming packets priority over HTTP traffic. I don't play games online, but I do know that while gaming packets aren't limited by bandwidth on a broadband connection, they are affected by lag.
What century are you living in? I'm sure that most slashdot readers are white, but I'm surprised to see anyone use the word negro. It's not just a question of being politically correct: You can use the term Blacks if you find African-American to be too PC. It's an archaic term which suggests that you haven't spent too much time on the south side lately, where I certainly would never use that word. Some consider it a slur.
Also, class is usually a better predictor of crime than race.
Thanks for pointing that out. I should've elaborated earlier. In the scheme of TFA, correlation does not imply causation in the most literal sense, but it may imply causation in other studies.
In a logical sense it may be untrue to say the following about a specific claim: an established correlation between alpha and beta does not imply a relationship about alpha and zeta. The reason is because in some cases, a relationship beta happens to be a "necessary circumstance" for the existence of zeta. In the world of social science research, studies of correlation are used to suggest causal relationship, but it's rarely the case that they would (or could) prove that the studied correlation is a "necessary circumstance" for a causal relationship between the studied population and the causal relationship being proposed.
If, however, they were able to obtain driving records from a large number of gamers and compare them to driving records of non-gamers of similar socio-economic backgrounds and ages, then a logical argument might be reasonable that alpha implies zeta, in the logical sense, depending upon the methodology.
I don't know where the submitter is traveling, but the most important piece of technology to bring with you is travel medications. And take Cipro, too.
As far as gadgets, take a GSM phone, a camera, USB keys to hold photos and chargers that can accept different voltages (plug converters are cheap and small). Also, remember to bring a USB to mini-USB cable for your camera. And, bring extra quart sized ziplock bags to keep gadgets and passports dry.
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You have a point and I'm not sure what the original poster was suggesting, but for many geeks OS X has become a hassle-free linux environment. Only a fraction of linux (GUI) apps are nicely ported to OS X, but for many people that's enough considering the X server included by Apple and the workable BSD subsystem.
So for me the biggest hassle in moving from a powerbook w/ OS X to a PC laptop with linux would getting the drivers working (esp. video, wifi w/ WPA2 and power management). That's not to say that the switch would be completely painless, but I don't think that I would be held back by apps - maybe just a flash or realplayer plugin.
So to some extent it would be easier to switch based simply on the demographics of a typical Mac user: they are more likely to be into Free software and less likely to be tied to a specific esoteric program (since there are far more esoteric windows-only programs than mac-only programs). I don't think Apple's Mail.app program plays a big role, though simply because it uses standard protocols instead of exchange.
The blame lies on many levels. Nevertheless, most Americans want the government to play a role in mitigating the effects of natural disasters (or at least assist warning people and transporting those without cars when possible). Still, the point is that just because the government doesn't always solve the problem it spends money on, doesn't mean that it ought to stop providing said service or instantly attempt to privatize it.
Net neutrality doesn't prevent any ISP from prioritizing by packet type or port number; it only prevents shaping the bandwidth based on the destination or source of the packet. Any ISP can legally give gaming packets priority over HTTP traffic. I don't play games online, but I do know that while gaming packets aren't limited by bandwidth on a broadband connection, they are affected by lag.
What century are you living in? I'm sure that most slashdot readers are white, but I'm surprised to see anyone use the word negro. It's not just a question of being politically correct: You can use the term Blacks if you find African-American to be too PC. It's an archaic term which suggests that you haven't spent too much time on the south side lately, where I certainly would never use that word. Some consider it a slur. Also, class is usually a better predictor of crime than race.
Thanks for pointing that out. I should've elaborated earlier. In the scheme of TFA, correlation does not imply causation in the most literal sense, but it may imply causation in other studies.
In a logical sense it may be untrue to say the following about a specific claim: an established correlation between alpha and beta does not imply a relationship about alpha and zeta. The reason is because in some cases, a relationship beta happens to be a "necessary circumstance" for the existence of zeta. In the world of social science research, studies of correlation are used to suggest causal relationship, but it's rarely the case that they would (or could) prove that the studied correlation is a "necessary circumstance" for a causal relationship between the studied population and the causal relationship being proposed.
If, however, they were able to obtain driving records from a large number of gamers and compare them to driving records of non-gamers of similar socio-economic backgrounds and ages, then a logical argument might be reasonable that alpha implies zeta, in the logical sense, depending upon the methodology.
What really disturbs me is not the comment, but the +3 insightful mod. Either the modding system has failed us or /. is no longer "news for nerds."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_ imply_causation
I don't know where the submitter is traveling, but the most important piece of technology to bring with you is travel medications. And take Cipro, too.
As far as gadgets, take a GSM phone, a camera, USB keys to hold photos and chargers that can accept different voltages (plug converters are cheap and small). Also, remember to bring a USB to mini-USB cable for your camera. And, bring extra quart sized ziplock bags to keep gadgets and passports dry.
It's a tough call: 2-day UPS for $31.47 (Amazon) or USPS w/o tracking for $49 (Ars).