Wait, there's a word for this way of thinking... oh, hold on. I'll get it eventually.
Oh yeah! Paranoia!
"Open source" does -not- equal "instant eavesdropping capability". It makes the creation of eavesdropping code easier, but when a user can simply fetch the source and recompile it, it wouldn't prove all that effective.
After reading through the first bunch of comments on this story, something struck me as silly; a lot of the readers that have contributed to this story seem to think that their views on democracy (or other forms of government) should be echoed in the Chinese government! This is absurd, of course, since most of./'s contributors are probably not posting from China, and are therefore unlikely to be members of their government.
It strikes me that the Chinese government should (and obviously does) feel free to mandate the use of whatever software they wish in their offices, much as I do at work when I say "Everyone should be running Windows 9x or Windows NT, not Windows 3.11". Before you flame me, Linux is not an option at my workplace -yet-. I'm working on it.
If banning win2k in the government offices creates more programming jobs in China, as well as promoting the use of a local product as opposed to an American product, then more power to them; they're doing what is right for their country. I would expect the same of any other country with an ounce of pride in its people and products. They obviously feel that they can produce something better than win2k for their needs.
If a non-profit organization such as IEEE wishes to gain a monopoly, no problem -- they have done a lot more for the industry than you or I have, and continue to do so.
Er, wait -- how exactly does a non-profit research institution made up of thousands of non-related members gain a monopoly again?
"Why does everyone think Intel is going to get all of our info from this friggin ID?"
That's easy -- because they can.
Given this extremely easy way of gathering demographics based on every type of computer usage related to the Internet, Intel folks (and maybe others that license their technology) will quickly jump at the ability to find out just what everyone owns and what they're doing with it, in order to make the Internet a "better place".
As for being paranoid, well, I for one will admit that I am on the healthy side of paranoia, yes -- but give me a reason why I shouldn't be in this age.:)
(of course, Intel will quickly find that the only thing their ID is causing is a massive upsurge in AMD chip sales...)
Slashdot Mirror
Er. Running Linux on it, that is.
s/submit/preview/g
meisenst
I am running an Athlon 500 on an Asus K7M board with no problems at all.
meisenst
Wait, there's a word for this way of thinking... oh, hold on. I'll get it eventually.
Oh yeah! Paranoia!
"Open source" does -not- equal "instant eavesdropping capability". It makes the creation of eavesdropping code easier, but when a user can simply fetch the source and recompile it, it wouldn't prove all that effective.
meisenst
After reading through the first bunch of comments on this story, something struck me as silly; a lot of the readers that have contributed to this story seem to think that their views on democracy (or other forms of government) should be echoed in the Chinese government! This is absurd, of course, since most of ./'s contributors are probably not posting from China, and are therefore unlikely to be members of their government.
It strikes me that the Chinese government should (and obviously does) feel free to mandate the use of whatever software they wish in their offices, much as I do at work when I say "Everyone should be running Windows 9x or Windows NT, not Windows 3.11". Before you flame me, Linux is not an option at my workplace -yet-. I'm working on it.
If banning win2k in the government offices creates more programming jobs in China, as well as promoting the use of a local product as opposed to an American product, then more power to them; they're doing what is right for their country. I would expect the same of any other country with an ounce of pride in its people and products. They obviously feel that they can produce something better than win2k for their needs.
meisenst
With all due respect to /., there should be another category for this type of post. Flamebait doesn't seem to do it justice.
So, Mr. Coward, what part of "Discussion on implementation is underway" didn't you understand? :)
I bought VMware today, doesn't mean I won't switch if there is an open source alternative, though.
They don't support OS/2, says so in the FAQ.
Why not make Linux more like Windows?!
It's called a patch. It's small and lets you upgrade your kernel easily. Try it someday.
(Microsoft's "patches" are MUCH larger)
-meisenst
If a non-profit organization such as IEEE wishes to gain a monopoly, no problem -- they have done a lot more for the industry than you or I have, and continue to do so.
Er, wait -- how exactly does a non-profit research institution made up of thousands of non-related members gain a monopoly again?
Sure, how about this:
CPU: Intel Pentium III stepping 00
Kernel panic: unable to find suitable processor
:)
"Why does everyone think Intel is going to get all of our info from this friggin ID?"
:)
That's easy -- because they can.
Given this extremely easy way of gathering demographics based on every type of computer usage related to the Internet, Intel folks (and maybe others that license their technology) will quickly jump at the ability to find out just what everyone owns and what they're doing with it, in order to make the Internet a "better place".
As for being paranoid, well, I for one will admit that I am on the healthy side of paranoia, yes -- but give me a reason why I shouldn't be in this age.
(of course, Intel will quickly find that the only thing their ID is causing is a massive upsurge in AMD chip sales...)
I went to that MPEG page, and as far as they're concerned, there is certainly an MPEG4. As a matter of fact, there is no MPEG3 in their list. :)
Looks like CNN may be a bit more on top of the ball than some think...
On the first page of the site, near the top of the page:
"MPEG-4 version 1, the standard for multimedia applications (Oct. 98)"
Mark