If only the first one is logged, reception counts as failed. If both is logged, reception is verified.
Just requires a notification of reception to be sent back from the receiver to the sender, apart from the notification sent to every node in the path. A little more overhead, but might be worth it. =)
The question is: In interplanetary transmissions, do you save more bandwidth by having less overhead, or by not having to retransmit every lost bit all the way from, say, a probe on Titan to Mission control? I don't know, since I haven't studied the problem, nor worked with interplanetary transmissions. I'd wager that there's quite a lot of bandwidth overhead lost to error control and correction in such transmissions today in order to have as few retransmissions as possible, though.
You don't simply send your packet and then wipe your cache. You keep the packets at every hop it traverses until you know that it has arrived at its destination, so that you can resend it in case of a transmission error or fatal equipment failure. Especially since you, with these distances, can have a large chunk of data in transit between two satellites due to the slow pace of light and radio waves. That, along with the limited transmission speeds, is also one of the reasons why you do not want to resend lost packets all the way from the originator, which is still possible in the worst case scenario where the data is lost in all the routing satellites. Unless the probe, or Mars lander or whatever also loose the data before it gets through.
Actually, such a system is more secure, from a data loss point of view, since the data can get through even if it is lost at both the originator and at some point in transfer, since it can be resent by any router that it has passed through.
It makes sensitive data vulnerable to interception though... In case some aliens where to abduct a satellite that's caching data before it can be purged. =)
That would require bringing it home, retrofit it to be able to use IP and then putting it back up there. =)
Unless, of course, if they can do a "simple" firmware upgrade via standard satellite communications to make it talk IP.
But I agree that they probably should keep this interplanetary internet separate from The Internet, or at least have one hell of a firewall in between. Imagine a manned lunar-lander being hacked, with some idiot hacker, who has no idea of what the system he has hacked actually does or controls, managing to activate separation or whatnot with his stupidity. =P
MS doesn't have a monopoly. MS has several monopolies or near monopolies. Most notably, they have roughly 90% of the generic x86 OS market and around 70% of the http-browser market. (My source was http://marketshare.hitslink.com/, can't vouch for it's correctness)
On the other hand, Apple has at least one monopoly. They have very close to 100% of the OS X compatible hardware market, and use every trick they know in order to keep that monopoly.
It's all about opinions after all, and opinions have no "right" or "wrong".
I've used a lot of nifty devices. The Ipod Touch and Iphone are shiny. Wouldn't say that they're the greatest tech devices ever though. They both lack a few "must have" features that I require in those kind of devices.
What I meant was: Sometimes, you must use the same version of the game as those who use a pirate copy use in order to use the game you paid for. If you own the game, downloading a cracked copy isn't pirating. It's fixing a defect product.
I've seen private inventors being run over by big business, who has a tendency to totally ignore patents that isn't owned by themselves, too many times to feel the least bit upset when one of them actually get some compensation for his patents.
Yeah. But that's wikipedia in a nutshell, isn't it. ^_^ Always check the sources...
Don't think the article mentioned if they tried only removing the phosphor too, though... Wonder how nitrogen alone would affect, for instance, the oxygen-levels at the bottom. One of the problems is that when the bottom of the sea dies, lots of phosphor is released, making the problem even worse. If nitrogen has any connection to this, it would be important to control that source of pollution anyway.
I haven't used the Chinese versions of MS Office or Open Office, or any other Office suite/applications for that matter, since I have a hard time reading Chinese. I've used MS Office to write in Japanese though, and it feels a bit retrofitted... But one might think it logical that a Chinese-developed suite would be specifically tailored to work well with the somewhat complex Chinese writing-system.
Wonder what kind of accusations the creators of EIOffice throw at MS via China's anti-monopoly laws. And if, say, MS is forbidden to sell MS Office in China, wouldn't that make EIOffice a monopoly. =) But, of course, their anti-monopoly laws might only apply to foreign companies. Not entirely impossible. Many countries have a tendency to side with "their own" companies in any international legal struggle. Especially when there's a lucrative market to protect from foreign companies and lots of money to be saved on not importing something as abstract as bits and intellectual property.
Exactly. I thought this connection was know since way back. At least, the news have talked about how the phosphor-pollution of the Baltic Sea causes algae blooms for many years here in Sweden... Or maybe this has been in the "It's only an extremely likely connection. It hasn't been 100% proven." section before. =)
Hmm... Fun trivia: The Swedish wikipedia-page about the Baltic Sea has a section about how phosphor and nitrogen from fertilizer has caused algae blooms and oxygen-deprived bottom environments there since the late 90's. The English version has a lot more information over all but does not mention this at all, except for a picture with the caption "Phytoplankton bloom in the Baltic" with no further explanation. =)
Well then, if the existence of a non-free linux application makes someone create a free application that can replace it, everything is solved for the ones who want everything free and costless! =) It's the function of a software that one wants, not the software itself. The specific name of the application is irrelevant as long as they have similar workflow, ease of use, use the same file-formats, etc.
A copy-protection must never stop a legitimate customer from using the product they've bought, though. If that sometimes happen and the company responsible doesn't come up with a fix, that legitimize the creation of 3'rd party fixes, or cracks.
So even though the copy-prevention schemes arose from piracy, today, piracy is sometimes necessary due to copy-prevention schemes.
The problem with the Apple install disc that comes with a certain model is that sometimes, they aren't generic!
You can not take a disc shipping with one model and install another model with it, unless you're really lucky.
This is a real pain in the back in a corporate or academic environment, since they also stop shipping a certain model the moment a newer version comes along, so you can't replace a stolen unit with an identical one. =P
Depends on if you take into account preparatory work in the installation-time.
If you install a slipstreamed SP3 XP and have all your applications, drivers and eventual patches ready to be installed, unarchived onto DVD or a second HD, the time for a complete install isn't that long. I can probably do it in under 4 hours, everything in and the system trimmed and ready. Vista is a bit more problematic, since when you've done with the install, you have a ~1 hour SP1 installation in front of you and, at least in my case, I'm less used to the interface and the OS at large. I's say Vista takes somewhere towards 6 hours to get installed and trimmed.
Of course, I don't have everything and it's grandma installed. I stick to basic stuff, like 7-zip, irfanview, gimp, firefox + two extensions, openoffice, foxit, avg-free, imgburn, putty, mediaplayerclassic, a basic codec pack, plus reason and sonar (the two applications that keep me on windows) on the commercial side of things.
And, no, I'm not much of a gamer... =) That would make the install a lot longer. Try installing a computer for someone who's a WoW player. That thing takes longer to install then all the rest put together. =P
With a Apple system, you pay a lot for the brand and the case itself. Both of them are irrelevant for the quality and reliability of the computer. High quality MB, RAM and PSU are the most important aspects.
Of course, part of the experience of Macs includes Mac OS X.
Personally, I don't care much for the "experience" of using a system. Make it work. Make it reliable. Make it run my applications without getting in my way with fancy eyecandy.
The hardware is simply something to put the OS on top of. The OS is simply something to put my applications on top of. The applications is simply tools which is used to achieve the goal of using the system in the first place.
So, you think that all those who own a Wii and want to run/make fun and free homebrew games and stuff, should go and buy themselves an expensive PS3 or XB360 for that purpose instead of hacking their Wii for a low cost or even for free?
That's more or less what's it all about. There are fun stuff to do with any console that the creators of that console don't make any money from and thus want to prevent you from doing.
For some, it's the fun of making it do something it was designed specifically not to do.
For some, it's the fun of making their own games instead of simply playing what other has made.
For some, it's the fun of having access to lots of free games, instead of the 1 - 2 games per year that they might have had the economy to buy otherwise.
For some, it's simply the fact that they want to be able to run pirated copies of games for free.
My brand new PC takes 5 - 10 seconds from power on until it starts the POST! =/ Really annoying. During this time, no fans or disks spin, except for the psu-fan.
This depends on how long the appliance is going to be used after boot.
If you turn it on, use it for a couple of minutes, then turn it off, a boot time of a couple of minutes would be unacceptable. Better to have it crash every 30 minutes but boot in 5 seconds then.
If you turn it on, use it for several hours, a whole day or maybe even a week, a boot time of several minutes usually doesn't make any real difference. Having a stable system is worth the wait.
The exception would be media-players. I might sit and watch a 2 - 3 hour movie once it's booted, but I still wouldn't want a device that took more than 5 - 10 seconds to start.
My post referred to how things would be if the patent system worked in a sane way. Today, the patent system is totally insane.
You shouldn't be able to patent any obvious stuff, regardless. You shouldn't be able to patent any idea, not the obvious ones nor the non-obvious.
The problem is how to determine if something is obvious or not. Something that's obvious to you might not be it to me and vice versa.
Anyway... If MS, Apple, IBM, etc, etc, only could patent their implementations, you could go out and legally make an OS implementing all of their best ideas, as long as you do not implement them in the exact same way. That's what was done with the IBM-PC BIOS in order to make legal clones. One person looked at IBM's implementation and documented what was being done. Another person did a completely new implementation of this, which was legal since they only had copied what was being done, not how it was done. They had copied the idea, not the implementation.
Today, this would probably not be possible. Just look at Apple's ridiculous witchhunt on people making Apple-clones that can run OS X.
So where does "idea" stop and "implementation" begin?
"video games" is an idea. A video game is an implementation of that idea.
"puzzle video games with falling blocks that can be rotated and line up x-in-a-row of the same color to eliminate floating blocks" is an idea.
A puzzle video game with falling blocks that can be rotated and line up x-in-a-row of the same color to eliminate floating blocks is an implementation of that idea.
"allowing people to buy things from a webshop with a single mouse click" is an idea
A webshop where people can buy things with a single mouse click is an implementation of that idea
Get the picture? You wouldn't be allowed to patent the idea of a one click webshop, but you would be allowed to patent a certain implementation of that idea. Anyone else would be allowed to make their own implementation of the same idea, as long as their implementation isn't identical to yours.
I have a subscription. I've had it for 6 years now. Whey I buy a new phone, I don't get myself a new subscription. I buy a non-locked phone and keep my old sim-card. For me, subsidized prices are meaningless.
Also, if you do the math, most "subsidized" phones with subscription X and a Y month contract end up costing more than a non-subsidized phone using the same service after the same period of time. They usually make you pay a higher subscription-fee for the same service during the contracted time in order to regain the cost of the phone. It's like buying something that cost $1000 on credit with a high interest rate and think "Whoo! Cheap! I only payed $1 up front for this!"
It's funny how little hardware is required to make playable games.
Yeah. We had playable computer games in the early 80's. Hardware is almost irrelevant as long as the game-designers are good. But nice graphics, good sound and appropriate controllers usually makes a good game better.
Slashdot Mirror
Transmission logs on the source server cannot be considered a reliable indicator of delivery
It can if there's two types of entries.
Node reception confirmed.
Destination reception confirmed.
If only the first one is logged, reception counts as failed.
If both is logged, reception is verified.
Just requires a notification of reception to be sent back from the receiver to the sender, apart from the notification sent to every node in the path.
A little more overhead, but might be worth it. =)
The question is:
In interplanetary transmissions, do you save more bandwidth by having less overhead, or by not having to retransmit every lost bit all the way from, say, a probe on Titan to Mission control?
I don't know, since I haven't studied the problem, nor worked with interplanetary transmissions.
I'd wager that there's quite a lot of bandwidth overhead lost to error control and correction in such transmissions today in order to have as few retransmissions as possible, though.
You don't simply send your packet and then wipe your cache. You keep the packets at every hop it traverses until you know that it has arrived at its destination, so that you can resend it in case of a transmission error or fatal equipment failure.
Especially since you, with these distances, can have a large chunk of data in transit between two satellites due to the slow pace of light and radio waves.
That, along with the limited transmission speeds, is also one of the reasons why you do not want to resend lost packets all the way from the originator, which is still possible in the worst case scenario where the data is lost in all the routing satellites.
Unless the probe, or Mars lander or whatever also loose the data before it gets through.
Actually, such a system is more secure, from a data loss point of view, since the data can get through even if it is lost at both the originator and at some point in transfer, since it can be resent by any router that it has passed through.
It makes sensitive data vulnerable to interception though... In case some aliens where to abduct a satellite that's caching data before it can be purged. =)
That would require bringing it home, retrofit it to be able to use IP and then putting it back up there. =)
Unless, of course, if they can do a "simple" firmware upgrade via standard satellite communications to make it talk IP.
But I agree that they probably should keep this interplanetary internet separate from The Internet, or at least have one hell of a firewall in between.
Imagine a manned lunar-lander being hacked, with some idiot hacker, who has no idea of what the system he has hacked actually does or controls, managing to activate separation or whatnot with his stupidity. =P
However, M$ has a monopoly and Apple doesn't.
MS doesn't have a monopoly.
MS has several monopolies or near monopolies.
Most notably, they have roughly 90% of the generic x86 OS market and around 70% of the http-browser market.
(My source was http://marketshare.hitslink.com/, can't vouch for it's correctness)
On the other hand, Apple has at least one monopoly. They have very close to 100% of the OS X compatible hardware market, and use every trick they know in order to keep that monopoly.
It's all about opinions after all, and opinions have no "right" or "wrong".
I've used a lot of nifty devices. The Ipod Touch and Iphone are shiny. Wouldn't say that they're the greatest tech devices ever though.
They both lack a few "must have" features that I require in those kind of devices.
But each to his/her own.
What I meant was: Sometimes, you must use the same version of the game as those who use a pirate copy use in order to use the game you paid for.
If you own the game, downloading a cracked copy isn't pirating. It's fixing a defect product.
I've seen private inventors being run over by big business, who has a tendency to totally ignore patents that isn't owned by themselves, too many times to feel the least bit upset when one of them actually get some compensation for his patents.
Yeah. But that's wikipedia in a nutshell, isn't it. ^_^
Always check the sources...
Don't think the article mentioned if they tried only removing the phosphor too, though...
Wonder how nitrogen alone would affect, for instance, the oxygen-levels at the bottom.
One of the problems is that when the bottom of the sea dies, lots of phosphor is released, making the problem even worse.
If nitrogen has any connection to this, it would be important to control that source of pollution anyway.
I haven't used the Chinese versions of MS Office or Open Office, or any other Office suite/applications for that matter, since I have a hard time reading Chinese.
I've used MS Office to write in Japanese though, and it feels a bit retrofitted...
But one might think it logical that a Chinese-developed suite would be specifically tailored to work well with the somewhat complex Chinese writing-system.
Wonder what kind of accusations the creators of EIOffice throw at MS via China's anti-monopoly laws.
And if, say, MS is forbidden to sell MS Office in China, wouldn't that make EIOffice a monopoly. =)
But, of course, their anti-monopoly laws might only apply to foreign companies. Not entirely impossible.
Many countries have a tendency to side with "their own" companies in any international legal struggle.
Especially when there's a lucrative market to protect from foreign companies and lots of money to be saved on not importing something as abstract as bits and intellectual property.
Exactly. I thought this connection was know since way back.
At least, the news have talked about how the phosphor-pollution of the Baltic Sea causes algae blooms for many years here in Sweden...
Or maybe this has been in the "It's only an extremely likely connection. It hasn't been 100% proven." section before. =)
Hmm... Fun trivia:
The Swedish wikipedia-page about the Baltic Sea has a section about how phosphor and nitrogen from fertilizer has caused algae blooms and oxygen-deprived bottom environments there since the late 90's.
The English version has a lot more information over all but does not mention this at all, except for a picture with the caption "Phytoplankton bloom in the Baltic" with no further explanation. =)
Well then, if the existence of a non-free linux application makes someone create a free application that can replace it, everything is solved for the ones who want everything free and costless! =)
It's the function of a software that one wants, not the software itself. The specific name of the application is irrelevant as long as they have similar workflow, ease of use, use the same file-formats, etc.
A copy-protection must never stop a legitimate customer from using the product they've bought, though.
If that sometimes happen and the company responsible doesn't come up with a fix, that legitimize the creation of 3'rd party fixes, or cracks.
So even though the copy-prevention schemes arose from piracy, today, piracy is sometimes necessary due to copy-prevention schemes.
The problem with the Apple install disc that comes with a certain model is that sometimes, they aren't generic!
You can not take a disc shipping with one model and install another model with it, unless you're really lucky.
This is a real pain in the back in a corporate or academic environment, since they also stop shipping a certain model the moment a newer version comes along, so you can't replace a stolen unit with an identical one. =P
It's mayhem! *snapping fingers*
Depends on if you take into account preparatory work in the installation-time.
If you install a slipstreamed SP3 XP and have all your applications, drivers and eventual patches ready to be installed, unarchived onto DVD or a second HD, the time for a complete install isn't that long.
I can probably do it in under 4 hours, everything in and the system trimmed and ready.
Vista is a bit more problematic, since when you've done with the install, you have a ~1 hour SP1 installation in front of you and, at least in my case, I'm less used to the interface and the OS at large. I's say Vista takes somewhere towards 6 hours to get installed and trimmed.
Of course, I don't have everything and it's grandma installed.
I stick to basic stuff, like 7-zip, irfanview, gimp, firefox + two extensions, openoffice, foxit, avg-free, imgburn, putty, mediaplayerclassic, a basic codec pack, plus reason and sonar (the two applications that keep me on windows) on the commercial side of things.
And, no, I'm not much of a gamer... =)
That would make the install a lot longer.
Try installing a computer for someone who's a WoW player. That thing takes longer to install then all the rest put together. =P
Or, you can build a high quality $500 PC by yourself. =)
With a Apple system, you pay a lot for the brand and the case itself. Both of them are irrelevant for the quality and reliability of the computer.
High quality MB, RAM and PSU are the most important aspects.
Of course, part of the experience of Macs includes Mac OS X.
Personally, I don't care much for the "experience" of using a system.
Make it work. Make it reliable. Make it run my applications without getting in my way with fancy eyecandy.
The hardware is simply something to put the OS on top of.
The OS is simply something to put my applications on top of.
The applications is simply tools which is used to achieve the goal of using the system in the first place.
Systems should be designed with that in mind.
IMHO, of course. =)
So, you think that all those who own a Wii and want to run/make fun and free homebrew games and stuff, should go and buy themselves an expensive PS3 or XB360 for that purpose instead of hacking their Wii for a low cost or even for free?
That's more or less what's it all about.
There are fun stuff to do with any console that the creators of that console don't make any money from and thus want to prevent you from doing.
For some, it's the fun of making it do something it was designed specifically not to do.
For some, it's the fun of making their own games instead of simply playing what other has made.
For some, it's the fun of having access to lots of free games, instead of the 1 - 2 games per year that they might have had the economy to buy otherwise.
For some, it's simply the fact that they want to be able to run pirated copies of games for free.
Or any combination of the above.
My brand new PC takes 5 - 10 seconds from power on until it starts the POST! =/
Really annoying.
During this time, no fans or disks spin, except for the psu-fan.
This depends on how long the appliance is going to be used after boot.
If you turn it on, use it for a couple of minutes, then turn it off, a boot time of a couple of minutes would be unacceptable.
Better to have it crash every 30 minutes but boot in 5 seconds then.
If you turn it on, use it for several hours, a whole day or maybe even a week, a boot time of several minutes usually doesn't make any real difference.
Having a stable system is worth the wait.
The exception would be media-players.
I might sit and watch a 2 - 3 hour movie once it's booted, but I still wouldn't want a device that took more than 5 - 10 seconds to start.
My post referred to how things would be if the patent system worked in a sane way.
Today, the patent system is totally insane.
You shouldn't be able to patent any obvious stuff, regardless.
You shouldn't be able to patent any idea, not the obvious ones nor the non-obvious.
The problem is how to determine if something is obvious or not.
Something that's obvious to you might not be it to me and vice versa.
Anyway...
If MS, Apple, IBM, etc, etc, only could patent their implementations, you could go out and legally make an OS implementing all of their best ideas, as long as you do not implement them in the exact same way.
That's what was done with the IBM-PC BIOS in order to make legal clones.
One person looked at IBM's implementation and documented what was being done.
Another person did a completely new implementation of this, which was legal since they only had copied what was being done, not how it was done.
They had copied the idea, not the implementation.
Today, this would probably not be possible. Just look at Apple's ridiculous witchhunt on people making Apple-clones that can run OS X.
Exactly.
Software is basically text and should fall under copyright.
You can not patent a book.
You can not patent a song.
You can not patent a movie.
You should not be able to patent software.
So where does "idea" stop and "implementation" begin?
"video games" is an idea.
A video game is an implementation of that idea.
"puzzle video games with falling blocks that can be rotated and line up x-in-a-row of the same color to eliminate floating blocks" is an idea.
A puzzle video game with falling blocks that can be rotated and line up x-in-a-row of the same color to eliminate floating blocks is an implementation of that idea.
"allowing people to buy things from a webshop with a single mouse click" is an idea
A webshop where people can buy things with a single mouse click is an implementation of that idea
Get the picture?
You wouldn't be allowed to patent the idea of a one click webshop, but you would be allowed to patent a certain implementation of that idea.
Anyone else would be allowed to make their own implementation of the same idea, as long as their implementation isn't identical to yours.
I have a subscription. I've had it for 6 years now.
Whey I buy a new phone, I don't get myself a new subscription. I buy a non-locked phone and keep my old sim-card.
For me, subsidized prices are meaningless.
Also, if you do the math, most "subsidized" phones with subscription X and a Y month contract end up costing more than a non-subsidized phone using the same service after the same period of time.
They usually make you pay a higher subscription-fee for the same service during the contracted time in order to regain the cost of the phone.
It's like buying something that cost $1000 on credit with a high interest rate and think "Whoo! Cheap! I only payed $1 up front for this!"
It's funny how little hardware is required to make playable games.
Yeah. We had playable computer games in the early 80's. Hardware is almost irrelevant as long as the game-designers are good.
But nice graphics, good sound and appropriate controllers usually makes a good game better.