I remeber a study that basicaly said women prefere geeks and there was some unexplainable trend werre women were finding geeks more attractive then the original jock type sterio types.
I think it's because the average geek thinks more than the average jock (although neither set is exclusive). Many women seem to like men who
(1) can think their way out of a paper bag,
(2) won't threaten to beat them if they 'get out of hand', and
(3) can make a decent income.
Geeks tend to excel on 1, do prety good on 2, and to be better than average on 3.
Yeah, but I figure that Microsoft can muster far more than 10 times the resources that this french 'hacker' could invest in his spare time.
The fact that Microsoft thinks that they can strongarm MA into abandoning a well-considered decision taken over almost two years, by threatening to 'take their marbles and go home' is precisely why it's important for the state to move to a vender-neutral format.
Right now, if they want an added capability in Microsoft Office, they pretty much have to go to Microsoft hat-in-hand and beg for support. With about a half-dozen vendors supporting Open Document format (including the LGPL Open Office and the GPL Koffice), they can literally go to any company in the world and say:
Please implement this for us. Here's the source code.
That would include asking Microsoft to implement those wanted changes in Open Office.
They could also go to Corel or IBM and ask them to implement the capability in their own proprietary suites, and Microsoft can implement Open Doc any time that they feel that they have a big enough customer (or customers) interested in using the format.
It's not like they don't have the money, and if they don't have the technical capability then they should get out of the software market.
Groklaw has an article about the French organization that has already implemented an ODF reader for Office. It's not perfectg (only alpha), but apparently this guy has managed to do, in in his spare time over the summer, what Microsoft claims that they won't be able to do by the end of next year with the millions that MA already pays them.
(and you wonder why MA's techies don't trust them)
And, of course, there was Microsoft's attempt to force the country of Israel to abandon Macs by refusing to properly support Hebrew (or any other right-to-left script) on Office-OS/X. They failed, because Israel decided to pay a group of local geeks (a fraction of the money that Microsoft had refused to fix office) to port Open Office to OS-X, and then announced plans to cut off all their contracts with Microsoft.
There are some signs that Microsoft intends to lock their customers more irretrievably into Office with patents and other tricks. That's one part of the reasons why MA may want to walk away from vendor lock-in.
Of course, newer versions are being sold, but those require a completely new set of fixes, and there is no basis to request that part of that money to be used to pay for fixes of old versions that don't apply to the product.
Put it another way, if I'm paying for a new product, why should I be paying more than I should have to, only to subsidize maintenance for purchasers of old products?
The purchasers of the older version supported you by helping to find the old bugs (that are now fixed) and suggesting improvements (that you are now benefiting from).
If you're paying me to specifically create/modify a piece of software for you, it makes sense that I need to charge you for updates and bug-fixes to that custom piece of software because somebody has to pay me for my time.
If, on the other hand, I'm selling my 'custom' code for $500 each to 1,000 people a year, it's the ongoing sales that pay for the bug fixes and updates.
Once I've fixed the bug for one of my customers it's almost free for me to distribute that fix to everybody on my customer list. It's dishonest of me to charge each of my customers the full cost of fixing each bug. On the other hand, charging them a small fee for ongoing admin and support is completely reasonable, as long as I'm actively supporting the code and you want the new fixes. If you don't want the fixes, then you've paid for my time, and there's no more need for you to pay me.
The Microsoft approach, on the other hand, looks like little more than a greedy grab. I'm expecting that their yearly costs aren't going to be much less than the price of the (old) non-subscription version -- except that you're going to be expected to pay that price every year for the rest of your life -- whether or not Microsoft is supporing it.
Worse yet -- If Microsoft wants to force you to move to Windows 2010, all they have to do is cut off the air supply for people using the XP/Vista versions and you'll have to either abandon your data or upgrade to 2010 -- so now you get dinged twice for the one piece of software.
Subscription makes far more sense for something like anti-virus software because you actually need the most recent data for your code to work ongoingly. On the other hand, I can still do most of the content creation I really want with Word5.0 for MacOS7.
Literally, 'irresponsible' means 'not responsible', and Microsoft's EULAs require that you absolve them for all responsibility for their bugs (and bug fixes), so they're really not responsible for fixing your bugs. They just do it for the PR value...
The Open Source would be use of various debuggers. Thousands of people would get together track down the bug that was giving you the runs, and surgically remove it -- leaving your ass intact.
That's why I said 'this time of year'. It seems like permanent, but it really only lasts for months at a time. Star watching is really spectacular from Wreck beach when it's clear.
I'm thinking that this may be an interesting opportunity to see a Mars dust storm (and what it does) from the inside. It may have an impact on the rovers' ability to run around on the surface, but it may also make some entirely new science possible.
It may even be possible to track the wind speeds of the storm if two closely spaced images are lucky ehough to track a recognizable object moving across the line of sight.
In the meantime, the dust storms don't make any real difference to my personal view, because I live in Vancouver
which is almost permanently clouded over at this time of year.
Part of the problem is that long, long, long after Microsoft had not only been told about the problem, but even actively lobbied about it, they insisted on shipping their 'car' with a spare copy of the keys under each bumper.
Now that people are starting to ship with XP-PL2, enough services are turned off by default that a machine may have a bit of a chance at being able to download the latest patches before getting infected, but it's been far too much of a fight to get it there.
I was going to call it the world's smallest cart. Close enough to 'car' to get people's attention, and more accurate. And it, in no way, demeans the accomplishment.
Yeah, but we're talking here of places where you are 'smuggling' when you hand a beer to your neighbour across the back fence. (I'm thinking Pt. Roberts, here). When you're used to dealing with people 15 hours apart, the difference between 15 hours and 16 hours is trivial.
The difference, on the other hand between the same, and an hour apart is quite noticable. If you're used to "I'll meet you in Bellingham at 4:00" meaning 4:00 on my watch, then having some of the people your're used to dealing with on a synchronized clock basis suddenly be an hour off for 3 months of the year can be really annoying.
I think there's another article out there today on how habits burn into your neural pathways.
And, yes, I agree that this is going to be a somewhat less obvious call out here in BC where we do a lot of business with both the far east and the US.
Yeah, there needs to be a list of numbers you can call even if the phone doesn't recognize you. My ground-line number would be one (so that they can return my phone to me when (not if) I lose it), but above that would be 911.
The last thing I'd want to see after frying my face in a flash-fire would be:
The No only applies to retroactive changes to copies that you've already distributed. You can re-license your own code however you want (as long as you don't violate licenses+permissions of contributed code). But any code that people already have can be 'forked' to stay under the license it was originally recieved under.
IANAL, but I think that the 'or later versions' is permissive, so if you re-release someone else's under the current version only, you should still be within the terms of the license.
However, that still doesn't allow you to gather back the licenses on code that's already been distributed. You'd have to jut talk pretty to any recipients and ask them to be nice and follow your lead.
One solution would be to sell flashdrives with a builtin lcd monitor and keyboard;
That'd basically be a thin laptop. It does hit on something of a chord, though.. They do sell those external keyboard for palmtops... From a security point of view, most people aren't that worried about snarfing the display You'd still have to deal with keyloggers built into the EPROM but, other than that, if you can boot from your USB drive, you've got at least some hope of a secure machine.
Well, I'm guessing that the truth is that they have no plans to distribute MS Office for Linux, but somebody has probabably already hacked up a working version by now. Shouldn't be too hard to do between the OSX and Windows versions.
Trusted Computing (this has to be one the more ironic names ever,
"Trusted Computing" means that someone else can trust that your computer will do what they want, no matter what you do.
I'm expecting that, sooner or later, we're going to see viruse running around that encrypt your data so that only the virus writer (if anybody) can decode it -- or you've got 7 days to make a payment and get the key before your important data 'expires'.
Caps on malpractice are for the benefits of the insurance industry, not the doctors (or their patients). The insurance companies have already determined that they can get away with what they're charging. There's no reason for them to lower their premiums just because their exposure has decreased.
It's like expecting Microsoft to drop their software prices because the cost of CD's have gone below $.50 each.
Varous lights that plug into your car accessory plug work really well with jell cells... You can keep the battery in your backpack, and it'll give you HOURS of light You can then recharge it during the day. I've also jury rigged versions of the idea with 12V halogen bulbs and an appropriately sized flashlight (METAL body... a 50W halogen bulb can not only melt a plastic flashlight, but also light a fire with the puddle if you leave it for long enough.
As a safety issue, I also use a thermal switch for a clothes dryer as a safety switch -- in case the unit is left on and gets too hot.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it's because the average geek thinks more than the average jock (although neither set is exclusive). Many women seem to like men who
(1) can think their way out of a paper bag,
(2) won't threaten to beat them if they 'get out of hand', and
(3) can make a decent income.
Geeks tend to excel on 1, do prety good on 2, and to be better than average on 3.
It was intended to be a castrated version of Multix. Now Multix is dead, and it's Unixen spawn are all over the globe.
The fact that Microsoft thinks that they can strongarm MA into abandoning a well-considered decision taken over almost two years, by threatening to 'take their marbles and go home' is precisely why it's important for the state to move to a vender-neutral format.
Right now, if they want an added capability in Microsoft Office, they pretty much have to go to Microsoft hat-in-hand and beg for support. With about a half-dozen vendors supporting Open Document format (including the LGPL Open Office and the GPL Koffice), they can literally go to any company in the world and say:
(and you wonder why MA's techies don't trust them)
In the meantime, Microsoft is threatening to take their marbles and go home from South Korea because that country has the temerity to continue an anti-competetive investigation against them.
And, of course, there was Microsoft's attempt to force the country of Israel to abandon Macs by refusing to properly support Hebrew (or any other right-to-left script) on Office-OS/X. They failed, because Israel decided to pay a group of local geeks (a fraction of the money that Microsoft had refused to fix office) to port Open Office to OS-X, and then announced plans to cut off all their contracts with Microsoft.
There are some signs that Microsoft intends to lock their customers more irretrievably into Office with patents and other tricks. That's one part of the reasons why MA may want to walk away from vendor lock-in.
Put it another way, if I'm paying for a new product, why should I be paying more than I should have to, only to subsidize maintenance for purchasers of old products?
The purchasers of the older version supported you by helping to find the old bugs (that are now fixed) and suggesting improvements (that you are now benefiting from).
If, on the other hand, I'm selling my 'custom' code for $500 each to 1,000 people a year, it's the ongoing sales that pay for the bug fixes and updates.
Once I've fixed the bug for one of my customers it's almost free for me to distribute that fix to everybody on my customer list. It's dishonest of me to charge each of my customers the full cost of fixing each bug. On the other hand, charging them a small fee for ongoing admin and support is completely reasonable, as long as I'm actively supporting the code and you want the new fixes. If you don't want the fixes, then you've paid for my time, and there's no more need for you to pay me.
The Microsoft approach, on the other hand, looks like little more than a greedy grab. I'm expecting that their yearly costs aren't going to be much less than the price of the (old) non-subscription version -- except that you're going to be expected to pay that price every year for the rest of your life -- whether or not Microsoft is supporing it.
Worse yet -- If Microsoft wants to force you to move to Windows 2010, all they have to do is cut off the air supply for people using the XP/Vista versions and you'll have to either abandon your data or upgrade to 2010 -- so now you get dinged twice for the one piece of software.
Subscription makes far more sense for something like anti-virus software because you actually need the most recent data for your code to work ongoingly. On the other hand, I can still do most of the content creation I really want with Word5.0 for MacOS7.
and PR is all about appearances.
The Open Source would be use of various debuggers. Thousands of people would get together track down the bug that was giving you the runs, and surgically remove it -- leaving your ass intact.
That's why I said 'this time of year'. It seems like permanent, but it really only lasts for months at a time. Star watching is really spectacular from Wreck beach when it's clear.
Actually, it is. the parts of Vancouver near sea-level rarely go below zero and even more rarely get snow. In th summer it's absolutely fabulous.
It may even be possible to track the wind speeds of the storm if two closely spaced images are lucky ehough to track a recognizable object moving across the line of sight.
In the meantime, the dust storms don't make any real difference to my personal view, because I live in Vancouver which is almost permanently clouded over at this time of year.
And what does connecting it to the net have to do with the infection? Once you install XP, you're doomed. Period.
Now that people are starting to ship with XP-PL2, enough services are turned off by default that a machine may have a bit of a chance at being able to download the latest patches before getting infected, but it's been far too much of a fight to get it there.
I was going to call it the world's smallest cart. Close enough to 'car' to get people's attention, and more accurate. And it, in no way, demeans the accomplishment.
The difference, on the other hand between the same, and an hour apart is quite noticable. If you're used to "I'll meet you in Bellingham at 4:00" meaning 4:00 on my watch, then having some of the people your're used to dealing with on a synchronized clock basis suddenly be an hour off for 3 months of the year can be really annoying.
I think there's another article out there today on how habits burn into your neural pathways.
And, yes, I agree that this is going to be a somewhat less obvious call out here in BC where we do a lot of business with both the far east and the US.
The last thing I'd want to see after frying my face in a flash-fire would be:
The No only applies to retroactive changes to copies that you've already distributed. You can re-license your own code however you want (as long as you don't violate licenses+permissions of contributed code). But any code that people already have can be 'forked' to stay under the license it was originally recieved under.
IANAL, but I think that the 'or later versions' is permissive, so if you re-release someone else's under the current version only, you should still be within the terms of the license.
However, that still doesn't allow you to gather back the licenses on code that's already been distributed. You'd have to jut talk pretty to any recipients and ask them to be nice and follow your lead.
That'd basically be a thin laptop. It does hit on something of a chord, though.. They do sell those external keyboard for palmtops... From a security point of view, most people aren't that worried about snarfing the display You'd still have to deal with keyloggers built into the EPROM but, other than that, if you can boot from your USB drive, you've got at least some hope of a secure machine.
(not that I'd suggest that Marty uses cocaine, just that his company is being snorted up, so to speak)
Well, I'm guessing that the truth is that they have no plans to distribute MS Office for Linux, but somebody has probabably already hacked up a working version by now. Shouldn't be too hard to do between the OSX and Windows versions.
"Trusted Computing" means that someone else can trust that your computer will do what they want, no matter what you do.
I'm expecting that, sooner or later, we're going to see viruse running around that encrypt your data so that only the virus writer (if anybody) can decode it -- or you've got 7 days to make a payment and get the key before your important data 'expires'.
Making a big deal about one of their models (out of dozens) available without an OS (but at extra cost???!!) is pretty bogus.
It's like expecting Microsoft to drop their software prices because the cost of CD's have gone below $.50 each.
(I really do wish it was completely a joke)
As a safety issue, I also use a thermal switch for a clothes dryer as a safety switch -- in case the unit is left on and gets too hot.