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User: Scott+Robinson

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Comments · 56

  1. Re:Credit for millions of jobs?? on McNealy Created Millions of Jobs? · · Score: 1

    I took your advice and did look things up.

    In Win95, another process could easily corrupt another one's process memory. A simple demonstration of this fact were all the in-memory game patch tools which never required driver-level access.

    As for the NT Kernel, it's so suspiciously similar to the VMS and RSX-11 kernels there was almost a lawsuit over it. Of course, this shouldn't be surprising because the primary designer (Dave Cutler) was the same guy for all three!

    Selecting a word and changing the font? Have you conveniently forgotten the Macintosh?!

    Yes, Apple (1978-1983 with the Lisa) and MIT (1984 with X-Windows) both copied the modern GUI from Xerox. Of course, their development efforts were simultaneous and independent. Microsoft (1985 with Windows), however, is in a bit of a different time scope.

    "Client/server kernel technology, not monolithic or microkernel"? Do you have any idea what you're saying? I'm guessing you haven't taken an introductory class in operating system design. Please take a few minutes to view Wikipedia's informative article on the subject. In short, there was and still is plenty like it.

    And then, of course, there are the strawmen. No one is claiming Microsoft copied the WinAPI or GDI/GDI+. Those are disingenius arguments. They're Microsoft proprietary and, quite frankly, not the greatest APIs. In fact, both are being phased out by Microsoft as fast as they are capable of pushing the whole managed code initiative... ... but RTF?! A TeX rip-off format designed for being able to portably transfer documents between Windows and Macintosh copies of Word as their actual format sucked? Yeah, no copying there!

    Then you refer to Visual Basic (1991), in which anyone who was using computers at the time can quickly rejoin with Apple's Hypercard (1987) and its family of applications spawned.

    And finally, if you had ever applied "the same eye of scrutiny" to Microsoft as you barely applied to Apple or Linux, you would easily have come to the above conclusions. (Apple is responsible for the first mass market personal computer. Linus's original announcement post made it clear he was making a derivation.)

  2. Re:DNA's hash becomes your world-unique name on Faster DNA Testing · · Score: 1

    Does this perfect society marginalize identical twins?

  3. My experiences. on Back and Forth Between Qwerty and Dvorak? · · Score: 1

    I switched to the Dvorak layout almost a year and a half ago. As I'm a student and programmer, I use both QWERTY and Dvorak layouts daily.

    When I trained on Dvorak, I used it exclusively for three months. Afterwards, moving between keyboards was easy.

    I do have one strange mental block. If I'm on a QWERTY keyboard, even if I know the codes are being entered in Dvorak, I can't bring myself to type in Dvorak. The visa-versa is true.

  4. Backwards compat. for those on Live. on 360's Backwards Compatibility Weak? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is just a theory, but it seems reasonable that they could simply recompile and tune the binaries, and then place them on X-Box Live.

    Any X-Box 360 hooked up to the network could download the new binaries (not too large) and then run them.

    Wa-la, backwards compatibility and a pushing factor for online access.

  5. Re:Firefox's search box is bad UI design on Yahoo! Releases Firefox version of Toolbar · · Score: 2, Informative

    Why are you moving your hand to the right?

    Control-L, and Tab.

    Unless you were referring to moving the mouse pointer to that segment of the window. Then I would be complaining about having to move my mouse to the left for the address bar!

  6. Re:Slashdotted!! on Build Your Own MP3 Player · · Score: 1

    Not every .edu is funded by a government.

  7. THE PARENT POST IS WRONG on Belkin Offering Pre-802.11N Products · · Score: 1

    There was no IPv5.

    802.11h, and all the other letters do exist and are implemented. 802.11 does not simply refer to wireless link standards (.11, .11a, .11b, and .11g), but a whole set of wireless networking standards.

    Look at this wikipedia entry about it.

  8. The Future of IM on IETF Publishes Jabber/XMPP RFCs · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm suprised everyone thinks Jabber is DOA. It's no MSN, AIM, or Yahoo. However, it's not supposed to be.

    Currently, Jabber is an open IM standard with tools available now. It has been receiving large rollouts for corporate use, and plenty of people use it exclusively for IM. (Myself, recently, included.)

    It the future, instant messaging will become more important. Be it text, audio, video, or something new Jabber (with its XML base) can theoretically support it nicely.

    And the worry about numbers isn't something I have. It's fairly simple scalability math. For example, if every cellphone/mobile device comes online and even a quarter of them use instant messaging, the AIM/MSN/Yahoo userspace will be completely swamped.

  9. Re:Repeating Sony's earlier mistake on PSP Launch May Be Hurt By Lack Of Games? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Funny, I remember the PS2 being backwards compatible with PS1 and capable of playing DVDs.

  10. Re:key word "control" on China Deploys IPv9 Network · · Score: 1

    And that it would be the Union army, and not the Confederate army that fled?

  11. This posting is a troll and extremely misleading. on Dance Dance Revolution Hastens Heart Attack · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The posting leads the reader into believing that Dance Dance Revolution helped hasten the heart attack. This is completely untrue.

    However, the article notes:

    "You could be asleep, walking running, sitting down to eat. It can hit ya," said Eddie Wilson, Kimber's father.

    "She was in the right place with all the right people around her," said mother Julie Wilson.

    In fact, it's known that Dance Dance Revolution had nothing to do with the heart attack. "The heart problem is genetic and the incident prompted members of her family to get tested."

    I know it's futile to ask, but could the editors please at least read the linked articles to ensure the writeups are accurate?

    I wonder if someone could write up a provocative enough writeup and sneak a shock picture past?
  12. Hello Communism. on How Would You Document Your Job? · · Score: 1

    People who feel that the workload should be spread over all nations so that everyone can have a job, an income, and a healthy life.

    What makes you think that if all the workload was spread evenly throughout all nations that everyone would have a job, an income, and a healthy life?

    Anything at all backing that up?

  13. Re:Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist on Cell Phone Customer Service Ranked Next to Last · · Score: 1

    Hell yes I've had billing mistakes in my favour! Bank of America gave me $200 once. I told them about it promptly, but due to various legalities and paperwork issues I ended up getting to keep it.

    I didn't touch it, though, for several months ... just in case.

  14. Re:I'm sorry... on Berners-Lee on the TLD Explosion · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Each of which is a different website. This just supports the parent's statement.

    What was your point?

  15. Re:Anyone have a replica of MS-DOS EDITOR? on JOE Hits 3.0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have you tried using Jed?

    For the record, I'm was leaving Joe *right now* for Jed.

    With version three, I think I'll take another look at my favourite editor.

  16. Re:What the...? on TUMIKI Fighters Takes Free PC Shmups Higher · · Score: 1

    Well, if you install dmd for Linux, you can use the following Makefile to compile a Linux version of Parsec 47.

    http://tranzoa.net/~scott/Makefile.p47

    A Makefile for tf is coming.

  17. A simple solution. on Streaming MP3s on Demand? · · Score: 1

    All the solutions I have seen thus far are either extremely complex, involve writing code (though that doesn't sound to unreasonable for the poster), or Linux-only.

    Sheesh. :-)

    If you got Shoutcast working, which it sounds like you have, you're halfway there.

    Remote access couldn't be easier! Just use VNC.

    It's so simple and common, there are Java clients you can use for systems with no local execution allowed. Executable downloads measure in the < 100k range.

    Have fun!

  18. Re:Finally! on ICANN to Incorporate TLDs Already In-use? · · Score: 2, Insightful
    creating a .kids domain that is limited to pg-13 content.
    Wheee....a ready made playground for pedophiles to troll for victims. How would you enforce the content limitation?

    So it's a choice between "we must protect the children" and putting all porn in .xxx, and "we must protect the children" and putting all the children sites in .kids?

    Somehow, I think the problem might be in the statement "we must protect the children."

  19. Re:I gotta say that IE is one of the worst. on Making IE Standards Compliant · · Score: 1

    Every enhancement that the Google toolbar + IE brings to the table is already is Mozilla/Firebird.

    And it's faster.

    So, what are you waiting for?

  20. Re:Um, no. on Congressional Committee Approves Database Bill · · Score: 1

    You obviously are not a lawyer. If you were, you mould know the Congress can pass any law they want. As long as said law does not conflict against the constitution... or the Supreme Court's interpretation of the constituion.

  21. Re:Flaws a little more dramatic than the political on MIT Technology Review Slams IPv6 · · Score: 1

    Oops. Responding while tired strikes again.. (though I asked others around me if I was being coherent - the lies!)

    Yeah, address field. :-)

  22. Re:Amy is cute. on MIT Technology Review Slams IPv6 · · Score: 1

    Amy, who is a friend who walked in while I was posting and asked me to type that line.

  23. Re:Flaws a little more dramatic than the political on MIT Technology Review Slams IPv6 · · Score: 1

    It wasn't intended to fix the address shortage problem with IPv4. It was intended to solve the upgrade path routing problems for IPv4 to IPv6.

    Dynamic NAT, as popularly implemented, is "evil." NAT as Network Address Translation is not evil and is a fundamental technology of the Internet.

  24. Flaws a little more dramatic than the political... on MIT Technology Review Slams IPv6 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I went through the entire current posted responses, and I'm suprised people missed mistakes that - in the words of my girlfriend - must mean that the author was simply having a bad day and couldn't be writing this as a serious article.

    The most important thing that IPv6 does is quadruple the size of the Internet address field from 32 bits to 128 bits.

    Quadruple? 2^32 * 2 != 2^128. In fact, there is a very distinct difference. I would hope a writer for the M.I.T. Tech Review would know the difference.

    One transition strategy calls for most computers to simultaneously have both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. The problem with this approach is that there's never a good time to have people start deploying systems that are only V6--that's because somewhere, somebody is going to have a machine that's V4 only, and they won't be able to communicate with you.

    This is so horribly backwards, he must be joking. One of the points of IPv6 is that IPv4 can be routed within and through it. (visa-versa too, but let's assume we're taking about an all v6 net) The real worry would be when someone created a v6 only site that some v4 person wouldn't be able to address.

    Ugh. I think IPv6 upgrade path will be similar to analog and digital cell phones. They're still able to route to each other, and the improved features and quality of connections have caused people to leave older analog phones. The older phones still have better coverage; but, the newer phones are still able to switch to analog mode if necessary.

    Problems with a v6 peer not being accessible to a v4 peer aren't too worrying to me. The same technologies enabling Akamai and NAT will almost certainly solve that.

    One obvious solution is an automated DNS -> TCP/IP forwarding service:

    1. Your v4 peer performs a lookup for a v6 address it cannot access.
    2. The DNS server notes your IP and responds with a forwarding v4->v6 peer.
    3. The DNS server instructs the fowarding peer of the v6 adderess you're attempting to access.
    4. When you contact the v4->v6 peer, it performs NAT to the v6 peer.

    Amy is cute.

  25. Re:xmms alarm plugin on Alarm Clocks for Heavy Sleepers? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have used a cron task to wake myself up for three years. Previously I had to move an alarm clock all the way across my room and obstruct it with objcts so I wouldn't sleep turn it off.

    Three years later, I am now able to login to my computer, open a shell, and kill the alarm task without ever properly waking up.

    Its an arms race I feel I'll be running the rest of my life.