I wonder if that was a fully licenced copy of XP ?
If not, then I guess that shows who is more guilty of IP "theft" then. The ones who pay for an OS are more likely to "steal" software than the ones who don't pay for the OS. Errr... are you saying that if that person is using a Windows XP that isn't fully licensed, that they "stole" Windows, and are therefore less likely to steal software? But if they bought a retail version of XP for the EEEPC, then they are more likely to steal software? I think you should try rephrasing your comment. It doesn't make much sense like that.
Suppose you discovered that GIMP was connecting to a strange looking host -- what would you do then?
Edit the source, remove the code that makes it connect to a strange looking host, recompile GIMP, and release a patch for others who don't want their software doing strange things.
According to the article, the 0.7Hz refresh rate is what they need now with the experimental dots. The researchers predict that in the future they'll be able to make dots with a refresh rate of 3.17 * 10^-14 Hz, or one refresh every 1 million years.
Surely with modern communications, police don't need to do high speed chases any more. They could just radio ahead to some cops ten kilometres away and ask them to set up a road block while the police helicopter follows the suspect vehicle from a distance. Chasing somebody with cars makes it more dangerous for everybody involved.
Windows is in such a mess that MS is not able to make any real improvements without breaking everything and basically starting from scratch.
Will Microsoft be smart enough to copy Apple? Will Windows 2010 be a clunky MS monster GUI slapped onto a BSD system? It's going to be exciting watching to see what they come up with! I expect they won't just die quietly, Microsoft will go out with a bang!
Here are a couple of relevant quotes about what was happening from the article:
The lawsuits, originally filed by Accenture employee Norman Rille and another whistleblower, accuse the companies of creating alliance relationships with dozens of other vendors, giving each other discounts or rebates on products or work for government contracts. The companies did not pass the rebates on to their government clients, according to a DOJ court filing. So that's "creating alliances between the companies", "giving each other discounts and rebates", and "not passing on rebates to the government".
Any rebates vendors receive as part of a U.S. government contract belong to the government, the DOJ said. If that's part of the contract, that the vendor has to pass on rebates to the government, then it looks like the vendors have been pulling a scam. It might seem fair that they could keep the rebates for themselves, unless the rules specifically say they have to give them to the government.
The Financial Times says:
"that the technology and consulting groups improperly steered government contracts to their so-called "alliance teams" - other companies the groups partnered with on government contracts, from the late 1990s to the present in exchange for improper payments. In some cases, the companies paid kickbacks to win sub-contracts from such partners, the government alleged." And also,
"In one case, Sun paid World Wide Technologies, one of its alliance partners, more than $173,000 in return for the group's influence in selling Sun services to the government, the justice department alleged. In another case involving a contract worth tens of millions of dollars with the GSA, a federal agency, Sun made "misleading" disclosures and "false statements" about some of its discounting practices in connection to the contracts." If they were making misleading and false statements about their discounting practices, then that would indicate that they knew they were doing the wrong thing. Looks like it's going to be a long and interesting case.
Yes this is madness. They're allowing people to attempt to crack the voting system with no fear of getting into trouble. If somebody does crack into it, they can either report how they did it so the system can be fixed, or they can use the security hole to rig an election. That could possibly give them the power to take over a country, or receive some big payments from a political party who would really like to win. Oh well, looks like Kent Brockman was right, "democracy just doesn't work".
I don't think it would be open to vehicle traffic. Instead they'd likely operate it like the channel tunnel where you and your vehicle are loaded onto a train and carried through. You'd think so, but in the article it says that they're going to have a highway as well as a railway:
The planned undersea tunnel would contain a high-speed railway, highway and pipelines, as well as power and fiber-optic cables, according to TKM-World Link.
And trains crash too, and oil pipelines can burst and catch on fire.
I hope they've got a good emergency plan for when the inevitable disaster happens in the tunnel, such as the recent vehicle crash in a tunnel in Melbourne. Imagine being stuck in a tunnel 30 miles from land, under an ocean, with burning trucks and cars all around. Accidents happen all the time, and it'd be really hard to get to one in that situation.
It says in the article that the soldiers don't like the high-tech gear because it's too heavy and not very useful. Of course soldiers won't want to be weighed down with heaps of stuff, they invented "going commando". On the other hand, hopefully civilians will be able to get some of those head mounted display units as shown in the picture. The gear might not be good for war, but it might still be good for peaceful uses.
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Edit the source, remove the code that makes it connect to a strange looking host, recompile GIMP, and release a patch for others who don't want their software doing strange things.
According to the article, the 0.7Hz refresh rate is what they need now with the experimental dots. The researchers predict that in the future they'll be able to make dots with a refresh rate of 3.17 * 10^-14 Hz, or one refresh every 1 million years.
Surely with modern communications, police don't need to do high speed chases any more. They could just radio ahead to some cops ten kilometres away and ask them to set up a road block while the police helicopter follows the suspect vehicle from a distance. Chasing somebody with cars makes it more dangerous for everybody involved.
There's an old saying: If voting could change the system, it would be illegal.
Yes this is madness. They're allowing people to attempt to crack the voting system with no fear of getting into trouble. If somebody does crack into it, they can either report how they did it so the system can be fixed, or they can use the security hole to rig an election. That could possibly give them the power to take over a country, or receive some big payments from a political party who would really like to win. Oh well, looks like Kent Brockman was right, "democracy just doesn't work".
I hope they've got a good emergency plan for when the inevitable disaster happens in the tunnel, such as the recent vehicle crash in a tunnel in Melbourne. Imagine being stuck in a tunnel 30 miles from land, under an ocean, with burning trucks and cars all around. Accidents happen all the time, and it'd be really hard to get to one in that situation.
It says in the article that the soldiers don't like the high-tech gear because it's too heavy and not very useful. Of course soldiers won't want to be weighed down with heaps of stuff, they invented "going commando". On the other hand, hopefully civilians will be able to get some of those head mounted display units as shown in the picture. The gear might not be good for war, but it might still be good for peaceful uses.