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User: Theovon

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  1. Microsoft shares, who'da thunk it... on Microsoft Eases "Shared Source" Restrictions · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's an irony. Microsoft counters the GPL with an even less restrictive license.

    Free Software will rule the world, and Microsoft will play multiple parts in making that happen. :)

  2. It's good to be the top engineer... on The Pragmatic Programmers Interviewed · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's amazing the things you can get away with when you're one of the top contributing engineers at your company.

    Not to say that what I "get away with" is anything more severe than coming in late a lot, but still...

    Also, when you're a top engineer, you can do stuff like yell at the boss and tell the CEO when you think one of his ideas is stupid or something like that.

  3. Here's a redundant thing to say... on Should Colleges Monitor Students' PCs? · · Score: 1

    If you're running Windows, this is the kind of thing you have to put up with. I know it's chiche, but it's true. Windows is and always will be unsecure.

    The only problem would be if they required you to install Windows antivirus software onto your Mac or Linux box.

  4. What web server are they running? on First Linux-only Retail Store? · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Is it just me, or does it look like sub500.com is running on IIS?

  5. I love catching companies in bad behavior! on Unplugging Email To Combat Spam · · Score: 1

    I don't know why, but I always get a kick out of it when someone catches a company doing something stupid. This thing about Microsoft terminating an account without investigating is a prime example.

    You'd think they'd have some system in place to investigate, if only to avoid the bad press. But then again... when does Microsoft deserve GOOD press?

  6. COMDEX used to be cool... on Comdex Canceled For 2004 · · Score: 1

    Back in the 80's, Comdex was cool. Exhibits were about new technology... innovation and stuff. Then in the 90's, it went all glitz and hollywood. Why bother going?

    That's why it's dead. It's just not INTERESTING anymore. It's kinda like Windows... pretty on the outside (to some people), but absolutely nothing interesting underneath.

  7. Re:Linux IS free on ESR's Halloween XI -- Get the FUD · · Score: 1

    Alright! Beer party at my house! Right now! :)

  8. Linux IS free on ESR's Halloween XI -- Get the FUD · · Score: 1

    "Linux" is free. It's support that you pay money for.

  9. Monopoly power companies on Lessons Learned From Blaster · · Score: 1

    It's too bad power companies are monopolies. If I were Mona, I'd want to switch to a different provider for (a) being stupid and (b) cutting me off when it wasn't my fault they were stupid.

    How were they stupid? Lots of ways, including poor security and using Windows for critical systems.

  10. If it weren't for deviations like this... on SELEX at Fermilab Discovers New Particle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... quantum physics would start to get pretty boring after a while.

    It's always fun to find a fault in the theory and then find a way to fix the theory, especially when that fix is elegant and makes all sorts of really cool predictions that you could not have made before.

  11. Fun: Microsoft software running under Linux on France Considers Open Source · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What would be fun to watch is if some country decided to switch to an Open Source OS, and then did a separate bid for office software.

    Microsoft would be in a position where it could compete for the position of supplying office software, but only if it ported their office software to the Open Source platform.

    I wonder what they would do.

    It would fun just to watch what they do in that predicament.

  12. AMD! STOP CHANGING SOCKETS! on AMD Going Dual-Core In 2005 · · Score: -1, Redundant

    AMD is shooting themselves in the foot with this constant changing of sockets for their processors. Rather than buying a mobo that can support a faster chip and then upgrading the processor, people are just WAITING. They're not buying anything at all.

    If AMD isn't careful, customers are going to wait AMD out of a lot of market share.

  13. Re:Here's what the real issues are. on Drexler Clarifies Grey Goo Scenario · · Score: 1

    >> What, you've never accidentally programmed an infinite loop? I have.

    Maybe I should have said "program". Bugs are deviations between design and program. That infinite loop is a bug. Nevertheless, the computer did exactly what you told it to do!

    >> Maybe, but you only have to make it once.

    Depends on how robust it is at replicating. Either way, that "once" is terribly difficult.

    Finally, it seems incredibly unlikely to me that someone would ever "fuck up" and ACCIDENTALLY produce a self-replicating machine. It's almost comical to think about.

  14. Here's what the real issues are. on Drexler Clarifies Grey Goo Scenario · · Score: 2, Insightful

    (1) Machines only do what you design them to.

    Mind you, people often design them wrong, and then the fail to function, but that isn't going to spontaneously create self-replicating machines. Besides, if the raw materials are not available in the right form, they cannot replicate.

    (2) Self-replicating machines are prohibitively complex.

    Have you had a look at the genome of a simple bacteria lately? How about the support machinery in the bacteria? Trust me, an evil mad scientist would not have the funding or resources to develop a self-replicating machine.

    (3) The real problem with nano machines would be simple design flaws, not replication.

    If your nano machines are supposed to identify cancer cells and kill them, but they mistake healthy cells for cancer cells, THEN you have a problem. That is a lot more realistic. But a decade of testing on any given design would happen before it was used in humans.

  15. I don't want to register Windows on What Keeps You Off of Windows? · · Score: 1

    At this point, I might have Windows XP on all of my Windows computers if it were not for the fact that I have to buy a separate copy for each box. Do I want to pirate it? No. I want to be able to legitimately install from the same WinXP CD onto multiple computers.

    Until then, I'll stick with my legitimate installs of Win2K and Win98.

  16. Intentionally ambiguous use of the word "derived" on Ken Brown Responds to His Critics · · Score: 1

    I think the esteemed writer does not understand the variations in meaning that "derived" can have.

    There are many ways in which Linux 'derives' certain contepts from Unix and Minix. But those derivations are based on IDEAS, and you cannot copyright ideas.

    There is nothing wrong or untoward about noticing that someone else had a good idea and imitating that.

    Where copyright comes into the picture is when you actually copy something tangible. In this case, the tangible thing is source code. It's been verified by a number of parties that Linus did not copy any code from Unix or Minix. No laws or ethics were broken.

    In much the same way that OpenOffice imitates Microsoft Office (and Corel Office, etc.), or how chemists can mix keytones and esters together and imitate fruit flavors artificially, Linux imitates Unix and Minix. An even better analogy would be how "The Matrix" borrows ideas heavily from "Ghost in the Shell". The similarities are undeniably, but no one stole anything, violated copyright, or did anything unethical.

  17. PCI-X is not the same as PCI-Express on First Looks At PCI-X, BTX, New Chipsets, And More · · Score: 5, Informative

    PCI-X is a 133mhz bus which is backward compatible with PCI and PCI66.

    PCI-Express is a system bus but is more of a networking protocol using high-speed differential signaling (like DVI and SATA) as the physical layer.

    PCI-X and PCI-Express are similar only in name (and some similarities in how "config space" is handled). They are really two radically different things.

  18. Use political sanctions against China on 71% of Spam Servers are Located in China · · Score: 1

    Other countries should threaten to stop importing products from China (or impose high tariffs) unless the government stops SPAM from being generated there.

    Once that's done, we'll have to move on to whatever country the spammers move to next.

  19. Can students get this program? on Indiana First With Computerized Grading · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If I were a student, I'd want to get a copy of this software and use it to pre-grade my papers so that I could find out what's wrong and fix it before I turned it in.

  20. POINTLESS (use system RAM instead) on DSI Delivers up to 3GB/s with Solid State Disk · · Score: 1

    How can this possibly be better than just putting more RAM in to your computer. Ok, sure, if you have a 32-bit machine, then you're stuck. But if you have the money for this beast, than you have a 64-bit server box, and you can install 64MB of RAM.

    This would be EVEN FASTER because you don't have to get your disk data from over some SCSI bus or whatever. Instead, you just rely in your OS to do a good job of caching disk blocks in RAM. If all of your data fits in RAM, then the only disk access that will ever happen is writes, and that'll be so well buffered that it'll never impact anything. (Just be sure to use a journalling file system!)

  21. Re:Weren't there problems with "Mudd"? on Star Trek TOS DVD Box Sets Forthcoming · · Score: 1

    Thanks! I just ordered it.

  22. Weren't there problems with "Mudd"? on Star Trek TOS DVD Box Sets Forthcoming · · Score: 1

    One day, in a book store, I found a multi-volume set of TOS scripts. "YAY!", I thought. My favorite Episode is "I, Mudd", and I wanted to read the script. Just my luck, the two episodes they left out were "I, Mudd" and "Mudd's Women". Some sort of copyright problem.

    I hope this doesn't suffer from the same problem.

  23. It would be bad if AMD completely destroyed Intel on AMD Beats Intel in CPU Sales · · Score: 5, Insightful

    COMPETITION.

    AMD keeps Intel honest (sorta), and likewise, Intel keeps AMD honest. It would be bad for either one to drop to less than 10% market share, because the consumers would lose out.

  24. Re:The fault is the lack of work ethic in American on US Losing its Scientific Dominance · · Score: 1

    Well, children do get more intelligent as they age.

  25. The fault is the lack of work ethic in Americans. on US Losing its Scientific Dominance · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the reasons our schools are ineffective is this: If we had standards, a lot more kids would flunk out of school, putting more criminals on the street.

    The reason for that is that parents don't teach a work ethic. School is "uncool", and work sucks.

    In the short term, raising standards would create more delinquents and criminals. If we did introduce standards it would take more than a few generations to undo the damage and bring the passing rates back up.

    Many students do poorly in school due to lack of work ethic in their parents. Many students, such as myself, do poorly in school, because school really sucks, due to the lack of work ethic in other students. (I did great in college.)

    Many teachers see this and feel like it would be futile to try to fight the status quo.