Linux is a black box for 99% of its users too, since having access to the source and being able to comprehend a small fragment of it are vastly different things.
Practically speaking, for sysadmins, whether source is available is not always (or often) going to be terribly relevant.
Yea thats not UPS's fault. Ive ordered a TON of stuff from Amazon and others over the past few weeks. Only one item failed to arrive within 3 days, and that one was backordered.
As a ton of people have pointed out, not all "shipping problems" are actually problems with the shipper.
Why is it news that someone created yet another Linux distro with yet another permutation of packages? Why is it impressive that Hawaii "features a dynamic, flicker free and fast system"?
The summary mentions that theres potentially a new DE here, why are there no details on it?
Its funny till you start getting hit with fines for wilfully ignoring their instructions. I recall a similar incident where Microsoft decided to ignore an EU ruling, and got hit with fines in the neigborhood of ~$3million per day of continued infringement.
So yea, if the guy is spending $3400 trying to match a $1400 card, he will fail to beat Apple's pricing, and should probably apply for a position with them.
Its worth keeping in mind you cant actually GET a Mac Pro now, since they dont ship till February, so at this point its a TAD premature to say that you cant match it with DIY. Itd be more accurate to say that Macs cant match DIY, at least until February.
Too many previous slave owners and their descendants still lives and have say in politics. It was serious error by US population not to charge them with crimes
I suppose you arent familiar with the term "ex post facto law", or why they are not allowed in the US per the Constitution. Let me lay it out for you. If you start allowing people to be arrested for things that were legal when they were done but are now illegal, anyone can be arrested at any time on the whim of the legislature.
I expect that they try, and its silly to get outraged that a spy agency is actually spying.
Theres several big differences, too:
* If I want to stay clear of their radar, I can reasonably expect to do so by keeping all of my communications in the US, and dealing only with US companies. When the NSA spies internally, all that goes out the window.
* Theyre not paid for with my money. The NSA is funded directly with my tax dollars.
* I have no expectations that actors affiliated with outside governments do not view me adversarially. I do have an expectation that the NSA is working on my behalf.
* I am not generally protected by provisions for UK citizens (which I assume GCHQ is held to); I AM protected by US laws, such as the 4th amendment, which the NSA is held to.
No, its silly to act astonished and outraged when the media runs a story that says "There are murderers out there in the world", because everyone kind of knows that.
And your logical leap fails to account for the fact that while all murder and rape is unnecessary and bad, spying need not be so.
THe claims about Mac's supposedly superior power consumption are hillarious. Ive seen like 3 or 4 people post here about how awesome the new Mac Pro's 44W power usage metric are.
FWIW anything using a recent Intel CPU, low-power dimms, and an SSD is going to run very quite and use very little power. Stop giving Apple credit for the CPU and SSD.
THeres also an efficiency curve; powersupplies tend to be the most efficient somewhere around 1/2 of their rated power. Drop too low (using 50W on a 1000W PSU) and the efficiency plummets. Go too close to the limit and it can also drop. See here for an example: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2624/3 On that 900W PSU, peak efficiency was hit with consumption between 450 and 750W, with a modest drop around 800W and a nosedive below 200W.
My 2006 core2 duo idled at 160W. Im not sure that its terribly impressive that theyre doing 167 in 2012, or that 44W is that impressive given the power features of most new video cards and Intel CPUs. Basically nothing in a modern SSD-based tower uses any significant electricity when idling.
To be fair, most people care quite a bit about aesthetics; look at any geek who's drooled over some sick case mod like this one.
On the other hand we usually dont drop an extra grand on just looks, and then try to justify it by virtue of the OS it comes with (or by how restrictive its EULA is).
Im sure there are a lot of things to love about OSX / Macs... the shape seems impractical, but Im rather impressed with what they did with it.
The issue, as always, any time I think "gee, maybe I should get one" is that they are absurdly overpriced. Pretty hard to justify burning $4000 for hardware you could probably throw together for $2000 or less and have a lot more options; Its also really hard to swallow the idea that the form-factor or the OS somehow are worth that extra $2000 on a work machine.
Same goes anytime I look at their laptops. Yea, the aluminum body is slick, and there are some cool things about OSX, but you know what? Asus and Samsung also make some really slick aluminum laptops, and they dont cost $2000.
Im sure there will be people out there who can afford this, and will love it, and thats great, but I dont think anyone's ever gonna convince me that Macs are a good value proposition, or that I should be recommending them to friends / family.
Pretty sure those guys dont work at RSA anymore. Im also pretty sure Ron Rivest was just assisting Newegg's defense against patent trolls within the past month, so perhaps lighten up on the "hope he dies" rhetoric.
then you must consider it normal for GCHQ, MI6, and all the other European agencies to spy on US citizens.
I mean, I feel like youd be naieve to assume they dont try, and its absurd to get mad at them for doing what spies do. You can not like it, but its the reality.
The difference is that GCHQ / MI6 / whoever isnt beholden to me. The US government and its branches are.
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Linux is a black box for 99% of its users too, since having access to the source and being able to comprehend a small fragment of it are vastly different things.
Practically speaking, for sysadmins, whether source is available is not always (or often) going to be terribly relevant.
The "standard windows commandline" is now powershell, and it is wonderful in many ways despite its quirks.
Yea thats not UPS's fault. Ive ordered a TON of stuff from Amazon and others over the past few weeks. Only one item failed to arrive within 3 days, and that one was backordered.
As a ton of people have pointed out, not all "shipping problems" are actually problems with the shipper.
Heres a hint: Christmas is not a religious celebration for the majority of people who observe it.
I would be impressed if anything came of Amazon's drone plan.
Why is it news that someone created yet another Linux distro with yet another permutation of packages? Why is it impressive that Hawaii "features a dynamic, flicker free and fast system"?
The summary mentions that theres potentially a new DE here, why are there no details on it?
Its funny till you start getting hit with fines for wilfully ignoring their instructions. I recall a similar incident where Microsoft decided to ignore an EU ruling, and got hit with fines in the neigborhood of ~$3million per day of continued infringement.
And he failed, because he chose the wrong equipment. According to this (and everythign I could find on AMD website)
http://www.overclock.net/t/1436253/mac-pro-dual-amd-firepro-d300-dual-amd-firepro-d500-dual-amd-firepro-d700-options
the D500 is basically this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195117
which costs $1400.
So yea, if the guy is spending $3400 trying to match a $1400 card, he will fail to beat Apple's pricing, and should probably apply for a position with them.
Its worth keeping in mind you cant actually GET a Mac Pro now, since they dont ship till February, so at this point its a TAD premature to say that you cant match it with DIY. Itd be more accurate to say that Macs cant match DIY, at least until February.
Too many previous slave owners and their descendants still lives and have say in politics. It was serious error by US population not to charge them with crimes
I suppose you arent familiar with the term "ex post facto law", or why they are not allowed in the US per the Constitution. Let me lay it out for you. If you start allowing people to be arrested for things that were legal when they were done but are now illegal, anyone can be arrested at any time on the whim of the legislature.
Good to see the straw man is alive and well on slashdot through the end of 2014.
Apparently you are famous for your stereotypes and bigotry, so that makes us even.
I expect that they try, and its silly to get outraged that a spy agency is actually spying.
Theres several big differences, too:
* If I want to stay clear of their radar, I can reasonably expect to do so by keeping all of my communications in the US, and dealing only with US companies. When the NSA spies internally, all that goes out the window.
* Theyre not paid for with my money. The NSA is funded directly with my tax dollars.
* I have no expectations that actors affiliated with outside governments do not view me adversarially. I do have an expectation that the NSA is working on my behalf.
* I am not generally protected by provisions for UK citizens (which I assume GCHQ is held to); I AM protected by US laws, such as the 4th amendment, which the NSA is held to.
No, its silly to act astonished and outraged when the media runs a story that says "There are murderers out there in the world", because everyone kind of knows that.
And your logical leap fails to account for the fact that while all murder and rape is unnecessary and bad, spying need not be so.
Of course its a tradeoff, because the new RAM will have less of its spare ECC bits used up.
THe claims about Mac's supposedly superior power consumption are hillarious. Ive seen like 3 or 4 people post here about how awesome the new Mac Pro's 44W power usage metric are.
NEWS FLASH: All Haswell-based platforms are going to have incredible power consumption:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7003/the-haswell-review-intel-core-i74770k-i54560k-tested/2
FWIW anything using a recent Intel CPU, low-power dimms, and an SSD is going to run very quite and use very little power. Stop giving Apple credit for the CPU and SSD.
THeres also an efficiency curve; powersupplies tend to be the most efficient somewhere around 1/2 of their rated power. Drop too low (using 50W on a 1000W PSU) and the efficiency plummets. Go too close to the limit and it can also drop. See here for an example:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2624/3
On that 900W PSU, peak efficiency was hit with consumption between 450 and 750W, with a modest drop around 800W and a nosedive below 200W.
My 2006 core2 duo idled at 160W. Im not sure that its terribly impressive that theyre doing 167 in 2012, or that 44W is that impressive given the power features of most new video cards and Intel CPUs. Basically nothing in a modern SSD-based tower uses any significant electricity when idling.
To be fair, most people care quite a bit about aesthetics; look at any geek who's drooled over some sick case mod like this one.
On the other hand we usually dont drop an extra grand on just looks, and then try to justify it by virtue of the OS it comes with (or by how restrictive its EULA is).
Im sure there are a lot of things to love about OSX / Macs... the shape seems impractical, but Im rather impressed with what they did with it.
The issue, as always, any time I think "gee, maybe I should get one" is that they are absurdly overpriced. Pretty hard to justify burning $4000 for hardware you could probably throw together for $2000 or less and have a lot more options; Its also really hard to swallow the idea that the form-factor or the OS somehow are worth that extra $2000 on a work machine.
Same goes anytime I look at their laptops. Yea, the aluminum body is slick, and there are some cool things about OSX, but you know what? Asus and Samsung also make some really slick aluminum laptops, and they dont cost $2000.
Im sure there will be people out there who can afford this, and will love it, and thats great, but I dont think anyone's ever gonna convince me that Macs are a good value proposition, or that I should be recommending them to friends / family.
Im glad Im not the only one who found his statement chilling.
Pretty sure those guys dont work at RSA anymore. Im also pretty sure Ron Rivest was just assisting Newegg's defense against patent trolls within the past month, so perhaps lighten up on the "hope he dies" rhetoric.
The NSA doesnt report to non-US citizens. Thats the difference.
then you must consider it normal for GCHQ, MI6, and all the other European agencies to spy on US citizens.
I mean, I feel like youd be naieve to assume they dont try, and its absurd to get mad at them for doing what spies do. You can not like it, but its the reality.
The difference is that GCHQ / MI6 / whoever isnt beholden to me. The US government and its branches are.