Philosophical musing: all life, and varied species arose through natural selection and genetic mutations [...] has not been proven except with philosophical arguments, hence it is philosophy.
It is a science; evolution and development of new or changed life forms has been demonstrated many times. For example, bacteria evolved to fight penicillin; new strains of cold virus appear every year; AIDS was unheard of until recently, etc. etc.
by that line of thinking it would be okay to "abort" a pregnancy after birth. what a concept.
Not a new one. Many cultures practiced infanticide.
But, as I said, I don't care anyway.
and what in the name of spider-man does that have to do with anything?
It was a suggestion to grow up, as a society;-) Cynicism rules the world, even in USA. It is just more convenient to argue about 1000 abortions ignoring at the same time suffering of -billions- of people elsewhere. A pacifier, if you like.
and soon, me and people like me will be the cheapest of all
IMO, we all already are, and always were.
what this world needs is for all life to be valued.
Well, if a poor woman does not want to carry the fetus, then you should volunteer and offer your own body instead! Be consistent, do what you preach. I don't care.
For all practical purposes, even a newborn child is barely able to survive. Without care it won't last long; even more so - children born prematurely, just couple of weeks earlier than they should.
But to me, the whole discussion makes no sense. In civilized countries (Europe) people don't debate this issue so intensely. People are cheap, and unborn people are even cheaper. The world does not need more people; humanity already overuses natural resources of the planet. What this world needs is better life for those who are already born, and for those children who are wanted.
If this discussion [in the society] continues, soon it will be a crime to not marry; it will be also a crime not to have sex with everyone around you - because in each of those cases one less person is born, and therefore "killed". This is an argument as reasonable as any of those somebody's-else-internal-organs-watchers.
He could be an accomplice if at his shop he also has and sells plans of banks and handbooks on robbing them. It is not difficult to indict someone; the law code is so huge and complicated that anyone alive is bound to violate it from time to time. It's up to DA to prosecute or not.
My main issue is the fact that I registered for my Hotmail account using legit name and address info. This was before I realized what it would be used for, and as such I expect to receive a ton of junk mail via snail mail in the near future.
Can you somehow delete the account? Yahoo has this option. I think, if you demand it loud enough you can get removed from Hotmail. Or maybe it's a standard feature already, I wouldn't know;-)
I tend to agree. The Cosmoe web site is devoid of any content whatsoever. Not even a screenshot - despite of author's claim of having a graphic artist's soul.
Experience of developing BSD and Linux already tells us that a good OS is most definitely not a one-man job. Goals of Cosmoe are highly undefined. Even if the author produces something working, it is likely to be very simple and not up to standard that BSD and Linux set every day.
IMO, the mistake #1 is to start the project without setting a reachable goal, and establishing means to reach that goal. So many projects fail (in open- and closed-source worlds) because of that. Unrealistic expectations, deadlines that are years off mark, lack of understanding of now complicated some things are (just look at QoS for example!) drive projects into the ground.
Of course, everyone is free to do whatever he likes with his own free time, but setting up a Web site to sell the OS seems to be a little bit premature.
Actually, it would be quite easy to do this in most towns - a ten minute bike ride, maybe. [...] But the poster said most people, not everyone.
Your reasoning is perfectly valid one for a young, strong male. It, however, is not applicable to the "most people" - the majority of population gets older and older on average, and will NOT entertain the biking idea.
"Most people", if I may speak on their behalf, have too many problems already (family, job, money etc.) More often than not I meet people who are extremely goal-oriented. Such people do not care about the process, they need results and as soon as possible. The car is the way to get things done - not to enjoy the process of doing things.
Look around you - how many people (outside of campus) ride bikes? If many, then you live in a younger town. If few - then you are in the middle of an older community.
In many places walking or biking is outright unsafe. In California many roads don't have sidewalks, and the bike lane (if present) is used to park cars. Bicyclists here exist, but they are rare - and well trained, well clothed too (others probably failed to survive.)
If I want some milk or ice cream, the nearest store is about 2 miles from here. If I walk it will take me 30 minutes each way at least. Do I want to waste whole hour of my life walking on nonexistent sidewalks, crossing roads without pedestrian crossings, and waiting on other crossings that are optimized for cars?
The answer is simple. If I want to walk, breathe some gasoline vapors and check out new local gang members, then I go on foot. If I just want the ice cream, I drive. So there is a choice after all;-)
Most people could walk or cycle to the shops to get milk rather than drive...
Depends on where these "most people" live. Outside of a metropolis, an average person would die from exhaustion before he even reaches the nearest shop. And what about walking back with 100 pounds of goods? In bad weather?
My junkbuster deletes that header, just as a matter of privacy (not specifically for/. to Bugzilla linking). The link, therefore, worked for me. You probably will benefit from running Junkbuster or a similar proxy.
Just thinking here...but if we think that windows should be simpler...then Linux has no hope in the current state of the major distributions. It is not easy for a new user to install or remove applications.
So, you're saying a company could make a fortune selling a streamlined computer/appliance designed solely for browsing the web and reading email?
There is a big difference between "designing a hardware" for a specific task (kitchen appliance) and "pre-customizing software for a specific task". The latter can be altered; the former can't.
For example, if I want to deploy 100 Windows-based terminals for my clerks to register incoming and outgoing packages (if I were to own a warehouse), why would I possibly want IE or Outlook on them? Or even MSN? In such case, customization is good. In fact, most big companies already do that - within limits imposed by MS - to standardize their Windows images on all boxen.
oh and the whole making up statistics thing dosn't help either.
Didn't you know that 48.5% of all statistics is made up on the spot?:-)
WRT tags, I use them to make the text easier to read, especially for people who are not native English speakers. I probably should be using shorter and better thought out sentences, but this is Slashdot, and there is no time to think;-)
One thing that occured to me about this demonstration is that as soon as they do it, MSFT could have the people who did it hauled off to jail because they probably violated something in the windows license in creating their modular demo.
The whole idea of an "embedded" Windows is modularity. This was a HUGE selling point in WinCE and WinNT/Embedded. For example, WinNT runs some document copiers, and some data storage units. Without ability to cut the fluff it would not be possible.
Secondly, a criminal can not stop the detective from investigating the crime just with an EULA. IMO (IANAL), just the appearance in court and demonstration before the judge (with judge's consent and full approval) would make it impossible for MS to prosecute.
This does bring up a bad side effect, though: If microsoft modularizes windows, what's to keep them from charging $20 a pop for each of the additional modules?
Market. Small modules are easier to replace with 3rd party software. WINE project would be the perfect candidate to fill the gaps.
Componentized Windows would be -extremely- good for ISVs, and this will convert this big and bloated Windows OS into a lean kernel with extensions on top of it (as it was designed all along!), and this will result in more competition.
Microsoft is going to try to milk their punishment to their advantage, in any case.
Of course. It would be stupid of them to do it any differently.
my system tray had probably 8 or 9 items on it at first boot. I think that was their secret plan to get me to pay a premium for more RAM.
IMO, it's just stupid sales tactics. But it works for majority of home users who like and want "cool" factor. Geeks don't want the junk, and often assemble their own boxen from parts, for half the price of a brand name box.
If IBM and Dell preloads are that bad, why make it even more confusing by allowing them to get rid of the common apps in Windows?
It's a big philosophical question. You can have a democracy, or you can have an absolute monarchy. You can not combine them. Currently we have a monarch (MS) who rules every aspect of every user's life. In a democracy everyone - from OEM to users - would be free to rule their own lives as they see fit, and let the market (and evolution) do its weeding. There are advantages and disadvantages in both approaches. Make your choice!
Do you really think that computer companies like Gateway and Dell will sell "streamlined" Windows PC, given the chance?
Maybe; maybe not. But it is important that they are free to do so if they want to. If Dell doesn't want - fine; then other people should be free to assemble their own boxes and put whatever OS they want on them, not only what MS or RedHat want them to.
Even today, if you buy a "non-modularized" Windows PC from Gateway or Dell, it is completely infested with bad advertising and bad third-party apps.
These boxen are not for geeks, they are for "Mom and Pop" style customers, as you mention. Dell business offerings are more conservative, as I witnessed many times myself.
I'm always surprised that "Mom and Pop" users can even get any productive work done when these bad apps try to take over their computers.
Productive? Of course not. But they don't know what it even _is_ to be productive with a computer.
The problem I can forsee is that this openness could be abused by computer manufacturers such as Gateway. I could see them making their distro of Windows be so convulted that computer illiterates will stick with only that distro. In other words, in the long run, I can see one monopoly being traded for another.
Firstly, it would not be in Gateway's interest to cram more complexity into the system - it makes it slower (on the same hardware), and it makes it harder to use and support. They would be the ones pushing modularity - in part, because it will allow them to sell extra OS modules separately and earn on both ends of the scale (save on support of a simple desktop, and take in extra cash for souped-up desktop).
Secondly, Gateway is not a monopoly in any sense. There is plenty of competition in desktops, and even more competition in notebooks. The barrier of entry in desktop market is so low that even companies with bad business plans can enter and make their own beige boxes. Many do, in fact. Monopoly is where no other player can play, and that would be MS. Gateway (or Dell) is not any more monopoly than WinAmp is a monopolist in MP3 playing on Windows.
I picture my aunt calling me and asking me how to fix something on her computer, and I'd have no idea how to because Windows is different.
It is already different between Win95, Win98, Win2K and WinXP. You'd find more similarities between Linux distributions than between OEMized releases of various Windows...
Differences between IBM and Dell preloads are so great that you barely could find anything in common! Since the OS lacks the utilities, both OEMs load tons of 3rd party software to compensate, and you are on your own figuring out which app on which desktop restores the registry, for example, or plays DVD...
The real gain would be in simplicity of a streamlined Windows. 99.999% of home users only need to connect to Internet, browse Web and read/send Email. Even the dumb Lookout is too complex and too full of [mis-]features that they can not control it. What real people want is an appliance-like Windows which you *can* extend if you need to, and which you *can* simplify if you need to, as your goals dictate. But as of now, you get "all or nothing" package from which you can not even [easily] remove certain software even if you *know* that it is harmful to your enterprise (OE, IE, MSN etc.)
Instead the Russians still do things cheaper (and so far quite reliably) with their Energia rockets.
Most of launches in last 10 years are Soyuz and Proton. These are relatively cheap rockets.
Energiya flew only couple of times, taking Buran into orbit in one of those flights. But it became obvious that Buran would be a financial black hole (exactly as Shuttle is), and the Buran program was stopped (with no ill effects, as we see today). Energiya rocket was mostly developed to launch Buran, and therefore it got shelved too.
I can easily think of one star and one planet which, "being in a certain alignment", control not only my personal destiny, but destiny of all people on Earth. Can you name that star and that planet?:-)
"This democracy thing" is actually working. But it works not like you want it to work; instead, it works as it should, and as designed:
"Democracy: a form of government in which
the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the people."
This is not a monarchy where ONE enlightened guy rules the country. This is not a dictatorship when ONE insane guy rules the country. The aggregate of all people rules the country, and representatives of the people form the legislature.
The problem here is that an average citizen of any country has no clue about pretty much anything. But the fool has the voting right! And he uses it left and right not knowing what he is doing, like a neanderthal toying with a nuclear bomb. Since the voting public is so stupid, political machinators nudge it as they need to produce laws they want.
So basically "democracy works, but I don't like the results it produces" would be more correct. The humanity already produced hundreds of real or imaginary societies that were ruled differently; most of them failed to survive. So far, the democracy wins in survival game - but nobody ever said that survival of the fittest equals survival of the smartest!
If things progress further as they are now, expect the reality of "Total Recall: 2070". The society will become an amorphous mush of mindless people, who still are permitted to vote but to no use anyway, and companies rule the world. Alligators survived everyone else, but they are dumb as a brick. Archimedes was smart, and he was killed; Socrates was smart and he was killed. Intellect is bad for survival; illiterate peasants are good. That's where the world is moving to.
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It is a science; evolution and development of new or changed life forms has been demonstrated many times. For example, bacteria evolved to fight penicillin; new strains of cold virus appear every year; AIDS was unheard of until recently, etc. etc.
Indeed, it was Eon, by Greg Bear.
Not a new one. Many cultures practiced infanticide. But, as I said, I don't care anyway.
and what in the name of spider-man does that have to do with anything?
It was a suggestion to grow up, as a society ;-) Cynicism rules the world, even in USA. It is just more convenient to argue about 1000 abortions ignoring at the same time suffering of -billions- of people elsewhere. A pacifier, if you like.
and soon, me and people like me will be the cheapest of all
IMO, we all already are, and always were.
what this world needs is for all life to be valued.
Well, if a poor woman does not want to carry the fetus, then you should volunteer and offer your own body instead! Be consistent, do what you preach. I don't care.
But to me, the whole discussion makes no sense. In civilized countries (Europe) people don't debate this issue so intensely. People are cheap, and unborn people are even cheaper. The world does not need more people; humanity already overuses natural resources of the planet. What this world needs is better life for those who are already born, and for those children who are wanted.
If this discussion [in the society] continues, soon it will be a crime to not marry; it will be also a crime not to have sex with everyone around you - because in each of those cases one less person is born, and therefore "killed". This is an argument as reasonable as any of those somebody's-else-internal-organs-watchers.
He could be an accomplice if at his shop he also has and sells plans of banks and handbooks on robbing them. It is not difficult to indict someone; the law code is so huge and complicated that anyone alive is bound to violate it from time to time. It's up to DA to prosecute or not.
IANAL, but they obviously would be guilty of crime of conspiracy to commit murder, and of many other crimes (such as aiding and abetting).
Can you somehow delete the account? Yahoo has this option. I think, if you demand it loud enough you can get removed from Hotmail. Or maybe it's a standard feature already, I wouldn't know ;-)
In Santa Clara (10 miles west from SJ) it was felt, but caused no damage or inconvenience.
Experience of developing BSD and Linux already tells us that a good OS is most definitely not a one-man job. Goals of Cosmoe are highly undefined. Even if the author produces something working, it is likely to be very simple and not up to standard that BSD and Linux set every day.
IMO, the mistake #1 is to start the project without setting a reachable goal, and establishing means to reach that goal. So many projects fail (in open- and closed-source worlds) because of that. Unrealistic expectations, deadlines that are years off mark, lack of understanding of now complicated some things are (just look at QoS for example!) drive projects into the ground.
Of course, everyone is free to do whatever he likes with his own free time, but setting up a Web site to sell the OS seems to be a little bit premature.
Your reasoning is perfectly valid one for a young, strong male. It, however, is not applicable to the "most people" - the majority of population gets older and older on average, and will NOT entertain the biking idea.
"Most people", if I may speak on their behalf, have too many problems already (family, job, money etc.) More often than not I meet people who are extremely goal-oriented. Such people do not care about the process, they need results and as soon as possible. The car is the way to get things done - not to enjoy the process of doing things.
Look around you - how many people (outside of campus) ride bikes? If many, then you live in a younger town. If few - then you are in the middle of an older community.
In many places walking or biking is outright unsafe. In California many roads don't have sidewalks, and the bike lane (if present) is used to park cars. Bicyclists here exist, but they are rare - and well trained, well clothed too (others probably failed to survive.)
If I want some milk or ice cream, the nearest store is about 2 miles from here. If I walk it will take me 30 minutes each way at least. Do I want to waste whole hour of my life walking on nonexistent sidewalks, crossing roads without pedestrian crossings, and waiting on other crossings that are optimized for cars?
The answer is simple. If I want to walk, breathe some gasoline vapors and check out new local gang members, then I go on foot. If I just want the ice cream, I drive. So there is a choice after all ;-)
Depends on where these "most people" live. Outside of a metropolis, an average person would die from exhaustion before he even reaches the nearest shop. And what about walking back with 100 pounds of goods? In bad weather?
My junkbuster deletes that header, just as a matter of privacy (not specifically for /. to Bugzilla linking). The link, therefore, worked for me. You probably will benefit from running Junkbuster or a similar proxy.
You are not a computer consultant, obviously. You'd otherwise know better.
There is a big difference between "designing a hardware" for a specific task (kitchen appliance) and "pre-customizing software for a specific task". The latter can be altered; the former can't.
For example, if I want to deploy 100 Windows-based terminals for my clerks to register incoming and outgoing packages (if I were to own a warehouse), why would I possibly want IE or Outlook on them? Or even MSN? In such case, customization is good. In fact, most big companies already do that - within limits imposed by MS - to standardize their Windows images on all boxen.
Didn't you know that 48.5% of all statistics is made up on the spot? :-)
WRT tags, I use them to make the text easier to read, especially for people who are not native English speakers. I probably should be using shorter and better thought out sentences, but this is Slashdot, and there is no time to think ;-)
The whole idea of an "embedded" Windows is modularity. This was a HUGE selling point in WinCE and WinNT/Embedded. For example, WinNT runs some document copiers, and some data storage units. Without ability to cut the fluff it would not be possible.
Secondly, a criminal can not stop the detective from investigating the crime just with an EULA. IMO (IANAL), just the appearance in court and demonstration before the judge (with judge's consent and full approval) would make it impossible for MS to prosecute.
Market. Small modules are easier to replace with 3rd party software. WINE project would be the perfect candidate to fill the gaps.
Componentized Windows would be -extremely- good for ISVs, and this will convert this big and bloated Windows OS into a lean kernel with extensions on top of it (as it was designed all along!), and this will result in more competition.
Microsoft is going to try to milk their punishment to their advantage, in any case.
Of course. It would be stupid of them to do it any differently.
IMO, it's just stupid sales tactics. But it works for majority of home users who like and want "cool" factor. Geeks don't want the junk, and often assemble their own boxen from parts, for half the price of a brand name box.
If IBM and Dell preloads are that bad, why make it even more confusing by allowing them to get rid of the common apps in Windows?
It's a big philosophical question. You can have a democracy, or you can have an absolute monarchy. You can not combine them. Currently we have a monarch (MS) who rules every aspect of every user's life. In a democracy everyone - from OEM to users - would be free to rule their own lives as they see fit, and let the market (and evolution) do its weeding. There are advantages and disadvantages in both approaches. Make your choice!
Maybe; maybe not. But it is important that they are free to do so if they want to. If Dell doesn't want - fine; then other people should be free to assemble their own boxes and put whatever OS they want on them, not only what MS or RedHat want them to.
Even today, if you buy a "non-modularized" Windows PC from Gateway or Dell, it is completely infested with bad advertising and bad third-party apps.
These boxen are not for geeks, they are for "Mom and Pop" style customers, as you mention. Dell business offerings are more conservative, as I witnessed many times myself.
I'm always surprised that "Mom and Pop" users can even get any productive work done when these bad apps try to take over their computers.
Productive? Of course not. But they don't know what it even _is_ to be productive with a computer.
Firstly, it would not be in Gateway's interest to cram more complexity into the system - it makes it slower (on the same hardware), and it makes it harder to use and support. They would be the ones pushing modularity - in part, because it will allow them to sell extra OS modules separately and earn on both ends of the scale (save on support of a simple desktop, and take in extra cash for souped-up desktop).
Secondly, Gateway is not a monopoly in any sense. There is plenty of competition in desktops, and even more competition in notebooks. The barrier of entry in desktop market is so low that even companies with bad business plans can enter and make their own beige boxes. Many do, in fact. Monopoly is where no other player can play, and that would be MS. Gateway (or Dell) is not any more monopoly than WinAmp is a monopolist in MP3 playing on Windows.
I picture my aunt calling me and asking me how to fix something on her computer, and I'd have no idea how to because Windows is different.
It is already different between Win95, Win98, Win2K and WinXP. You'd find more similarities between Linux distributions than between OEMized releases of various Windows... Differences between IBM and Dell preloads are so great that you barely could find anything in common! Since the OS lacks the utilities, both OEMs load tons of 3rd party software to compensate, and you are on your own figuring out which app on which desktop restores the registry, for example, or plays DVD...
The real gain would be in simplicity of a streamlined Windows. 99.999% of home users only need to connect to Internet, browse Web and read/send Email. Even the dumb Lookout is too complex and too full of [mis-]features that they can not control it. What real people want is an appliance-like Windows which you *can* extend if you need to, and which you *can* simplify if you need to, as your goals dictate. But as of now, you get "all or nothing" package from which you can not even [easily] remove certain software even if you *know* that it is harmful to your enterprise (OE, IE, MSN etc.)
Most of launches in last 10 years are Soyuz and Proton. These are relatively cheap rockets.
Energiya flew only couple of times, taking Buran into orbit in one of those flights. But it became obvious that Buran would be a financial black hole (exactly as Shuttle is), and the Buran program was stopped (with no ill effects, as we see today). Energiya rocket was mostly developed to launch Buran, and therefore it got shelved too.
I can easily think of one star and one planet which, "being in a certain alignment", control not only my personal destiny, but destiny of all people on Earth. Can you name that star and that planet? :-)
"This democracy thing" is actually working. But it works not like you want it to work; instead, it works as it should, and as designed:
"Democracy: a form of government in which the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the people."
This is not a monarchy where ONE enlightened guy rules the country. This is not a dictatorship when ONE insane guy rules the country. The aggregate of all people rules the country, and representatives of the people form the legislature.
The problem here is that an average citizen of any country has no clue about pretty much anything. But the fool has the voting right! And he uses it left and right not knowing what he is doing, like a neanderthal toying with a nuclear bomb. Since the voting public is so stupid, political machinators nudge it as they need to produce laws they want.
So basically "democracy works, but I don't like the results it produces" would be more correct. The humanity already produced hundreds of real or imaginary societies that were ruled differently; most of them failed to survive. So far, the democracy wins in survival game - but nobody ever said that survival of the fittest equals survival of the smartest!
If things progress further as they are now, expect the reality of "Total Recall: 2070". The society will become an amorphous mush of mindless people, who still are permitted to vote but to no use anyway, and companies rule the world. Alligators survived everyone else, but they are dumb as a brick. Archimedes was smart, and he was killed; Socrates was smart and he was killed. Intellect is bad for survival; illiterate peasants are good. That's where the world is moving to.