Linux preloaded on a Mac? You have a whelk's chance in a supernova of getting that.
The functionality of the software on a Mac is one of the things that Apple uses to sell them. They are not going to do anything that might, to any degree, impede that selling point. After all, without that, they have nothing that another manufacturer could not mimic, or duplicate.
That's one of the things that Truecrypt is supposed to do (find your own link!). It allows you to have an unencrypted partition, and then two other encrypted partitions, which are indistinguishable from random data. Thus, they are unlikely to realize that you are using encryption, since you have some data on the first drive - everything that you don't mind being seen - and if they do realize you are using encryption you can give them the key to the less incriminating encrypted partition (although it might be a good idea to give them this key at the beginning, for legal reasons). If they accuse you of having a second encrypted partition, well, how do they know? If you deny it, they'll have to spend a lot of time and money trying to find out if one is there.
Of course, if you do this, you'll have to doctor the hard drive labels to make the size match that of the first (two) partition(s), so that they don't realize that the sizes don't match, and use that as proof of a second/third partition.
"I remember reading that Windows + Office was about $3 US to students. In fact, in China, pirated Windows is often less expensive than Linux because Linux has more cds, which increases the cost dramatically."
So, what planet do you live on? Vista comes on a DVD. If you pirate it, you have to put it on a DVD, and worry about viruses/malware placed on the initial installation by the person who pirated it.
On the other hand, Linux fits on a single DVD (or a CD) as well, and, unless you choose a very bad Distro, has no viruses/malware. Where in this does Linux require more CDs?
If you were to bring up the cost in time of retraining someone to use Linux, you might have a point.
In fact, according to the summary, Apple thinks that the patent system is fine, and Google thinks that it's broken (or, rather, representatives of Apple and Google think that). The title implies that both Google and Apple think that it is not broken. A better title would be "Google and Apple disagree over the state of the patent system." Well, perhaps not better, but more accurate.
For that matter, what about identical twins? Or injuries? There are so many ways that it could go wrong without anyone trying to subvert it. If I break my nose, or my face is scarred (after the initial biometric image is taken, of course) what will it do? For that matter, if the new system is thought to be "infallible," who's going to believe me when I say that I'm who I am, but the biometric system says that I'm not? While these are unlikely to be issues with most people, neither are using PINs an issue - in fact, they are probably easier, and faster.
No, Apple just controls all of the places that sell their products, preventing the free market from taking over and moving the price down (or up) to what the market wants.
In other words, all of their stores are conspiring not to undercut each other on price.
The problem with that strategy? When they get bigger than you, they'll go out of their way to hurt you. That's why bulling people for being more intelligent than you, but physically weaker, is quickly becoming a losing strategy - someday, they'll control your paycheck, or your computer... or the world.
Well, it's made by M$, and it doesn't run on Linux.
But that's not the point. The point is that people are being forced (well, told by teachers) to use it, even though there are free alternatives that might be better for them (as well as free). If they were given an option between it and something free (OpenOffice, for example), this wouldn't be such a major issue.
Yes, there is a difference. If you own something, when it becomes "obsolete" you can continue to use it, and realize that it is not, in fact, obsolete. When you are renting something, they can force you to upgrade, even if you don't need to. Oh, and they can hold you liable for damage.
Personally, I think that obsolete electronics is a myth, at least for computers made in the last 7 years or so. An old computer that won't play shiny new games will still run a word processor, a browser, and maybe a few games. Failing that, you can set it up as a small server, to keep track of notes or similar things, that you can access anywhere in the world. If you have enough old computers, you can stick them in a beowulf cluster, and have them run a useful application.
Use is only limited by ingenuity. If you're good enough at re-purposing electronics, they never become obsolete. Until they just stop working, that is.
"g) It's -STILL- easier to install a new piece of software on Windows. Too easy, the security people will refrain...:-)"
It all depends on what distro and software you use. Try Freespire with CNR; once you find the software, it literally takes one click to install it. You don't have to manually download anything, you just have to click a button. How easy is that?
Of course, finding the software you need can still take some work.
The type of content you want is very important. For example, I use Bittorrent primarily to download Anime. It works very well for that, and I haven't had any issues with the Trackers shutting down (and even if that happens, my client can get all the information that a Tracker would give it from other Peers, which is very helpful). It also works very well for downloading new Linux distros.
If, on the other hand, you want to download the latest pirated movie, or other illegal/dodgy content (okay, some Anime is illegal due to licensing issues, but that's not the point), you are likely to run against the problem of trackers shutting down. As for trackers having no seeds, you just have to know where to look, and change trackers accordingly. Of course, the community helps a lot with that, so illegal content = fewer seeds.
In that case, why are there trackers anywhere but in the water? Because this is the sort of excuse - "it could save lives of idiots who don't know how to deal with an undertow or even swim*" - that the government expects people to come up with to make them think that being tracked everywhere on the beach is okay.
* I don't know how to swim, but I'm smart enough to avoid places where I would have to.
This will not shed any light on how people learn to talk. It will, however, shed light on how the programmers think people learn to talk. If you design something, it will work the way you expect it to (hopefully, anyways). Is that so hard to understand?
Actually, the issue is the culture. Never before in the history of humanity has there been such a supply of cheap food without the need to work hard and get exercise. Never before has famine become almost non-existent, due to the ease of transporting food. The human mind just isn't built to handle this. It's designed to eat when there is food, because soon there won't be food, or because the amount of energy required to get the food completely counteracts the food.
Only when you have people who don't need to work (physically, anyways) to be fed will you have fat people.
(Obviously, all of the generalizations above refer to countries where they are true. In 3rd-world countries, you don't have these issues, and hence you don't have as many fat people. But I'm sure that that's a very minor consolation for starvation and malnutrition).
Interesting, but there's one thing that I'm worried about in that video: all of the shots of TEHL, with the dramatic music in the background. I feel an urge to scream "WORSHIP THE MACHINES!"
The only things linux has failed at on my desktop is my fault (I managed to completely kill Xine while trying to update it, and my motherboard has had some issues). Before that, everything worked perfected - audio, video, text, internet, etc. Everything that my computer has failed at has either been because of something I did (zine dying), or the hardware (built in ethernet connection dying, inability to watch media files on a old 500MHz celeron).
In case you're wondering, I'm using the version of Freespire with proprietary drivers, which almost no one seems to know about - or at least almost no one who talks about linux's shortcomings seems to know about.
"Future Zune products will feature podcasting support and expanded video support...."
So Zunes will have cameras and microphones in them, so that they can be used to make podcasts? And perhaps even the ability to upload the podcasts via WiFi...
I would be more surprised if it wasn't.
And, besides the fact that it's about a cheap computer, how is this news? Every other type of computer in the world, over the last, say, 5 or 10 years, has been used by someone, somewhere, to browse porn. Would it be news if someone used a dell, or a mac, to browse porn?
Am I the only one who's worried, and a bit disturbed, that the government is auctioning a natural resource, without being required to have all taxpayers vote on it? I'm sure that many people would like to have a completely free spectrum, which anyone could use for their devices.
But it's been like this too long for people to remember that it used to be different, after all. Such a pity...
How long will it be between travel to other worlds becoming viable/cheap and governments claiming entire worlds and auctioning them off to the highest bidder?
(Disclaimer: I dislike most governments, and believe that communism would be viable, with enough effort)
Will this correspond with a decrease in the price of laptops (or laptop components) to the point where I can, for under $600, build a laptop that corresponds to (what will be) modern technology in the same way that my current desktop corresponds to modern technology? Between 2 and 3 years behind the cutting edge, that is.
This probably will not happen, unless there is a huge push to make laptops modular, like desktops currently are. Laptops may replace average desktops, but for system builders, it will still be easier to get more power, for a better price, in desktops. Unless production of desktop systems stops... in which case, everyone who wants power will start using servers.
And, as a side note, how many desktops have two screens? Once you get used to working with two screens, it's very, very hard to voluntarily go back to one, unless the operating system forces you to.
So, when's the FCC going to go after people cursing in traffic? Children have no choice but to listen (if they are in a car in the traffic), and it could be more damaging (if the children's car is being yelled at).
Whereas, with Television, most stations, even if they are broadcasting live, have a small window where the techs can bleep a word, and if they are not broadcasting live, any words which are broadcast must be completely intentional.
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Linux preloaded on a Mac? You have a whelk's chance in a supernova of getting that. The functionality of the software on a Mac is one of the things that Apple uses to sell them. They are not going to do anything that might, to any degree, impede that selling point. After all, without that, they have nothing that another manufacturer could not mimic, or duplicate.
That's one of the things that Truecrypt is supposed to do (find your own link!). It allows you to have an unencrypted partition, and then two other encrypted partitions, which are indistinguishable from random data. Thus, they are unlikely to realize that you are using encryption, since you have some data on the first drive - everything that you don't mind being seen - and if they do realize you are using encryption you can give them the key to the less incriminating encrypted partition (although it might be a good idea to give them this key at the beginning, for legal reasons). If they accuse you of having a second encrypted partition, well, how do they know? If you deny it, they'll have to spend a lot of time and money trying to find out if one is there. Of course, if you do this, you'll have to doctor the hard drive labels to make the size match that of the first (two) partition(s), so that they don't realize that the sizes don't match, and use that as proof of a second/third partition.
In which sense? As in a standard sandbox, where ideas are tested, or as in a cat's litter-box?
"I remember reading that Windows + Office was about $3 US to students. In fact, in China, pirated Windows is often less expensive than Linux because Linux has more cds, which increases the cost dramatically." So, what planet do you live on? Vista comes on a DVD. If you pirate it, you have to put it on a DVD, and worry about viruses/malware placed on the initial installation by the person who pirated it. On the other hand, Linux fits on a single DVD (or a CD) as well, and, unless you choose a very bad Distro, has no viruses/malware. Where in this does Linux require more CDs? If you were to bring up the cost in time of retraining someone to use Linux, you might have a point.
In fact, according to the summary, Apple thinks that the patent system is fine, and Google thinks that it's broken (or, rather, representatives of Apple and Google think that). The title implies that both Google and Apple think that it is not broken. A better title would be "Google and Apple disagree over the state of the patent system." Well, perhaps not better, but more accurate.
For that matter, what about identical twins? Or injuries? There are so many ways that it could go wrong without anyone trying to subvert it. If I break my nose, or my face is scarred (after the initial biometric image is taken, of course) what will it do? For that matter, if the new system is thought to be "infallible," who's going to believe me when I say that I'm who I am, but the biometric system says that I'm not? While these are unlikely to be issues with most people, neither are using PINs an issue - in fact, they are probably easier, and faster.
The Internet is fine. The problem is the people using it.
No, Apple just controls all of the places that sell their products, preventing the free market from taking over and moving the price down (or up) to what the market wants. In other words, all of their stores are conspiring not to undercut each other on price.
I, for one, welcome our new Mac-like overlords.
The problem with that strategy? When they get bigger than you, they'll go out of their way to hurt you. That's why bulling people for being more intelligent than you, but physically weaker, is quickly becoming a losing strategy - someday, they'll control your paycheck, or your computer ... or the world.
Well, it's made by M$, and it doesn't run on Linux. But that's not the point. The point is that people are being forced (well, told by teachers) to use it, even though there are free alternatives that might be better for them (as well as free). If they were given an option between it and something free (OpenOffice, for example), this wouldn't be such a major issue.
Yes, there is a difference. If you own something, when it becomes "obsolete" you can continue to use it, and realize that it is not, in fact, obsolete. When you are renting something, they can force you to upgrade, even if you don't need to. Oh, and they can hold you liable for damage. Personally, I think that obsolete electronics is a myth, at least for computers made in the last 7 years or so. An old computer that won't play shiny new games will still run a word processor, a browser, and maybe a few games. Failing that, you can set it up as a small server, to keep track of notes or similar things, that you can access anywhere in the world. If you have enough old computers, you can stick them in a beowulf cluster, and have them run a useful application. Use is only limited by ingenuity. If you're good enough at re-purposing electronics, they never become obsolete. Until they just stop working, that is.
"g) It's -STILL- easier to install a new piece of software on Windows. Too easy, the security people will refrain... :-)"
It all depends on what distro and software you use. Try Freespire with CNR; once you find the software, it literally takes one click to install it. You don't have to manually download anything, you just have to click a button. How easy is that?
Of course, finding the software you need can still take some work.
The type of content you want is very important. For example, I use Bittorrent primarily to download Anime. It works very well for that, and I haven't had any issues with the Trackers shutting down (and even if that happens, my client can get all the information that a Tracker would give it from other Peers, which is very helpful). It also works very well for downloading new Linux distros. If, on the other hand, you want to download the latest pirated movie, or other illegal/dodgy content (okay, some Anime is illegal due to licensing issues, but that's not the point), you are likely to run against the problem of trackers shutting down. As for trackers having no seeds, you just have to know where to look, and change trackers accordingly. Of course, the community helps a lot with that, so illegal content = fewer seeds.
In that case, why are there trackers anywhere but in the water? Because this is the sort of excuse - "it could save lives of idiots who don't know how to deal with an undertow or even swim*" - that the government expects people to come up with to make them think that being tracked everywhere on the beach is okay. * I don't know how to swim, but I'm smart enough to avoid places where I would have to.
This will not shed any light on how people learn to talk. It will, however, shed light on how the programmers think people learn to talk. If you design something, it will work the way you expect it to (hopefully, anyways). Is that so hard to understand?
Actually, the issue is the culture. Never before in the history of humanity has there been such a supply of cheap food without the need to work hard and get exercise. Never before has famine become almost non-existent, due to the ease of transporting food. The human mind just isn't built to handle this. It's designed to eat when there is food, because soon there won't be food, or because the amount of energy required to get the food completely counteracts the food. Only when you have people who don't need to work (physically, anyways) to be fed will you have fat people. (Obviously, all of the generalizations above refer to countries where they are true. In 3rd-world countries, you don't have these issues, and hence you don't have as many fat people. But I'm sure that that's a very minor consolation for starvation and malnutrition).
Interesting, but there's one thing that I'm worried about in that video: all of the shots of TEHL, with the dramatic music in the background. I feel an urge to scream "WORSHIP THE MACHINES!"
The only things linux has failed at on my desktop is my fault (I managed to completely kill Xine while trying to update it, and my motherboard has had some issues). Before that, everything worked perfected - audio, video, text, internet, etc. Everything that my computer has failed at has either been because of something I did (zine dying), or the hardware (built in ethernet connection dying, inability to watch media files on a old 500MHz celeron). In case you're wondering, I'm using the version of Freespire with proprietary drivers, which almost no one seems to know about - or at least almost no one who talks about linux's shortcomings seems to know about.
"Future Zune products will feature podcasting support and expanded video support. ..."
So Zunes will have cameras and microphones in them, so that they can be used to make podcasts? And perhaps even the ability to upload the podcasts via WiFi ...
Each year, one (1) person accidentally drowns in a toilet. I'm worried about that; it would be a very embarrassing way to die.
I would be more surprised if it wasn't. And, besides the fact that it's about a cheap computer, how is this news? Every other type of computer in the world, over the last, say, 5 or 10 years, has been used by someone, somewhere, to browse porn. Would it be news if someone used a dell, or a mac, to browse porn?
Am I the only one who's worried, and a bit disturbed, that the government is auctioning a natural resource, without being required to have all taxpayers vote on it? I'm sure that many people would like to have a completely free spectrum, which anyone could use for their devices. But it's been like this too long for people to remember that it used to be different, after all. Such a pity ...
How long will it be between travel to other worlds becoming viable/cheap and governments claiming entire worlds and auctioning them off to the highest bidder?
(Disclaimer: I dislike most governments, and believe that communism would be viable, with enough effort)
Will this correspond with a decrease in the price of laptops (or laptop components) to the point where I can, for under $600, build a laptop that corresponds to (what will be) modern technology in the same way that my current desktop corresponds to modern technology? Between 2 and 3 years behind the cutting edge, that is. This probably will not happen, unless there is a huge push to make laptops modular, like desktops currently are. Laptops may replace average desktops, but for system builders, it will still be easier to get more power, for a better price, in desktops. Unless production of desktop systems stops ... in which case, everyone who wants power will start using servers.
And, as a side note, how many desktops have two screens? Once you get used to working with two screens, it's very, very hard to voluntarily go back to one, unless the operating system forces you to.
So, when's the FCC going to go after people cursing in traffic? Children have no choice but to listen (if they are in a car in the traffic), and it could be more damaging (if the children's car is being yelled at). Whereas, with Television, most stations, even if they are broadcasting live, have a small window where the techs can bleep a word, and if they are not broadcasting live, any words which are broadcast must be completely intentional.