Accountable for its quality yes, for it's uses no.
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Hacker Crackdown?
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· Score: 4
I have no problem with being accountable for the quality of the software that one distributes, and i think when u refer to the software engineering text that "supports this trend towards accountability", i think they are refering to the software makers being accountable for quality, and not making software makers accountable for it's uses. There is a world of difference between the two.
To use the examples that you gave:
Civil Engineers are held liable for their bridges
... if they bridge falls down.. yes, but what if someone is driving drunk and drives off the bridge and dies? Is the engineer responsible?
Mechanical Engineers for their machines
Someone uses a car to get away after robbing a bank, is the mechanical engineer that designed the car responsible for the robbers getting away?
Anyway, you get the idea. There are many things to be accountable for, and when using that word it's important to remember that. In the case of an author being accountable for a piece of software it's as ludicrous(sp?) as the examples i gave above.
A lot of people have criticized Metallica for not having guts. I claim exactly the opposite - they are doing this because they are Metallica; they have the balls to do this.
I don't think balls or guts really has much to do with Metallica doing what they have done... it's about money pure and simple. They think they are loosing wads of cash to the ppl on the internet dowloading their music for free.. not because they haven't been making a good music for a while. Their egos would never allow them to actually think that they could POSSIBLY make bad music.
Other artists fear the negative publicity that they might get by going after Napster; Metallica knowingly puts themselves to the front, knowing they risk alienating their fans.
Remember the phrase "There is no such thing as bad publicity"? Well, in this case it's absolutely true. Metallica by filing this suit has stepped back into the spotlight during a time when they were fading into obscurity. I was never a fan of Metallica and i doubt i ever will be.. however, once this story popped up on/. (and CNN)and Metallica took legal action, Metallica hasn't left my mind for long. How much do you want to bet that despite all the vehement cries that "i will never listen to Metallica again!" Metallica's record sales are going up as we speak and the downloads off of Napster are increasing as well?
There are issues that need to be brought forward, and now they are actively being discussed.
The issues can't be actively discussed if the parties involved don't understand the issues themselves. When this story first broke i laughed when i saw the phrase "... we request that all songs be removed off your SITE". Try explaining the complexities of how Napster works, and how there is no "site" that magically has their music on it. While you're at it try to explain how there are larger things at stake regarding how if Napster gets successfully prosecuted by the RIAA, the responsibilites of an ISP may change from being simply the pipe to a content watcher, and that little by little freedom of speech will be infringed upon until nothing is left. No i'd say that Metallica doesn't even have the slightest grasp of the issues... and i'd say that they should be the last ppl to bring the issues forward.
Ceres
Re:3dfx is basically gone
on
ATI Radeon 256
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· Score: 1
I highly doubt that the GeForce GTS will be able to do 250 million trinangles/sec. Let's put it this way:
Geforce256 - 14 million (?)
ATI Radeon - 30 million
PS2 - 66 million
nv25?(of X-box fame) - 300 million
Take these numbers with a grain of salt of course since they are the ballpark figures i remember reading about.
As you can see the 250million triangles is kinda way out there. I'm guessing at the MOST, the nVidia's T&L engine should be able to pump about as many triangles as the PS2 (66 million).
As for the card being released THIS friday, i don't know about that... since there is usually a lag time of about 2 weeks between when hardware sites get review cards and when we (the public)usually get the card, and seeing that review sites just got the card recently i'm guessing the card will be released soon.. but not THAT soon..
It will all become clear on wednesday I guess when the NDA's that most hardware sites are under are lifted though..:)
To tell you the truth this card is not one of those "only-on-paper-it'll-be-done-soon" cards. ATI has had first silicon for around a month or so already and seeing how quick product cycles are in the video card arena (thx nVidia) if they don't get this beast out within a month or two they will loose their window.
As for buying any new video card right now i'm not so sure it would be a good idea seeing as the GeForce GTS (aka NV15) boards are already in the hands of hardware review sites and are around 2 weeks away from shipping. At the very least the price of the existing cards will drop a few bucks.
my 2 cents.
I read that highly touted "Emotion Engine" was basically using the Motorola's MPC7400... otherwise known as Apple's G4 Chip. If you look at the specs of the processor you notice that many of the numbers come relatively close to the number of a G4 of the same frequency. Another similarity between the two is that the frequency is not necessarily representative of the performance.. Can anyone lend any confirmation of this?
Slashdot Mirror
Anyway, you get the idea. There are many things to be accountable for, and when using that word it's important to remember that. In the case of an author being accountable for a piece of software it's as ludicrous(sp?) as the examples i gave above.
Ceres
"I'm kind of surprised people with talent and intelligence work for them, instead of for a company that focuses on quality rather than market share."
here's some news for ya... there aren't any large well paying companies that focus on quality rather than on market share.
Ceres
I highly doubt that the GeForce GTS will be able to do 250 million trinangles/sec. Let's put it this way:
:)
Geforce256 - 14 million (?)
ATI Radeon - 30 million
PS2 - 66 million
nv25?(of X-box fame) - 300 million
Take these numbers with a grain of salt of course since they are the ballpark figures i remember reading about.
As you can see the 250million triangles is kinda way out there. I'm guessing at the MOST, the nVidia's T&L engine should be able to pump about as many triangles as the PS2 (66 million).
As for the card being released THIS friday, i don't know about that... since there is usually a lag time of about 2 weeks between when hardware sites get review cards and when we (the public)usually get the card, and seeing that review sites just got the card recently i'm guessing the card will be released soon.. but not THAT soon..
It will all become clear on wednesday I guess when the NDA's that most hardware sites are under are lifted though..
To tell you the truth this card is not one of those "only-on-paper-it'll-be-done-soon" cards. ATI has had first silicon for around a month or so already and seeing how quick product cycles are in the video card arena (thx nVidia) if they don't get this beast out within a month or two they will loose their window. As for buying any new video card right now i'm not so sure it would be a good idea seeing as the GeForce GTS (aka NV15) boards are already in the hands of hardware review sites and are around 2 weeks away from shipping. At the very least the price of the existing cards will drop a few bucks. my 2 cents.
I read that highly touted "Emotion Engine" was basically using the Motorola's MPC7400... otherwise known as Apple's G4 Chip. If you look at the specs of the processor you notice that many of the numbers come relatively close to the number of a G4 of the same frequency. Another similarity between the two is that the frequency is not necessarily representative of the performance.. Can anyone lend any confirmation of this?