Oh, and just so that we know who is really behind this, they want to up the GEMA (=German version of the RIAA) tax on blank media, whether or not you use it copy copywrited material.
The RIAA and, in fact, the entire entertainment industry, controls congress and government. Let's face it, you don't have a chance against them, so:
1. Don't download music or films. If you really want the music or film pay the ridiculously high prices for them or don't watch them. The market will prevail.
2. What I have on my computer is my business. Since the RIAA and the Bush administration feel they own me or at least my computer, I don't make it easy for them. I use Linux for most of my stuff. If they want to see what I've got, they have to get a warrant, though I'm sure that will change by the time Bush gets done.
3. Vote! And to make sure your vote counts, avoid, at all costs, electronic voting machines. Vote absentee if you have to.
Re:So when do we get its successor?
on
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· Score: 1
What are you smoking?
You don't install ANY OS on hardware without considering driver support.
True, but I just install Ubuntu and it recognizes all my hardware, so far, anyway, automatically.
I have a simple fileserver and transfer system I wrote in java to facilitate transferring files and information between hosts in our application. It also allowed me to take specific acts on certain types of files (like expanding zip files or installing jar files for our application).
Writing it multithreaded seemed obvious. But when I look at all the insane patents that are being granted, as crazy as it sounds, someone could actually patent a "file server/transfer system using multiple threads to enable simultaneous transfers and non-file information as well as intelligent handling of specific file types."
Any normal person would say, "Hey ftp does most of that already" but the way the patent office works today you could still get a patent on it.
Oh yes, Microsoft is dying. That's why every article on Slashdot tries to rip them apart, why states are trying to extend the judgement against MS, and why Europeans are resorting to protectionism because they can't compete. It's all because Microsoft is dying. Those damn internet tubes are just killing them. You have to "try" to rip MS apart, you just have to look at the facts. MS is a company which keeps customers by lock-in and by trying to own and control protocols.
The States and Europe are: (1) enforcing the rules that Microsoft must give access to it's protocols so other competitors aren't locked out and (2) make sure that a single company doesn't own their data (e.g. DOC and XLS formats).
MS is a monopoly, which is perfectly legal, but there are rules to ensure that competitors are not locked out. The question really is, if MS thinks it is better, why is it so against competition?
Re: It's designed around the feature constraints of OpenOffice just as OOXML is designed around MS Office.
Well, not quite. Alot of office programs use and support ODF. And therein lies the beauty of it: it is designed from the ground up to not be application specific. And, it is controlled by a consortium, not a single company.
This is one reason why I refuse to use any Microsoft product!
exactly right------F.U. Microsoft
Go Ron Paul I've been using Linux for years. Most of our business (now about 50 workstations) runs under Linux. I do all my word processing and spreadsheet using Open Office. (Anyone who argues you have to use MS just doesn't know what they are talking about). I love the thought of all those licenses we don't have to pay to MS.
And I don't see Y! NOT covering their tracks in any contract signed. That's not to say they wouldn't ax some open source programs, but maybe if those who really care about those applications make enough stink before the ink is dry, something can be done about it. Don't forget, this would be a hostile takeover, so Yahoo doesn't have to sign any deals. These guys could take their share of the $44,600,000,000, which is probably significant, and start up another search engine, banking, essentially, on their name.
And this time, they could make improvements to the software, use open source search code, buy new server farms, etc.
NewScientist is reporting that NASA has kicked their previous space partner, Rocketplane Kistler, to the curb and is in search of a new commercial space partner. The new partnership will try to develop a new shuttle to service the International Space Station.
Well, I've got this patent pending on this REALLY BIG sling-shot, if NASA is interested...
After all, the USPTO will approve anything nowadays...
It's not a "sling-shot", it's an elastic energy-storage with single-release multi-directional propulsion device. Your patent is a given with that description.
MicroHoo... or is it YahSoft... Im going with MicroHoo. YaSoft... Yet another software company. Perhaps "YaSuc" Yet Another Software user's Catastrophy
> but it has certainly gotten the job done in many cases wouldn't you say.
No, I wouldn't say many. And for the few cases it has gotten the job done, it diminished the field of computing rather than added to it. Swing has its pluses and minuses but, if you need to write platform independent code, it's really the best game in town. There are other options (QT) but they have their drawbacks.
Swing has come a long way, and, if you use it correctly, it works.
though from what I can gather parts of OOXML are not that much better. Apparently the spreadsheet spec says nothing about how formulaes are supposed to work for example.
Make no mistake this whole standardisation of document formats and mandating use of standardised formats thing is about waging war against microsofts dominance of the office suite market and both sides are fighting dirty. I'm not so sure it's about waging war. I think it's more about freedom. There is only one company really behind MS OOXML format and that's MS. (Yes, I know Novell is backing it, but they get hundreds of millions of $s from MS to do so). There are lots of different companies and organizations behind ODF.
closest name for a page
So... mod_speling for apache would be an accurate representation of prior art of some of that patent, then...
ash We're getting to the point where almost all, if not really all, of the patents granted for software are for something which has been done thousands of times before. The problem is, (1) the patent office has no clue and (2) most of these things have been done internally somewhere so, unless the patent office has all the source code ever written, how would they know?
Let me preface this by saying that I am one of the biggest linux geeks you're ever going to meet. I run gentoo on my laptop, as well as on my Desktop at work. I have installed Ubuntu on my sisters' laptops and my mom's Desktop. I do graphic design work in scribus and inkscape.
I'm a linux geek....but
If the true goal of a computer program for a school is to ready its students for the workplace, then is linux really the best method of doing so? Isn't the school in some way doing its students a dis-service my training them on a computing method that they will very likely never use again?
As much as i DESPISE some of microsoft's products (i admin a damn win2k3 server...do i really need to explain WHY i hate microsoft?) i understand that in order to function in a modern workplace, the ability to navigate microsoft windows is almost as essential as any other office skill. If you only look at the world as it is today, you could argue that we should teach our children MS products. But, what people use is what people know and teaching our kids Linux and Open Office will change the workplace.
Most employers I know don't use MS Office because they think it's better, they use it because that's what people know.
Sdelete is a sysinternals utility. You can get the source code, or at least you could. Even if you can't you can still use File monitor to see what it does. It would seem like a very bad move for Microsoft to change it in a way that makes it send data off to them.
Thanks for the info. I was being a little facetious with a subtle reference to past policies which sent off user data at installation even though the user declined sending the information.
I don't share or use shared music. I listen to my CD's only. So why should I pay $120/year so that "right's holders" earn their money for free.
First of all, it's just plane theft.
Secondly, what incentive would musicians have to create better or more music? Just collect from anyone who uses the internet (which is pretty much everyone). What a deal. Get me in on that one. I write software and people using the internet could be illegally using it. I want my $120/year.
Finally, where does it stop? In Germany, the GEMA gets money for copiers, media (CD and DVD, casettes, etc). But that wasn't enough. They wanted money for modems, harddisks, and processors because all those things could be used to copy music.
In my day, computers ran windows, and they could hardly do more than one thing at a time! Now Windows can do multiple things at a time and look what happened to it. This clearly supports the article's contention that multitasking makes you slow and stupid.
What Yahoo is talking about is a form of context based "menus" (offering different options based on context). It's nothing more than a popup menu using drag-and-drop.
While this point may be valid, it's not like CS degrees were assurances of any level of competence anytime in my recent memory (I've spent about 15 years in IT).
About all I can suggest is that students who are inclined to supplement their educations through their own creative pursuits will continue to surpass those who treat CS simply as a profitable skill set. If anything, simplifying CS courses will assist potential employers in identifying those who aspire to excellence in the field and those who are merely pursuing a career. One point made clear in the original article was that students were not learning or understanding basic principles, which languages like java take care of for you, to an extent. I went to college in the late '70's. A language like Cobol was considered a 4th generation language, which was also taught. But you needed to understand the basics of assembly language and C or Fortran so that you understood what was happening beneath the surface.
Do we need to know that anymore? Maybe not for application programming but for those who intend to work on the next technologies, such as new OS's for new devices, communications, database technologies, the list goes on, you need to understand more of the basics.
I'll wish the fellow luck on his quest (nothing like taking on a hard problem) but I don't like his chances of succeeding in trademarking the term . .. Some guy actually got a trademark on the term Y2K back in '99 or '98. Kind of makes you wonder.... So if someone can get a trademark on Y2K, which had been in common use for 30 years, then this guy just might get his cyberlaw.
Scary
Many shows are repeated here in Europe, just as they are in the US. So I don't buy that argument. What might be true it that TIVO like devices are essentially non-existent here, so it's easier to use a DVD recorder.
I think I saw something with a satelite internet service company in Europe (where I live), which imposed a soft limit. In effect, they could limit your bandwidth to a certain amount, if there was heavy usage. At times where the bandwidth of the satelite was not being fully used, you could get more bandwidth.
It seems that most bandwidth is taken up by a few users who do nothing but download movies and, I presume, music.
Rather than a bandwidth limit, why not a monthly cap? I mean, it doesn't have to be that low. 2GB is really low. But if you put it at what 90% of the people are at or under, you really don't inconvenience anyone except for the bandwidth hogs.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, what a racket.
Oh, and just so that we know who is really behind this, they want to up the GEMA (=German version of the RIAA) tax on blank media, whether or not you use it copy copywrited material.
What a buch of crooks.
The RIAA and, in fact, the entire entertainment industry, controls congress and government. Let's face it, you don't have a chance against them, so:
1. Don't download music or films. If you really want the music or film pay the ridiculously high prices for them or don't watch them. The market will prevail.
2. What I have on my computer is my business. Since the RIAA and the Bush administration feel they own me or at least my computer, I don't make it easy for them. I use Linux for most of my stuff. If they want to see what I've got, they have to get a warrant, though I'm sure that will change by the time Bush gets done.
3. Vote! And to make sure your vote counts, avoid, at all costs, electronic voting machines. Vote absentee if you have to.
You don't install ANY OS on hardware without considering driver support.
True, but I just install Ubuntu and it recognizes all my hardware, so far, anyway, automatically.
I have a simple fileserver and transfer system I wrote in java to facilitate transferring files and information between hosts in our application. It also allowed me to take specific acts on certain types of files (like expanding zip files or installing jar files for our application).
Writing it multithreaded seemed obvious. But when I look at all the insane patents that are being granted, as crazy as it sounds, someone could actually patent a "file server/transfer system using multiple threads to enable simultaneous transfers and non-file information as well as intelligent handling of specific file types."
Any normal person would say, "Hey ftp does most of that already" but the way the patent office works today you could still get a patent on it.
Oh yes, Microsoft is dying. That's why every article on Slashdot tries to rip them apart, why states are trying to extend the judgement against MS, and why Europeans are resorting to protectionism because they can't compete. It's all because Microsoft is dying. Those damn internet tubes are just killing them. You have to "try" to rip MS apart, you just have to look at the facts. MS is a company which keeps customers by lock-in and by trying to own and control protocols.
The States and Europe are: (1) enforcing the rules that Microsoft must give access to it's protocols so other competitors aren't locked out and (2) make sure that a single company doesn't own their data (e.g. DOC and XLS formats).
MS is a monopoly, which is perfectly legal, but there are rules to ensure that competitors are not locked out. The question really is, if MS thinks it is better, why is it so against competition?
And this time, they could make improvements to the software, use open source search code, buy new server farms, etc.
Does this mean my DVD Recorder with time-slip infringes on TIVO's patent?
After all, the USPTO will approve anything nowadays ...
It's not a "sling-shot", it's an elastic energy-storage with single-release multi-directional propulsion device. Your patent is a given with that description.No, I wouldn't say many. And for the few cases it has gotten the job done, it diminished the field of computing rather than added to it. Swing has its pluses and minuses but, if you need to write platform independent code, it's really the best game in town. There are other options (QT) but they have their drawbacks.
Swing has come a long way, and, if you use it correctly, it works.
Make no mistake this whole standardisation of document formats and mandating use of standardised formats thing is about waging war against microsofts dominance of the office suite market and both sides are fighting dirty.
I'm not so sure it's about waging war. I think it's more about freedom. There is only one company really behind MS OOXML format and that's MS. (Yes, I know Novell is backing it, but they get hundreds of millions of $s from MS to do so). There are lots of different companies and organizations behind ODF.
So... mod_speling for apache would be an accurate representation of prior art of some of that patent, then...
ash We're getting to the point where almost all, if not really all, of the patents granted for software are for something which has been done thousands of times before. The problem is, (1) the patent office has no clue and (2) most of these things have been done internally somewhere so, unless the patent office has all the source code ever written, how would they know?
I'm a linux geek....but
If the true goal of a computer program for a school is to ready its students for the workplace, then is linux really the best method of doing so? Isn't the school in some way doing its students a dis-service my training them on a computing method that they will very likely never use again?
As much as i DESPISE some of microsoft's products (i admin a damn win2k3 server...do i really need to explain WHY i hate microsoft?) i understand that in order to function in a modern workplace, the ability to navigate microsoft windows is almost as essential as any other office skill. If you only look at the world as it is today, you could argue that we should teach our children MS products. But, what people use is what people know and teaching our kids Linux and Open Office will change the workplace.
Most employers I know don't use MS Office because they think it's better, they use it because that's what people know.
Thanks for the info. I was being a little facetious with a subtle reference to past policies which sent off user data at installation even though the user declined sending the information.
I don't share or use shared music. I listen to my CD's only. So why should I pay $120/year so that "right's holders" earn their money for free.
First of all, it's just plane theft.
Secondly, what incentive would musicians have to create better or more music? Just collect from anyone who uses the internet (which is pretty much everyone). What a deal. Get me in on that one. I write software and people using the internet could be illegally using it. I want my $120/year.
Finally, where does it stop? In Germany, the GEMA gets money for copiers, media (CD and DVD, casettes, etc). But that wasn't enough. They wanted money for modems, harddisks, and processors because all those things could be used to copy music.
I'm sure paper is next.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Security/SDelete.mspx I'm a little suspicious of a microsoft command which would permanently erase my data. Are you sure they are not sending it to themselves first?
What Yahoo is talking about is a form of context based "menus" (offering different options based on context). It's nothing more than a popup menu using drag-and-drop.
About all I can suggest is that students who are inclined to supplement their educations through their own creative pursuits will continue to surpass those who treat CS simply as a profitable skill set. If anything, simplifying CS courses will assist potential employers in identifying those who aspire to excellence in the field and those who are merely pursuing a career. One point made clear in the original article was that students were not learning or understanding basic principles, which languages like java take care of for you, to an extent. I went to college in the late '70's. A language like Cobol was considered a 4th generation language, which was also taught. But you needed to understand the basics of assembly language and C or Fortran so that you understood what was happening beneath the surface.
Do we need to know that anymore? Maybe not for application programming but for those who intend to work on the next technologies, such as new OS's for new devices, communications, database technologies, the list goes on, you need to understand more of the basics.
Scary
Many shows are repeated here in Europe, just as they are in the US. So I don't buy that argument. What might be true it that TIVO like devices are essentially non-existent here, so it's easier to use a DVD recorder.
Novel owns unix and novell is in bed with MS....
This doesn't sound good.
I think I saw something with a satelite internet service company in Europe (where I live), which imposed a soft limit. In effect, they could limit your bandwidth to a certain amount, if there was heavy usage. At times where the bandwidth of the satelite was not being fully used, you could get more bandwidth.
It seems that most bandwidth is taken up by a few users who do nothing but download movies and, I presume, music.
Rather than a bandwidth limit, why not a monthly cap? I mean, it doesn't have to be that low. 2GB is really low. But if you put it at what 90% of the people are at or under, you really don't inconvenience anyone except for the bandwidth hogs.