I understand you hate software patents, but you haven't come up with any good reasons to abolish them.
Patenting software is like patenting math. But even if you grant that some software is so unique that a patent should be granted, most of the patents today are so obvious and use software methods which have been in use for decades. The system is broken and anytime you have that much power concentrated in one place it's susceptible to abuse.
Correction: I guess software patents did exist in the 80's but not to the extent that they are used now. Otherwise, we'd all be paying royalties to Xerox Parc.
Software patents have been around for almost 30 years. You say they've destroyed innovation - do you have any evidence? I think computers have advanced pretty far since the 80s.
I think this lawsuit is the very proof you need. Google makes a successful product without using anything which you could normally patent in any other industry and they get sued for billions. Had software patents existed in the 80's companies like Apple and Microsoft would not exist -- they would have been sued by IBM and others out of existence.
Given that there's 15 inches laptops with higher specifications available for almost the same price, it's no wonder people aren't buying netbooks anymore.
I have a netbook which I throw into my back pack or in the car which I wouldn't always do with a laptop. It's a very convenient size. I could do the same with a tablet, but I like the tactile keyboard of the netbook. I agree though, that the market for netbooks is a lot smaller than for tablets.
That sounds like a shockingly inefficient network, I doubt it has anything to do with Windows, and more to do with ingrained poor practices and typical bureaucratic inefficiency.
That ratio is pretty typical for Windows installations. The statement sounds reasonable to me.
Good point -- the money stays in Munich (or at least in country) and when Munich is up and running, there will be other cities which will follow and Munich will be able to leverage their software, experience and investment in other cities.
Compared to windows techs, linux techs get more money
Not sure where that came from but Windows techs need more schooling to keep up with the MS products required to do their job. The Linux admin can usually deal with most network and admin issues due to the more straightforward approach Linux has. I believe freebsd is even easier to maintain than linux.
Thanks! That reflects our experience. Our system is java based and most of the machines are linux. I write the software and manager the linux boxes. For the few Windows boxes we have we have another admin who manages those. Essentially the time needed to manage 10 Windows PCs is significantly higher than the time needed to manage 100+ linux boxes.
Same goes for Opera, which is extremely popular in Russia and CIS countries and actually beats any other browser. It has like 50% market share in some countries.
Now if only it had 50% market share in countries that have a tradition of people paying for software...
Interesting...........completely anecdotal, but I don't know anyone that uses chrome, much less even knows it exists for the most part of them.
Hell, most of them I had to explain what FF was....
Odd, everyone I know here in Germany, except one guy, uses Chrome or FF. More use FF. Only one guy uses IE and he is a die-hard Windows fan who probably has Windows sheets on his bed.;-)
Because if you truly want to promote freedom and free code, you also have to let people to profit from it.
The GPL doesn't prevent you from profiting on your derivative code, it simply ensures that others can do the same. GPL derivative code does not have to be free of charge.
Freedom isn't picking who gets to enjoy that "freedom" based on some rules
There is no restriction on who get's to "enjoy" that freedom, it simply says that you have to pass it on. The BSD license, for example, let's you enjoy that freedom, but doesn't not require you to pass it on, which essentially slows the spread of free (as in speech) software.
I've read a lot of product white papers, and they manage to say what sounds like a whole lot, but when you read it, you find out it isn't actually saying anything much really
RTA, the article describes how specific functionality was demonstrated as part of the base system but was actually a third party product. They were forcing the University to pay more for functionality that was explicitly promised as part of the base package.
iPhone and Android are ripe for played-out cultural saturation, just like Facebook.
Re: Facebook... it doesn't seem like people are jumping on to the google plus wagon in huge numbers. Facebook (and I'm guessing Iphone and Android) are pretty safe for a while.
"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." - Yogi Berra.
There is a small group of too-cool-for-school hipsters out there who disdain anything they deem mainstream and/or popular, so they're likely the ones who would complain about everyone having an iPhone. Hell, I read a few comments to that effect when the iPhone 3GS came out! As usual, they're the people to ignore IMO because they simply represent an outlier viewpoint.
And these aren't exactly people who are going to then buy a Microsoft product.
It seems like high traffic sites like yahoo and facebook are using. Is there something about it which makes it well suited for that or are these cases of stuff that started small and grew way beyond anyone's wildest dreams?
I don't know PHP, but it seems to have nine lives. It gets a lot of bad press but seems to be in use everywhere. And especially at high volume sites. Why is that?
So for every say, 6 barrels you export, you have to burn a barrel yourself.
This may shed more light:
"Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. This process generates two to four times the amount of greenhouse gases per barrel of final product as the "production" of conventional oil.[3] If combustion of the final products is included, the so-called "Well to Wheels" approach, oil sands extraction, upgrade and use emits 10 to 45% more greenhouse gases than conventional crude.[4]"
Slashdot Mirror
I understand you hate software patents, but you haven't come up with any good reasons to abolish them.
Patenting software is like patenting math. But even if you grant that some software is so unique that a patent should be granted, most of the patents today are so obvious and use software methods which have been in use for decades. The system is broken and anytime you have that much power concentrated in one place it's susceptible to abuse.
Correction: I guess software patents did exist in the 80's but not to the extent that they are used now. Otherwise, we'd all be paying royalties to Xerox Parc.
Software patents have been around for almost 30 years. You say they've destroyed innovation - do you have any evidence? I think computers have advanced pretty far since the 80s.
I think this lawsuit is the very proof you need. Google makes a successful product without using anything which you could normally patent in any other industry and they get sued for billions. Had software patents existed in the 80's companies like Apple and Microsoft would not exist -- they would have been sued by IBM and others out of existence.
"Sorry, the page you requested was not found."
Given that there's 15 inches laptops with higher specifications available for almost the same price, it's no wonder people aren't buying netbooks anymore.
I have a netbook which I throw into my back pack or in the car which I wouldn't always do with a laptop. It's a very convenient size. I could do the same with a tablet, but I like the tactile keyboard of the netbook. I agree though, that the market for netbooks is a lot smaller than for tablets.
That sounds like a shockingly inefficient network, I doubt it has anything to do with Windows, and more to do with ingrained poor practices and typical bureaucratic inefficiency.
That ratio is pretty typical for Windows installations. The statement sounds reasonable to me.
Lets face it folks Linux isn't gonna save you a dime, not in the short or medium term anyway
It did for us. And it is still saving money.
Prior to 2003 they were perfectly happy with using windows.
After Balmer's trip.. Wholly shit we have to switch to ANYTHING ELSE ASAP.
Photo from said trip
http://www.models.hr/models/images/stories/slike/najbogatiji/steve_ballmer.jpg
The point is that they were not happy with Windows and the TCO of Windows -- licenses, admin time, viruses, etc.
Good point -- the money stays in Munich (or at least in country) and when Munich is up and running, there will be other cities which will follow and Munich will be able to leverage their software, experience and investment in other cities.
BTW, where did the 450k number come from?
Compared to windows techs, linux techs get more money
Not sure where that came from but Windows techs need more schooling to keep up with the MS products required to do their job. The Linux admin can usually deal with most network and admin issues due to the more straightforward approach Linux has. I believe freebsd is even easier to maintain than linux.
Thanks! That reflects our experience. Our system is java based and most of the machines are linux. I write the software and manager the linux boxes. For the few Windows boxes we have we have another admin who manages those. Essentially the time needed to manage 10 Windows PCs is significantly higher than the time needed to manage 100+ linux boxes.
Same goes for Opera, which is extremely popular in Russia and CIS countries and actually beats any other browser. It has like 50% market share in some countries.
Now if only it had 50% market share in countries that have a tradition of people paying for software...
Since Opera is free, why would that matter?
Interesting...........completely anecdotal, but I don't know anyone that uses chrome, much less even knows it exists for the most part of them.
Hell, most of them I had to explain what FF was....
Odd, everyone I know here in Germany, except one guy, uses Chrome or FF. More use FF. Only one guy uses IE and he is a die-hard Windows fan who probably has Windows sheets on his bed. ;-)
People using your code and improving it without giving anything back? Because that is what Google is doing.
Where? There was some controversy about Android but that code has been released.
Because if you truly want to promote freedom and free code, you also have to let people to profit from it.
The GPL doesn't prevent you from profiting on your derivative code, it simply ensures that others can do the same. GPL derivative code does not have to be free of charge.
Freedom isn't picking who gets to enjoy that "freedom" based on some rules
There is no restriction on who get's to "enjoy" that freedom, it simply says that you have to pass it on. The BSD license, for example, let's you enjoy that freedom, but doesn't not require you to pass it on, which essentially slows the spread of free (as in speech) software.
I've read a lot of product white papers, and they manage to say what sounds like a whole lot, but when you read it, you find out it isn't actually saying anything much really
RTA, the article describes how specific functionality was demonstrated as part of the base system but was actually a third party product. They were forcing the University to pay more for functionality that was explicitly promised as part of the base package.
iPhone and Android are ripe for played-out cultural saturation, just like Facebook.
Re: Facebook ... it doesn't seem like people are jumping on to the google plus wagon in huge numbers. Facebook (and I'm guessing Iphone and Android) are pretty safe for a while.
"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." - Yogi Berra.
There is a small group of too-cool-for-school hipsters out there who disdain anything they deem mainstream and/or popular, so they're likely the ones who would complain about everyone having an iPhone. Hell, I read a few comments to that effect when the iPhone 3GS came out! As usual, they're the people to ignore IMO because they simply represent an outlier viewpoint.
And these aren't exactly people who are going to then buy a Microsoft product.
"Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded." -Yogi Berra
That's exactly what I was thinking!
It seems like high traffic sites like yahoo and facebook are using. Is there something about it which makes it well suited for that or are these cases of stuff that started small and grew way beyond anyone's wildest dreams?
I don't know PHP, but it seems to have nine lives. It gets a lot of bad press but seems to be in use everywhere. And especially at high volume sites. Why is that?
So for every say, 6 barrels you export, you have to burn a barrel yourself.
This may shed more light:
"Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. This process generates two to four times the amount of greenhouse gases per barrel of final product as the "production" of conventional oil.[3] If combustion of the final products is included, the so-called "Well to Wheels" approach, oil sands extraction, upgrade and use emits 10 to 45% more greenhouse gases than conventional crude.[4]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands
This is nothing compared to the current exponential increase in CO2 emissions from countries like China and India
Still, the US and Canada produce 5 times the CO2 per person than China. Australia is not far behind.
Good point. The tarsands are a huge environmental mistake.
Do you know what the current status of Wayland is? I was hoping it'd be ready for the last release.