The lexical structure and the phonemes are too indoeuropean. There will be a considerably degree of matching. Some of it will be very funny, but there will be a match none the less. If you want to confuse this service do what the USA did in WW2 on the Pacific theatre. They did not use codes for a lot of the communications. They drafted Cherokee indians instead. The japanese never managed to decipher that and it all sounded to them like blablah.
You do not really know into which parts of the kernel guts the driver has stuck its grubby fingers.
The 3D operations are memory heavy and some of them require heavy locking as well. As a result you may for example achieve great performance by f*** up a lock somewhere in the scheduler semantics. The system may even be stable under your favourite load - Quake or Doom. At the same time it will go straight to hell on a different load with memory corruption caused by a race condition due to lack of locking where it should be.
Besides that, optimisations in the VM may actually end up having considerably higher effect on performance. This of course is if the binary only driver cares to use the improved APIs instead of bringing garbage of its own.
What really pisses me off as far as Colivas camp is concerned is that they equate 3D games smoothness to desktop performance and keep on quacking about "desktop linux performance". Their stuff has nothing to do with it.
It is just one tiny facet of desktop linux. Further to this, in order to demonstrate any of the performance you have to throw in two big unknowns - a binary only driver and a card without a fully disclosed and known specification.
Self-serving benchmarks for 3D game on local machines should not be used to claim superiority in all desktop linux tasks period. In fact they should not be considered at all at least until something comes out of the recent ATI and Intel spec disclosures. When non-binary 3D accelerated drivers become widely available there will be a point to start benchmarking towards 3D performance and smoothness. Until then this is a complete waste of everyone's time.
The best way to teach them is to give them a simple one that isn't (readily) capable of playing flashy video games, music, and movies, but can be programmed.
I would agree that as far as the third world is concerned this may in fact be the XO-1. As far as kids in the USA, UK or anywhere else in the developed world an X-term off the family server does the job equally well. I have a few of them booting diskless and can add in a new one in about 5 mins. As a result the kid can sit down and use any of the computers in the house if he needs to (and so can I). Granted, the price together with a monitor is more than a XO-1 http://www.conciseit.co.uk/thin-client.htm?gclid=CI-anKeK3I4CFQESEgodv0pvAA. It is much better hardware from a HS perspective. One thing you would not like your kids to get is RSI from a tiny laptop keyboard further complicated by an eye problem from staring at a tiny 10' screen.
While I do not know the state of US educational system now, 20 years ago it was indeed as you say - cash on the barrel. At best you had the university waving part of the tuition fee. Everything else - dormitory fees, food, textbooks, etc you had to fend for yourself. This amounted on the average to anything between 5 and 10 times the average annual income in more than half of the world (I think it still does).
As a result the only two ways of getting a US education for a foreigner was either having a rich daddy or demonstrating that you can be more American than Americans themselves to one of the "benevolent" foundations set up by various immigrants. Preserving your national identity, officially stating that you actually like your country was an absolute no-no. At best you had your check for the next year withdrawn. At worst (if someone grassed on you that you are an atheist or something equally anti-American) you had the check "lost in the post". I am speaking from experience here by the way. Been there, seen that.
Due to the growth of services vs production in the western world the daytime consumption has been steadily increasing. In days past the major consumers of electricity were the heavy manufacturing which is mostly 24x7 and household which is mostly 6-10pm.
The manufacturing has been going east and most of the workforce going into service style economy. As a result the 24x7 component is steadily decreasing. At the same time the 6-8am and 9am-5pm has been increasing to the point where the daily consumption is starting to be comparable with the evening peak. A white collar worker during daytime consumes 1KW on average - aircon/heating, computer resources, telecommunication resources, etc (I have done office power planning and this is actually the figure you end up with in the temperate regions). In the evening we actually now consume less.
As a result the load on the grid has been steadily shifting towards being the worst from 9 to 5. The more "developed" the economy - the more pronounced the shift. The mere fact that the utilities in most developed countries do not even bother installing timed electrical meters should tell you something here.
No it will not. The highest consumption in a household is 6pm-10pm. If you heat water electrically and take a shower in the morning add 6-8am. No solar at that time. In fact, unless you run a large computer installation, work from home or do something else that eats power 9am-5pm you are not going to have a cost effective setup without selling back to the grid.
While solar are currently just barely at break-even point for places like Sunny California, it will become increasingly cost efficient in the future due to energy price rises. What I cannot really guess is how fast will this price rise. There are too many factors involved.
My current guess is that even a classic bog-standard solar panel can probably break even in the temperate regions (UK lattitudes) in 7 years if we account for the energy price rise. The new tech will probably fare even better.
Not in the UK. Probably one of the very few countries in the world. This is one of the presents we have from Blair and Co - the removal of the mortgage tax relief. You cannot write off the tax any of the installments. From there on you are effectively overpaying by a third. As a result the effective interest rate here is 10%. As a result it is cost effective to pay this off as early as possible. Unfortunately, it gets you in trouble as far as your credit rating is concerned.
Aaa.. You have not commited the fundamental crime of repaying your mortgage. I see... That makes you are an oddball, but not a suspect. If you repay it to become truly debt-free you are automatically a suspect and can kiss the idea of having a banking job bye-bye (at least in the UK).
I agree. A few obvious questions: what is the actual performance deterioration curve, what is the efficiency after 5-10 years and what are the disposal requirements (it has the dirty "C" word in so do not expect them to be accepted at the tip).
It is not just radio. Both have a big protocol stack most of which is in real time behind the radio. When you add up all the resources necessary as well as all the fees to leeches like Qualcom it stops making sense. This is besides the fact that the non-GSM networks are not going to be particularly happy to allow phones that can do GSM as well. As far as they are concerned that is a sure way to leak customers.
The problem is that you get reported to Homeland Security for that. There have been precedents before (search old slashdot).
If you do not have debts you are automatically considered a criminal nowdays. If you do it the credit agency will mark you as a high risk suspect on credit reports. This means that you can no longer find a job in at least some sectors.
Not if they brick the DRM functions and from there on its use as a music device. That is something they are entitled to and capable of. There is jackshit you can do about that one legally.
Why pringle cans? If you need it for real work you might as well go for the full monty. These guys http://www.rad.com/ have anything up to Gigabit range and some of their gear in the MB range is relatively cheap. There are a couple of other companies who offer similar gear. We used to use them in the days when I worked in an ex-soviet block country and when 26.4 was the magic number for the whole country, not just a single place on a north facing hill. From there on all you need is a neighbour who will allow you to put a SAT or share a DSL line.
AFAIK the decision was taken about a month ago and announced on Russian TV. I got a couple of letters on the subject from Russian friends when it happened. You are right - it is related to the teacher. Frankly, Microsoft should have given it a second thought and stopped simulating that it has nothing to do with it especially after both Putin, Gorbi and Zhirik got involved with it. Before that it was a piracy case. Now, after MSFT ignored all political parties from the left to the right end, the current and the past presidents it has become a political issue. It is not a matter of money any more.
In brief: a school in the middle of nowhere was sold computers with pirated windows and office which they believed to be genuine. Instead of going after the manufacturer and the reseller the Russian branch of the BSA went after the headmaster of the school and tried to make him personally criminally responsible. he case got phenomenal adverse publicity and reached to the level of the both Putin and Gorbachev wading in and asking that the real culprit is prosecuted. Instead of that the idiots continued and even tried to invoke the MAFIAA favourite tool of WTO scaremongering.
At this point the Russians did the very Russian thing of making a point in principle. Is the OS suited or not no longer matters in the slightest. They will simply no longer do educational business with Microsoft in principle and this is it.
It is a part of Russian character - you may push them for a very long time and they will do nothing. At one point they will go into "Za nami Rodina, ni shagu nazad (Fatherland is behind us, no further steps back)". This is a point you simply do not want to reach when you negotiate with them and it was reached solely through the BSA stupidity.
This also makes a major difference between the Russian case and similar situations in Asia a few years back. There Microsoft managed to defuse the situation through offering seriously discounted Windows and BilliGatus gifts to education and health. In this case this will not work. It is not a matter of money it is a matter of principle from now on.
By giving you a system with a number of programming languages day one.
If you have not noticed, may I remind you that windows have degenerated into a consumer device totally unusable for any computer science education without spending a significant amount of money and effort to install extra software. As a result Windows based computer literacy has long degenerated into mouse driven "button pushing".
Linux ships with 4 high level computer languages useable out of the box in the base install - perl, python, C and C++. The rest are easily available as packages. As a result the environment to teach CS is already there. The likelihood that the kids will have at least some hacking skills is much higher as well.
And so the seeds of space piracy and "independent traders" are sown...
Recipe for telling the state go suck bricks through a thin straw sideways:
1. Buy an old oil platform 2. Refurbish 3. Reregister under the flag of a tiny pacific island which is not a signee to the treaty (optional) 4. Tow outside territorial waters (bonus points for launching from near the equator to save fuel). 5. Launch... And potentially Profit...
Example: http://www.boeing.com/special/sea-launch/why_sea_launch.htm. Surprise who are the usual suspects - the darlings of the USA defence industry - Boeing and the darlings of the russian defence industry - Energia. Cousying in the same bed. Nicely and quietly while the USA and Russia politicians rattle the sabres in the name of a new Cold War.
Alternative recipe
1. Buy or hire an Il-76, An-124 or Mriya. The last is difficult, for the rest call this chap: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6991487.stm. He is rumoured to be good. Alternatively, get your hand on a White Swan or a Concorde (that may be quite difficult, but as our Bulgarian friends say "What cannot be bought with money can be bought with a A LOT of money"). 2. Reregister it under a suitable nation in the middle of Africa or Oceania (optional). 3. Load a launch vehicle on it. Two under development - Shtil-3A and RIF-MA. Both are rumoured to work. To buy - call the same chap. Or build your own. 4. Fly outside the airspace of all nations signing the treaty (again - bonus points for equatorial launch) 5. Launch... and potentially Profit...
Alternatively (if you manage to get your hands on a White Swan or manage to get the French to sell you a Concnorde as a launch vehicle): http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/burlak.htm
It was also nearly impossible to roll out centralised settings to either 98 or NT. Same for centralised remote management.
Win2K was light years ahead of them when it came up with respect to this. One could actually try to put at least some mandatory or optional settings onto a network without half of the machines refusing to boot any more. WinXP did not improve anything on this.
As far as Vista is concerned, Vista could have been a huge potential improvement for corporates if the idiots at Redmond geared the DRM towards corporate use and putting in proper crypto based control onto documents when paired with Office 2007. Unfortunately they cocked it up. They decided to endulge in some naso-rectal interfacing with a mouse instead. They are getting whatever they deserve now. The mouse no matter how loud and abnoxious is much smaller than those customers that could have make use of Vista's+Office crypto/DRM and force it down everyone's throat. Now they get whatever they deserve.
Not necessarily. Company IT departments grabbed W2K the way starving people grab hot bread. Win XP did not cause even a fraction of the same enthusiasm. And as far as Vista is concerned most company IT shops look at it as consumerware.
He realised the "value" of such archives much more than other people.
Just read the Lazarus rant in "Time Enough for Love" when he understands for the first time that his pearls of wisdom are being recorded.
So I think he is more likely laughing than grumbling. After all he said (though Lazarus): "Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil."
I am referring to US government treating its non-citizens on non-US soil. This is exactly what all the fuss is about.
Case A: US government is bound by its own constitution and laws even abroad and even when dealing with non-US citizens.
Case B: US government is not bound by its own constitution and laws abroad and when dealing with non-US citizens.
I have very clearly spelled to you exactly what case B means in moral, legal and other terms and as far as recent historical precedent is concerned. Do you like it or not - sorry, can't help you.
Please, stop mixing what US government is or or is not allowed to do with its own citizens in this as this is not the issue here. Next time try to read what you reply to before trying to use Plato or Socrates as a thumper where they do not belong.
Slashdot Mirror
Depends. If there is a 2^16 in the equation... http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.excel/browse_thread/thread/2bcad1a1a4861879/2f8806d5400dfe22?hl=en#2f8806d5400dfe22
The lexical structure and the phonemes are too indoeuropean. There will be a considerably degree of matching. Some of it will be very funny, but there will be a match none the less.
If you want to confuse this service do what the USA did in WW2 on the Pacific theatre. They did not use codes for a lot of the communications. They drafted Cherokee indians instead. The japanese never managed to decipher that and it all sounded to them like blablah.
You do not really know into which parts of the kernel guts the driver has stuck its grubby fingers.
The 3D operations are memory heavy and some of them require heavy locking as well. As a result you may for example achieve great performance by f*** up a lock somewhere in the scheduler semantics. The system may even be stable under your favourite load - Quake or Doom. At the same time it will go straight to hell on a different load with memory corruption caused by a race condition due to lack of locking where it should be.
Besides that, optimisations in the VM may actually end up having considerably higher effect on performance. This of course is if the binary only driver cares to use the improved APIs instead of bringing garbage of its own.
What really pisses me off as far as Colivas camp is concerned is that they equate 3D games smoothness to desktop performance and keep on quacking about "desktop linux performance". Their stuff has nothing to do with it.
It is just one tiny facet of desktop linux. Further to this, in order to demonstrate any of the performance you have to throw in two big unknowns - a binary only driver and a card without a fully disclosed and known specification.
Self-serving benchmarks for 3D game on local machines should not be used to claim superiority in all desktop linux tasks period. In fact they should not be considered at all at least until something comes out of the recent ATI and Intel spec disclosures. When non-binary 3D accelerated drivers become widely available there will be a point to start benchmarking towards 3D performance and smoothness. Until then this is a complete waste of everyone's time.
I would agree that as far as the third world is concerned this may in fact be the XO-1. As far as kids in the USA, UK or anywhere else in the developed world an X-term off the family server does the job equally well. I have a few of them booting diskless and can add in a new one in about 5 mins. As a result the kid can sit down and use any of the computers in the house if he needs to (and so can I). Granted, the price together with a monitor is more than a XO-1 http://www.conciseit.co.uk/thin-client.htm?gclid=CI-anKeK3I4CFQESEgodv0pvAA. It is much better hardware from a HS perspective. One thing you would not like your kids to get is RSI from a tiny laptop keyboard further complicated by an eye problem from staring at a tiny 10' screen.
I will second that.
While I do not know the state of US educational system now, 20 years ago it was indeed as you say - cash on the barrel. At best you had the university waving part of the tuition fee. Everything else - dormitory fees, food, textbooks, etc you had to fend for yourself. This amounted on the average to anything between 5 and 10 times the average annual income in more than half of the world (I think it still does).
As a result the only two ways of getting a US education for a foreigner was either having a rich daddy or demonstrating that you can be more American than Americans themselves to one of the "benevolent" foundations set up by various immigrants. Preserving your national identity, officially stating that you actually like your country was an absolute no-no. At best you had your check for the next year withdrawn. At worst (if someone grassed on you that you are an atheist or something equally anti-American) you had the check "lost in the post". I am speaking from experience here by the way. Been there, seen that.
Due to the growth of services vs production in the western world the daytime consumption has been steadily increasing. In days past the major consumers of electricity were the heavy manufacturing which is mostly 24x7 and household which is mostly 6-10pm.
The manufacturing has been going east and most of the workforce going into service style economy. As a result the 24x7 component is steadily decreasing. At the same time the 6-8am and 9am-5pm has been increasing to the point where the daily consumption is starting to be comparable with the evening peak. A white collar worker during daytime consumes 1KW on average - aircon/heating, computer resources, telecommunication resources, etc (I have done office power planning and this is actually the figure you end up with in the temperate regions). In the evening we actually now consume less.
As a result the load on the grid has been steadily shifting towards being the worst from 9 to 5. The more "developed" the economy - the more pronounced the shift. The mere fact that the utilities in most developed countries do not even bother installing timed electrical meters should tell you something here.
No it will not. The highest consumption in a household is 6pm-10pm. If you heat water electrically and take a shower in the morning add 6-8am. No solar at that time. In fact, unless you run a large computer installation, work from home or do something else that eats power 9am-5pm you are not going to have a cost effective setup without selling back to the grid.
I would second that.
While solar are currently just barely at break-even point for places like Sunny California, it will become increasingly cost efficient in the future due to energy price rises. What I cannot really guess is how fast will this price rise. There are too many factors involved.
My current guess is that even a classic bog-standard solar panel can probably break even in the temperate regions (UK lattitudes) in 7 years if we account for the energy price rise. The new tech will probably fare even better.
Not in the UK. Probably one of the very few countries in the world. This is one of the presents we have from Blair and Co - the removal of the mortgage tax relief. You cannot write off the tax any of the installments. From there on you are effectively overpaying by a third. As a result the effective interest rate here is 10%. As a result it is cost effective to pay this off as early as possible. Unfortunately, it gets you in trouble as far as your credit rating is concerned.
Aaa.. You have not commited the fundamental crime of repaying your mortgage. I see... That makes you are an oddball, but not a suspect. If you repay it to become truly debt-free you are automatically a suspect and can kiss the idea of having a banking job bye-bye (at least in the UK).
I agree. A few obvious questions: what is the actual performance deterioration curve, what is the efficiency after 5-10 years and what are the disposal requirements (it has the dirty "C" word in so do not expect them to be accepted at the tip).
It is not just radio. Both have a big protocol stack most of which is in real time behind the radio. When you add up all the resources necessary as well as all the fees to leeches like Qualcom it stops making sense. This is besides the fact that the non-GSM networks are not going to be particularly happy to allow phones that can do GSM as well. As far as they are concerned that is a sure way to leak customers.
The problem is that you get reported to Homeland Security for that. There have been precedents before (search old slashdot).
If you do not have debts you are automatically considered a criminal nowdays. If you do it the credit agency will mark you as a high risk suspect on credit reports. This means that you can no longer find a job in at least some sectors.
Not if they brick the DRM functions and from there on its use as a music device. That is something they are entitled to and capable of. There is jackshit you can do about that one legally.
Why pringle cans? If you need it for real work you might as well go for the full monty. These guys http://www.rad.com/ have anything up to Gigabit range and some of their gear in the MB range is relatively cheap. There are a couple of other companies who offer similar gear. We used to use them in the days when I worked in an ex-soviet block country and when 26.4 was the magic number for the whole country, not just a single place on a north facing hill. From there on all you need is a neighbour who will allow you to put a SAT or share a DSL line.
AFAIK the decision was taken about a month ago and announced on Russian TV. I got a couple of letters on the subject from Russian friends when it happened.
You are right - it is related to the teacher. Frankly, Microsoft should have given it a second thought and stopped simulating that it has nothing to do with it especially after both Putin, Gorbi and Zhirik got involved with it. Before that it was a piracy case. Now, after MSFT ignored all political parties from the left to the right end, the current and the past presidents it has become a political issue. It is not a matter of money any more.
This has nothing to do with suiting needs or not.
This is a reaction towards this long, protracted and phenomenally stupid lawsuit brought by the Russian branch of the BSA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6499843.stm
In brief: a school in the middle of nowhere was sold computers with pirated windows and office which they believed to be genuine. Instead of going after the manufacturer and the reseller the Russian branch of the BSA went after the headmaster of the school and tried to make him personally criminally responsible. he case got phenomenal adverse publicity and reached to the level of the both Putin and Gorbachev wading in and asking that the real culprit is prosecuted. Instead of that the idiots continued and even tried to invoke the MAFIAA favourite tool of WTO scaremongering.
At this point the Russians did the very Russian thing of making a point in principle. Is the OS suited or not no longer matters in the slightest. They will simply no longer do educational business with Microsoft in principle and this is it.
It is a part of Russian character - you may push them for a very long time and they will do nothing. At one point they will go into "Za nami Rodina, ni shagu nazad (Fatherland is behind us, no further steps back)". This is a point you simply do not want to reach when you negotiate with them and it was reached solely through the BSA stupidity.
This also makes a major difference between the Russian case and similar situations in Asia a few years back. There Microsoft managed to defuse the situation through offering seriously discounted Windows and BilliGatus gifts to education and health. In this case this will not work. It is not a matter of money it is a matter of principle from now on.
By giving you a system with a number of programming languages day one.
If you have not noticed, may I remind you that windows have degenerated into a consumer device totally unusable for any computer science education without spending a significant amount of money and effort to install extra software. As a result Windows based computer literacy has long degenerated into mouse driven "button pushing".
Linux ships with 4 high level computer languages useable out of the box in the base install - perl, python, C and C++. The rest are easily available as packages. As a result the environment to teach CS is already there. The likelihood that the kids will have at least some hacking skills is much higher as well.
Bullshit.
It is a converted old North Sea drilling rig. Norwegian originally. This is also the reason why there is a Norwegian minority stake in the venture.
Granted Boeing and Energia have not reregistered it under a Vanuatu flag. Yet.
And so the seeds of space piracy and "independent traders" are sown...
Recipe for telling the state go suck bricks through a thin straw sideways:
1. Buy an old oil platform
2. Refurbish
3. Reregister under the flag of a tiny pacific island which is not a signee to the treaty (optional)
4. Tow outside territorial waters (bonus points for launching from near the equator to save fuel).
5. Launch... And potentially Profit...
Example: http://www.boeing.com/special/sea-launch/why_sea_launch.htm. Surprise who are the usual suspects - the darlings of the USA defence industry - Boeing and the darlings of the russian defence industry - Energia. Cousying in the same bed. Nicely and quietly while the USA and Russia politicians rattle the sabres in the name of a new Cold War.
Alternative recipe
1. Buy or hire an Il-76, An-124 or Mriya. The last is difficult, for the rest call this chap: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6991487.stm. He is rumoured to be good. Alternatively, get your hand on a White Swan or a Concorde (that may be quite difficult, but as our Bulgarian friends say "What cannot be bought with money can be bought with a A LOT of money").
2. Reregister it under a suitable nation in the middle of Africa or Oceania (optional).
3. Load a launch vehicle on it. Two under development - Shtil-3A and RIF-MA. Both are rumoured to work. To buy - call the same chap. Or build your own.
4. Fly outside the airspace of all nations signing the treaty (again - bonus points for equatorial launch)
5. Launch... and potentially Profit...
Example: http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/lvs/shtil3a.htm and http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/lvs/rifma.htm. Actually the last 5 on the right will all do nicely: http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/graphics/n/newlv640.jpg.
Alternatively (if you manage to get your hands on a White Swan or manage to get the French to sell you a Concnorde as a launch vehicle): http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/burlak.htm
It was also nearly impossible to roll out centralised settings to either 98 or NT. Same for centralised remote management. Win2K was light years ahead of them when it came up with respect to this. One could actually try to put at least some mandatory or optional settings onto a network without half of the machines refusing to boot any more. WinXP did not improve anything on this. As far as Vista is concerned, Vista could have been a huge potential improvement for corporates if the idiots at Redmond geared the DRM towards corporate use and putting in proper crypto based control onto documents when paired with Office 2007. Unfortunately they cocked it up. They decided to endulge in some naso-rectal interfacing with a mouse instead. They are getting whatever they deserve now. The mouse no matter how loud and abnoxious is much smaller than those customers that could have make use of Vista's+Office crypto/DRM and force it down everyone's throat. Now they get whatever they deserve.
Not necessarily. Company IT departments grabbed W2K the way starving people grab hot bread. Win XP did not cause even a fraction of the same enthusiasm. And as far as Vista is concerned most company IT shops look at it as consumerware.
He realised the "value" of such archives much more than other people.
Just read the Lazarus rant in "Time Enough for Love" when he understands for the first time that his pearls of wisdom are being recorded.
So I think he is more likely laughing than grumbling. After all he said (though Lazarus): "Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil."
I hate to break it to you:
I am referring to US government treating its non-citizens on non-US soil. This is exactly what all the fuss is about.
Case A: US government is bound by its own constitution and laws even abroad and even when dealing with non-US citizens.
Case B: US government is not bound by its own constitution and laws abroad and when dealing with non-US citizens.
I have very clearly spelled to you exactly what case B means in moral, legal and other terms and as far as recent historical precedent is concerned. Do you like it or not - sorry, can't help you.
Please, stop mixing what US government is or or is not allowed to do with its own citizens in this as this is not the issue here. Next time try to read what you reply to before trying to use Plato or Socrates as a thumper where they do not belong.