Microsoft knows their OS better than anyone. For anyone getting MS updates, it seems it would be a simple matter for Microsoft to identify these machines, disable the rootkit, and alert the user.
It would be a little bit of work for MS, but isn't this kind of service that you'd expect to get from a vendor that stands behind its products?
So if its 8:15 and the person turns on the TV, their expectation would be that they could go back in time 15 minutes to catch the show from the beginning.
They'd be better off designing more efficient components, particularly power supplies.
I think the issue with swimming pools is a combination of chloramines and poor pH balance.
The thing is, its very easy to keep pH & chlorine balanced, but pool companies like to make it appear complex. So most homeowners think its a process akin to turning lead into gold. Its not. 30 minutes a week with a pool will keep it clean.
A private pool should be shocked (superchlorination) once every two weeks or sooner if its extremely hot and you have a lot of people in the pool.
Commercial Pools deal with the problem differently, since the amount of organic chloramines is much higher (see this article) http://aquamagazine.com/post/Shock-and-Gnawing-Doubts.aspx , using potassium monopersulfate instead of just superchlorination.
The important point is, commercial pools, particularly indoor pools have a whole lot more issues to deal with, lots more people, a wider variety of sensitivities, etc that should force commercial pool operators to be a lot more careful with what they do.
For homeowners? Most can get by with $60-100 of chemicals per season, however, the pool industry doesn't make any money selling you chlorine and baking soda, they like to sell you something significantly more expensive. So you have a cottage industry that comes up with chlorine alternatives that are less effective and significantly more costly.
And yes it came from the underground BBS scene in the 80's.
But the true meaning came from the original Courier line of Modems.
Recall that we were stuck at 2400 baud forever on modems, and so Courier invented a new line of modems that would do 9600 baud.
They called it the "Courier Elite"
There were two downsides to this, only one of them important: you could only connect at 9600 baud with another Courier Elite. This was important because these modems were going for $600-700.
What did Courier do? They basically slashed the price of the modem if you could prove you ran a BBS. Instead of paying $600, you perhaps paid $300-400.
So when you look through a list of BBS's, you could see "Elite Only" which was a pun. It meant first that it was likely a warez BBS, but it also meant that if you have a Courier Elite, you could download at least 4x as fast as if it was 2400.
I'm surprised with all the old-timers on here, nobody remembers this facet of computer history!
I might be inclined to pay for the NYT, but at $3.75/week its ridiculous considering they (a) don't have to print it (b) they don't have to deliver it.
It doesn't make sense because they're not metering your internet now; you're forced to pay a fixed fee for some arbitrary amount of bits (related to a monthly allowance, which makes no sense whatsoever), then you're charged arbitrary large fees for overages which are designed to be punitive rather than to reimburse.
The fees at their heart are (a) simply raising prices (b) allow ISPs to avoid improving infrastructure (c) designed to inhibit services (such as Netflix, Hulu, iTMS video store etc) which are beginning to challenge the core business model of the cable companies.
The argument that "bandwidth is not free" is something I usually hear from someone who has a 1995 view of how the internet and ISPs actually work. If you think AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon are doing quaint things like buying T-1's and DS-3's to satisfy customer demand, then you need to learn a lot more about how the large providers actually work.
And by the way, Let me know when Grandma can just pay for the bits she uses, because near as I can figure, I've never heard of an ISP reducing prices when they introduce caps.
If AT&T had the $39B to buy another carrier, couldn't they have spent a fraction of that to upgrade their network, both wireless and wired?
In either event, I'm not sure who this merger is good for. Its not good for consumers, its not clear its good for AT&T or any other shareholder.
This really has very little to do with government regulation either way. AT&T is free to buy more bandwidth, they're free to put up more towers, they're free to lay more fiber, they're free to buy more network infrastructure.
Seems to me they simply panicked now that the iPhone is no longer exclusive, so they're looking to prop up their revenue stream by restricting competition and raising prices.
If this isn't a case for government to step in and say "no", then I'm not sure what is.
Much in the same way a PMP certification ensures you get great project management, an IT security certification will ensure we have excellent security professionals out there.
"Umm, what if the enemy launched 1000 fake missiles at the same time--"
Who can do such a thing?
As far as a missile is concerned, what is the difference between a "real" missile and a "fake" one? Is it the warhead?
Because it seems to me that once you can build a missile, you might as well put a warhead on them because that might be the cheapest part of the weapon.
So then we're back to "who has 1000 missiles to launch"? Does anybody have that capability?
As to the other scenarios you mention, who has those capabilities? Not theoretically, but actually has them?
The went after Google only because Oracle really has no mobile strategy (which should be considered serious gap by their shareholders). Somebody over there in Oracle-land figured that they could get a few bucks from Google, and a percentage of Android revenue if they went after them.
If most governments did it, it was sent out to be done by a contractor for the lowest bid. Thus, you got something that made the bare specification and little else.
"If the experienced engineer is not getting what he thinks he deserves, then either he doesn't have the right skill mix, or he's not delivering consistently and well, or he is being taken advantage of."
You're assuming the company is well run and managed. Generally, people who get done what needs to get done with a minimum of fuss and "management" will often get overlooked, because the bosses assume that if something is going well, it must be easy. Poor management and poor decisions abound in business, particularly since people rise to positions of management not because they're particularly good managers, but because they're more energetic, more driven to rise to the top, or just because they've been there a while.
The CapEx/OpEx discussion figures into things prominently too. Maintenance programming on existing code is often handled by senior employees because they're already on operating budgets and maintenance comes out of operating. And the new, interesting, capital work goes to contractors not because of skills or motivation, but because financially its the convenient thing for senior management to do.
The Dreamcast launch was huge in the U.S., but the problem really was that Sega was capitalized well enough to continue that level of media saturation necessary to re-establish themselves after the Saturn fiasco. The Dreamcast was the equivalent of a "Hail Mary" that just didn't work. Piracy was fussy at first (load a special launch disk, then load the game disk), and it was only after it was clear that the console was doomed did piracy play a significant role.
As you point out, the PS1 had massive piracy, but that didn't stop Sony from achieving dominant market share. The PS2 was/is widely pirated as well. The PS3 I think has held out much longer than than either of the first two PS's.
I think services like "Gamefly" knock away much of reasons for piracy as well. You pay $15 a month and play as much as you want. Plus, there is now so many "classic" games priced at $15-20 (and used) that if you can stay 6-9 months behind the curve, you can play for a fraction of the price of playing new all the time.
"The main argument being standard radio is more lossy. Not a very good argument IMHO."
The only people making that argument are the ones who have never listened to satellite radio.
Even good satellite radio (an oxymoron) probably has as much loss as a 3rd generation cassette. It sounds basically like shortwave radio. Its *good enough* for listening to in the car, but that's about it.
Slashdot Mirror
" all too common among web startups that start small and grow to epic proportions"
How often has this happened?
Microsoft knows their OS better than anyone. For anyone getting MS updates, it seems it would be a simple matter for Microsoft to identify these machines, disable the rootkit, and alert the user.
It would be a little bit of work for MS, but isn't this kind of service that you'd expect to get from a vendor that stands behind its products?
It makes sense, but there are two issues:
1) Who pays to enforce the regulations?
2) If the regulations are seen as difficult or costly, you might foster a black market in puppy mills
My initial reaction was the same as yours, however, make sure the consequences aren't worse than the initial problem.
"and spoiler her mercilessly"
She probably didn't appreciate when you told her that Darth Vader was Luke';s father, before "The Empire...:" came out.
Are you trying to claim the government will mischaracterize the truth in order to push a political agenda that is convenient?
That seems highly unlikely.
So if its 8:15 and the person turns on the TV, their expectation would be that they could go back in time 15 minutes to catch the show from the beginning.
They'd be better off designing more efficient components, particularly power supplies.
I think the issue with swimming pools is a combination of chloramines and poor pH balance.
The thing is, its very easy to keep pH & chlorine balanced, but pool companies like to make it appear complex. So most homeowners think its a process akin to turning lead into gold. Its not. 30 minutes a week with a pool will keep it clean.
A private pool should be shocked (superchlorination) once every two weeks or sooner if its extremely hot and you have a lot of people in the pool.
Commercial Pools deal with the problem differently, since the amount of organic chloramines is much higher (see this article) http://aquamagazine.com/post/Shock-and-Gnawing-Doubts.aspx , using potassium monopersulfate instead of just superchlorination.
The important point is, commercial pools, particularly indoor pools have a whole lot more issues to deal with, lots more people, a wider variety of sensitivities, etc that should force commercial pool operators to be a lot more careful with what they do.
For homeowners? Most can get by with $60-100 of chemicals per season, however, the pool industry doesn't make any money selling you chlorine and baking soda, they like to sell you something significantly more expensive. So you have a cottage industry that comes up with chlorine alternatives that are less effective and significantly more costly.
..or "I'm all for free speech, but..."
Nah, make them work for local farms for 8 weeks. They'll perhaps learn the meaning of hard work and humility.
Obviously the root of the word is Elite.
And yes it came from the underground BBS scene in the 80's.
But the true meaning came from the original Courier line of Modems.
Recall that we were stuck at 2400 baud forever on modems, and so Courier invented a new line of modems that would do 9600 baud.
They called it the "Courier Elite"
There were two downsides to this, only one of them important: you could only connect at 9600 baud with another Courier Elite. This was important because these modems were going for $600-700.
What did Courier do? They basically slashed the price of the modem if you could prove you ran a BBS. Instead of paying $600, you perhaps paid $300-400.
So when you look through a list of BBS's, you could see "Elite Only" which was a pun. It meant first that it was likely a warez BBS, but it also meant that if you have a Courier Elite, you could download at least 4x as fast as if it was 2400.
I'm surprised with all the old-timers on here, nobody remembers this facet of computer history!
I might be inclined to pay for the NYT, but at $3.75/week its ridiculous considering they (a) don't have to print it (b) they don't have to deliver it.
Cut the price by 50%.
It doesn't make sense because they're not metering your internet now; you're forced to pay a fixed fee for some arbitrary amount of bits (related to a monthly allowance, which makes no sense whatsoever), then you're charged arbitrary large fees for overages which are designed to be punitive rather than to reimburse.
The fees at their heart are (a) simply raising prices (b) allow ISPs to avoid improving infrastructure (c) designed to inhibit services (such as Netflix, Hulu, iTMS video store etc) which are beginning to challenge the core business model of the cable companies.
The argument that "bandwidth is not free" is something I usually hear from someone who has a 1995 view of how the internet and ISPs actually work. If you think AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon are doing quaint things like buying T-1's and DS-3's to satisfy customer demand, then you need to learn a lot more about how the large providers actually work.
And by the way, Let me know when Grandma can just pay for the bits she uses, because near as I can figure, I've never heard of an ISP reducing prices when they introduce caps.
" Been 18.4 or 18.3 cents per gallon since 1993, and inflation has not been 0% all that time"
That's the great part about being a percentage; as inflation raises the price of gas, the tax goes up automatically.
"It should be a percentage"
It already is!
"like income tax"
You're saying you want a progressive tax? That doesn't really make any sense in this context.
Metered internet is not the future.
As described, it doesn't even make any sense either the reasons why or the implementation.
If AT&T had the $39B to buy another carrier, couldn't they have spent a fraction of that to upgrade their network, both wireless and wired?
In either event, I'm not sure who this merger is good for. Its not good for consumers, its not clear its good for AT&T or any other shareholder.
This really has very little to do with government regulation either way. AT&T is free to buy more bandwidth, they're free to put up more towers, they're free to lay more fiber, they're free to buy more network infrastructure.
Seems to me they simply panicked now that the iPhone is no longer exclusive, so they're looking to prop up their revenue stream by restricting competition and raising prices.
If this isn't a case for government to step in and say "no", then I'm not sure what is.
"Samsung ridiculously overpriced their pre 3.0 tablets, "
Bingo. Had they priced the Galaxy at $400, they'd have gained traction.
The XOOM is a pretty worthy competitor to the iPad. Now drop the price by $200-300 and you've got something.
Much in the same way a PMP certification ensures you get great project management, an IT security certification will ensure we have excellent security professionals out there.
"Umm, what if the enemy launched 1000 fake missiles at the same time--"
Who can do such a thing?
As far as a missile is concerned, what is the difference between a "real" missile and a "fake" one? Is it the warhead?
Because it seems to me that once you can build a missile, you might as well put a warhead on them because that might be the cheapest part of the weapon.
So then we're back to "who has 1000 missiles to launch"? Does anybody have that capability?
As to the other scenarios you mention, who has those capabilities? Not theoretically, but actually has them?
" I believe what Larry is doing will at the very least keep Solaris around for a while longer
and that suits me just fine."
Solaris rapidly appears to be headed towards IBM Mainframe-land. The cost of business for companies who cannot easily switch away.
As long as you're within 5-10 years of retirement, I think your strategy is sound, as long as you don't mind moving around the country.
The went after Google only because Oracle really has no mobile strategy (which should be considered serious gap by their shareholders). Somebody over there in Oracle-land figured that they could get a few bucks from Google, and a percentage of Android revenue if they went after them.
I suspect it will be much harder than they think.
If most governments did it, it was sent out to be done by a contractor for the lowest bid. Thus, you got something that made the bare specification and little else.
"If the experienced engineer is not getting what he thinks he deserves, then either he doesn't have the right skill mix, or he's not delivering consistently and well, or he is being taken advantage of."
You're assuming the company is well run and managed. Generally, people who get done what needs to get done with a minimum of fuss and "management" will often get overlooked, because the bosses assume that if something is going well, it must be easy. Poor management and poor decisions abound in business, particularly since people rise to positions of management not because they're particularly good managers, but because they're more energetic, more driven to rise to the top, or just because they've been there a while.
The CapEx/OpEx discussion figures into things prominently too. Maintenance programming on existing code is often handled by senior employees because they're already on operating budgets and maintenance comes out of operating. And the new, interesting, capital work goes to contractors not because of skills or motivation, but because financially its the convenient thing for senior management to do.
The Dreamcast launch was huge in the U.S., but the problem really was that Sega was capitalized well enough to continue that level of media saturation necessary to re-establish themselves after the Saturn fiasco. The Dreamcast was the equivalent of a "Hail Mary" that just didn't work. Piracy was fussy at first (load a special launch disk, then load the game disk), and it was only after it was clear that the console was doomed did piracy play a significant role.
As you point out, the PS1 had massive piracy, but that didn't stop Sony from achieving dominant market share. The PS2 was/is widely pirated as well. The PS3 I think has held out much longer than than either of the first two PS's.
I think services like "Gamefly" knock away much of reasons for piracy as well. You pay $15 a month and play as much as you want. Plus, there is now so many "classic" games priced at $15-20 (and used) that if you can stay 6-9 months behind the curve, you can play for a fraction of the price of playing new all the time.
"Almost every CS program in the country is pumping out Java coders"
Back in the day, a computer science degree had very little to do with coding.
"The main argument being standard radio is more lossy. Not a very good argument IMHO."
The only people making that argument are the ones who have never listened to satellite radio.
Even good satellite radio (an oxymoron) probably has as much loss as a 3rd generation cassette. It sounds basically like shortwave radio. Its *good enough* for listening to in the car, but that's about it.