Indeed we have. I've got a ~0.5 GHz Dell laptop that's a little over 5 years old. It came out of the box with Red Hat Linux, pre-installed by Dell. Shortly thereafter I think they stopped pre-installing Linux; you can speculate as to why, but it doesn't take much to guess...
I recently refurbished it, replaced the 6GB disk with a 20GB (!) unit from a decommissioned laptop, upped the memory to 512MB, replaced some keys on the keyboard, and slapped Ubuntu on it. It's still surprisingly useful; even mplayer works at an acceptable rate; surprising for such a "puny" processor. The only annoying thing about it is the weight (about 8-9 pounds, a bit much for a 1024x768 screen).
Every laptop I've had since then from Dell (at work or home) has had the unwanted OS summarily overwritten ASAP with either Red Hat or (more recently) Ubuntu.
I'll be very interested to see if Dell comes under any pressure from other companies to revert to the One OS To Rule Them All...
Heh. I knew I kept this spam for a reason. It sort of reeks of "all your base..."
From:(spammer address snipped) To: "" webmaster@(my address snipped) Subject: about your website Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 19:14:45 +0000
Do not show ugly website to people! Make cool website.
Let it start here - www.(snipperoo... no free spammer advertising)
Website templates are here for your website. Use most
advanced design concept from the best designers.
Become the best amoung other websites. Use the
best designers in the world.
(spammer name redacted)
Marketing DIRECTOR
www.(spammer url removed) / asian dup foundation.
So, there you have it, people. Sage advice from a spammer.:-)
I challenge those who've been ranting about the
technology to stop for a minute, put yourself in
my shoes, and see how you like it. Or
how you don't.
I live in a somewhat rural area in central
Virginia near Charlottesville. I'm way,
way beyond the 15,000 cable foot requirement
for DSL so that's out. There is no cable TV
within 5 miles or more. And the only company
offering wide area Wifi is a no go; I tried
but couldn't get any signal because there are
hills all around (10 million tons of granite
equates to many hundreds of db in attenuation).
(I'm also technically within the National Radio
Quiet Zone [google it if you never heard of it]
which makes additional wide-area wifi towers
problematic).
My electric provider (a rural co-op) has a
trial of BPL going right now and they're promising
to roll it out to more customers soon. Initial
testing on the trial has apparently been good,
though I don't know how much attention has been
paid to local hams and the impact on them.
If you're gonna diss my only broadband option,
at least gimme some home for an alternative (other
than moving)!!!
C has a really crappy track record of being secure
Then use what many in the high performance
compupting field do: Fortran. There is at
least one advanced C++ development project
I know of that has Fortran as its core deep
in the bowels of the FFT routines... for
efficiency reasons. It's just plain
faster.
Plus, how many buffer overflow exploits have
you seen recently on Fortran programs?:-)
The only problem with many of those no-right-click
javascript thingies is they assume the right button
is number 2. On my system (Linux/X) it's number 3.
That, and as others have pointed out, "view source"
or "view page info", and/or disabling javascript
makes that approach rather pointless.
Besides, it's not about them physically stealing
the images (which they can do with screen shots
if nothing else; if they can see it, they can
save it). The issue here is about them
embedding your image in their
website.
Yeah, I've done the switcheroo thing too, though
not as grossly as others have. Found someone
embedding a St. Patrick's image I had in a
very republican type bulletin board, so I
slightly
modified it. As far as I know it's still
there after several months; I wonder if they'll
notice...
Obligatory disclaimer: I wrote this humble
file formats FAQ and it represents my personal
and professional opinion (not necessarily my
employer's).
That said, can someone in MA please ask the
movers and shakers there to read that document?
It's probably in the class of "common sense" to
most of us here, but clearly we've done a less
than stellar job so far of imparting this clarity
to those in political circles.
For the impatient: the conclusion I reached is
that RTF and PDF are very questionable if you
want to use them as truly interchangeable formats
in a heterogeneous environment. This is an
empirical finding, based on real life experience.
Isn't the full page ad in the NYT that the
Firefox people are organising about to come
out real soon?[*] If so, one has to wonder why
the person with the "complaint" prefers to stay anonymous. Don't they
want to be helped? It would appear not.
Maybe this is just a poor attempt to generate
some "bad" Firefox press.
I smell a rat. Or a troll. Or both.
[*] I don't get the NYT, and I won't accept
their privacy policy (thphhht!) so I have no idea
if it's already come out.
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." -- Senator Carl Schurz -- February 29, 1872. That's patriotism.
Wow. That's one of the most inspiring quotes
from history I've heard in a LONG time.
If this is the origin of the "my country,
right or wrong" quote thrown around by, as
you say, jingoistic buffoons, then they're taking
it way, way out of context.
I'm also surprised that nobody has yet mentioned
the origin of the draft in the US (the Civil War, or
the war between the states, or the war of northern aggression:-) but... it didn't work then, it
really didn't work in WWII or Korea or Vietnam.
How anyone with a brain expects it to
work in the current political situation is beyond
me. Oh... right. Brain. Now I understand.
I'm a dish network subscriber, and in the package I get (dish 100 or whatever it's now called), about half a dozen channels have disappeared, including:
MTV and VH1 (sorry, never really watched them anyway)
Nickelodeon (my son is too old for it anymore, no real loss there)
BET (haven't watched it in the past, dunno even what's on it)
Comedy Central (ditto, though my son complains there was one program he used to watch on it; count it: one.)
So I'm of a mind to send a message to Viacom: keep your content, I won't miss it. THPHHHHHHHHT!
(with apologies to Bill the Cat). I'm much more interested in channels like SciFi, BBC America, IFC, and those wacky independent channels like Worldlink TV.
breaks new ground in digital
photography by combining metadata, like
location via GPS, with the image.
Wait a minute. "Breaking new ground by...
combining metadata with an image"????
Sigh. Astronomers have been doing this
since at least 1981 with the FITS
Format. See over here
for the full story on this venerable and still
very much in production format.
I sure hope M$ doesn't try something silly
like a patent on this; it seems to me that
FITS and the other formats used by the Medical
and Geophysical Sciences would provide a wealth
of prior art...
If your dish happens to be attached to some
structure that's liable to move over time
(even on a timescale of months or years),
you will notice exactly how much
water vapour is in the air above you:-)
This happened to me; the board the dish was
mounted on had come slightly loose, and I
was convinced some component had worn out.
Even the slightest rainshower caused the
signal to go on the fritz. That all went
away when I spent 5 minutes re-aligning
the dish. Now it takes an incredible amount
of H2O in the air to impact the signal
(no more than once or twice a year I'd say).
I looked at dishnetwork vs. directv a few
years ago, and noticed the latter was much
more friendly to sports nuts. I'm not one
of those, and dish had BBC America, SciFi,
and the NASA channel in the package I chose
so I was a happy camper with them.
(OK, so I lied; this makes three points).
Getting local channels if you live in the
boondocks (like I do) sucks. You can't
easily do it. Also, if you do opt for
the "distant network" package and need
exemptions from your local channels before
you can get that package, be sure to
only do this if you are committed to getting
the package. Dish will assume
you're going to proceed and will give you
a hassle if you change your mind.
I'm both Irish and an open source evangelist, so
while a Boycott seems quite natural (you have heard the story of Captain Boycott of Achill Island?) I don't think it's the right approach. It's certainly not the most effective one.
Instead, if everyone who disapproves of the RIAA/MPAA continues to buy DVDs, go to movies etc, with this addition: submit a small, standardized business card that shows concisely why you don't like what they're doing and tell the clerk/manager/whoever that you're mad as hell and won't take it much longer... if they want to continue getting your money, their bosses have to change their tune.
Maybe I'm naive, but I think with a suitable standard design of card, this might stand a fighting chance of making an impact.
I'm not poetically inclined (nor that good with the GIMP) but I'm sure someone out there could come up with a good design. Remember when Linux lacked a logo? We came up with Tux. Surely we can do something similar now?
Anyone up to this challenge?
Markets are Conversations (as Doc Searls and his cluetrain buddies will no doubt remind us). We need to converse back. LOUDLY, DAMMIT!
...it seems like there have been a lot of "we saved x dollars by switch to linux"
Yes, and we (the OSS and Linux evangelists) need to know about such real-life stories. It helps us when we have to justify our plans to expand the Linux presence to our management. I for one really appreciate hearing about these "return on investment" studies. Yes, I know that Linux
and Open Source has saved me bundles of cash already (and as the original poster in Harrisonburg pointed out, allowed me to provide more services for the same or less money); but it's hard to pass on that gut feeling without
concrete evidence to back it up.
If cash were no object, it would be a no-brainer to simply locate the SKA (and ALMA, the EVLA, VLBA, Arecibo, the GBT, etc). on the far side of the moon. Why? Simple: no radio interference.
You wouldn't believe how increasingly difficult it is to do decent Radio Astronomy these days. Heck, the processor in your laptop or desktop is likely radiating right in "L" band (about 1.4 GHz). We thought big hulking monitors were bad until we measured the E/M interference from flat panel displays (it's bad). We're struggling to deal with the onslaught of laptops, 802.11b wireless equipment, PDAs and the like at places like Green Bank. And don't even start to talk about Iridium...
The present invention specifically relates to methods and apparatus
useful in *video compression systems*.
(*emphasis* is mine). Given what they do for a living (look at their main page, and given the above sentence, the patent is IMHO restricting itself to video systems, i.e. movies, tv, moving images. As I read that, there's a strong case to be made that the execs and legal heads at that corporation do not understand the restrictions the patent places on itself.
So I click to see what this cool laptop is like. I find an article long on hype, short on content, and right slap bang in the middle of it, an ad for slate (a MSN and thus M$ outfit, right?) with a
picture of a dazed, beat-up penguin.
That's pretty tacky. And transparent.
Dangit, I can't even find out if the durn thing will run Linux or if anyone is selling it with Linux pre-installed.:-(
In my NSH opinion, RTF and DOC formats
are one and the same; the former is just an ascii
markup version of the latter. Both should be
avoided like the plague.
Think about it: you've just brought down a major ISP, sent their sysadmins to the unemployment
lines, and now they have plenty of time on
their hands, probably have copies of all the logs,
and nothing better to do than go through them with
a fine tooth comb to find who messed up their
lives.
Nosiree, I would not want to be in
those script kiddie shoes. Not that I'm saying
the sysadmins would stoop to anything illegal,
but there's lots they can do legally if they
find out who's behind the attack.
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed we have. I've got a ~0.5 GHz Dell laptop that's a little over 5 years old. It came out of the box with Red Hat Linux, pre-installed by Dell. Shortly thereafter I think they stopped pre-installing Linux; you can speculate as to why, but it doesn't take much to guess...
I recently refurbished it, replaced the 6GB disk with a 20GB (!) unit from a decommissioned laptop, upped the memory to 512MB, replaced some keys on the keyboard, and slapped Ubuntu on it. It's still surprisingly useful; even mplayer works at an acceptable rate; surprising for such a "puny" processor. The only annoying thing about it is the weight (about 8-9 pounds, a bit much for a 1024x768 screen).
Every laptop I've had since then from Dell (at work or home) has had the unwanted OS summarily overwritten ASAP with either Red Hat or (more recently) Ubuntu.
I'll be very interested to see if Dell comes under any pressure from other companies to revert to the One OS To Rule Them All...
Heh. I knew I kept this spam for a reason. It sort of reeks of "all your base..."
So, there you have it, people. Sage advice from a spammer. :-)
... other than a 56k modem?
I challenge those who've been ranting about the technology to stop for a minute, put yourself in my shoes, and see how you like it. Or how you don't.
I live in a somewhat rural area in central Virginia near Charlottesville. I'm way, way beyond the 15,000 cable foot requirement for DSL so that's out. There is no cable TV within 5 miles or more. And the only company offering wide area Wifi is a no go; I tried but couldn't get any signal because there are hills all around (10 million tons of granite equates to many hundreds of db in attenuation). (I'm also technically within the National Radio Quiet Zone [google it if you never heard of it] which makes additional wide-area wifi towers problematic).
My electric provider (a rural co-op) has a trial of BPL going right now and they're promising to roll it out to more customers soon. Initial testing on the trial has apparently been good, though I don't know how much attention has been paid to local hams and the impact on them.
If you're gonna diss my only broadband option, at least gimme some home for an alternative (other than moving)!!!
... but not represent the people, or the country.
It's all too clear that this administration is totally self-serving, and cares not a whit for its real job.
Sorry. I'm ranting, but dammit they deserve every byte!
Then use what many in the high performance compupting field do: Fortran. There is at least one advanced C++ development project I know of that has Fortran as its core deep in the bowels of the FFT routines... for efficiency reasons. It's just plain faster.
Plus, how many buffer overflow exploits have you seen recently on Fortran programs? :-)
That, and as others have pointed out, "view source" or "view page info", and/or disabling javascript makes that approach rather pointless.
Besides, it's not about them physically stealing the images (which they can do with screen shots if nothing else; if they can see it, they can save it). The issue here is about them embedding your image in their website.
Yeah, I've done the switcheroo thing too, though not as grossly as others have. Found someone embedding a St. Patrick's image I had in a very republican type bulletin board, so I slightly modified it. As far as I know it's still there after several months; I wonder if they'll notice...Obligatory disclaimer: I wrote this humble file formats FAQ and it represents my personal and professional opinion (not necessarily my employer's).
That said, can someone in MA please ask the movers and shakers there to read that document? It's probably in the class of "common sense" to most of us here, but clearly we've done a less than stellar job so far of imparting this clarity to those in political circles.
For the impatient: the conclusion I reached is that RTF and PDF are very questionable if you want to use them as truly interchangeable formats in a heterogeneous environment. This is an empirical finding, based on real life experience.
Maybe this is just a poor attempt to generate some "bad" Firefox press.
I smell a rat. Or a troll. Or both.
[*] I don't get the NYT, and I won't accept their privacy policy (thphhht!) so I have no idea if it's already come out.
One would hope the latter...
There is at least one nasty bug that got fixed between 1.7 and 1.7.2.
Or maybe Gollum would be better?
Wow. That's one of the most inspiring quotes from history I've heard in a LONG time. If this is the origin of the "my country, right or wrong" quote thrown around by, as you say, jingoistic buffoons, then they're taking it way, way out of context.
I'm also surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the origin of the draft in the US (the Civil War, or the war between the states, or the war of northern aggression :-) but... it didn't work then, it
really didn't work in WWII or Korea or Vietnam.
How anyone with a brain expects it to
work in the current political situation is beyond
me. Oh... right. Brain. Now I understand.
So I'm of a mind to send a message to Viacom: keep your content, I won't miss it. THPHHHHHHHHT! (with apologies to Bill the Cat). I'm much more interested in channels like SciFi, BBC America, IFC, and those wacky independent channels like Worldlink TV.
So I see this story, juxtaposed next to the latest
Someone clearly has a sense of humour...
Wait a minute. "Breaking new ground by... combining metadata with an image"????
Sigh. Astronomers have been doing this since at least 1981 with the FITS Format. See over here for the full story on this venerable and still very much in production format.
I sure hope M$ doesn't try something silly like a patent on this; it seems to me that FITS and the other formats used by the Medical and Geophysical Sciences would provide a wealth of prior art...
Or maybe even Naquadria...
Probably not, but it's a nice thought.
I'm both Irish and an open source evangelist, so while a Boycott seems quite natural (you have heard the story of Captain Boycott of Achill Island?) I don't think it's the right approach. It's certainly not the most effective one.
Instead, if everyone who disapproves of the RIAA/MPAA continues to buy DVDs, go to movies etc, with this addition: submit a small, standardized business card that shows concisely why you don't like what they're doing and tell the clerk/manager/whoever that you're mad as hell and won't take it much longer... if they want to continue getting your money, their bosses have to change their tune.
Maybe I'm naive, but I think with a suitable standard design of card, this might stand a fighting chance of making an impact. I'm not poetically inclined (nor that good with the GIMP) but I'm sure someone out there could come up with a good design. Remember when Linux lacked a logo? We came up with Tux. Surely we can do something similar now?
Anyone up to this challenge?
Markets are Conversations (as Doc Searls and his cluetrain buddies will no doubt remind us). We need to converse back. LOUDLY, DAMMIT!
Sure.
bash$ whois anti-leech.com
(snip)
Domain Name: ANTI-LEECH.COM
Administrative Contact:
Wennberg, Johan johan.wennberg@swipnet.se
Stockholm, Enskede S-122 47
Fair use, etc etc.
Yes, and we (the OSS and Linux evangelists) need to know about such real-life stories. It helps us when we have to justify our plans to expand the Linux presence to our management. I for one really appreciate hearing about these "return on investment" studies. Yes, I know that Linux and Open Source has saved me bundles of cash already (and as the original poster in Harrisonburg pointed out, allowed me to provide more services for the same or less money); but it's hard to pass on that gut feeling without concrete evidence to back it up.
You wouldn't believe how increasingly difficult it is to do decent Radio Astronomy these days. Heck, the processor in your laptop or desktop is likely radiating right in "L" band (about 1.4 GHz). We thought big hulking monitors were bad until we measured the E/M interference from flat panel displays (it's bad). We're struggling to deal with the onslaught of laptops, 802.11b wireless equipment, PDAs and the like at places like Green Bank. And don't even start to talk about Iridium...
I speak for myself, not my employer.
Read the abstract again:
The present invention specifically relates to methods and apparatus
useful in *video compression systems*.
(*emphasis* is mine). Given what they do for a living (look at their main
page, and given the above sentence, the patent is IMHO restricting itself
to video systems, i.e. movies, tv, moving images. As I read that,
there's a strong case to be made that the execs and legal heads at that
corporation do not understand the restrictions the patent places on
itself.
Disclaimer: IANAPE (I am not a patent expert).
So I click to see what this cool laptop is like. I find an article long on hype, short on content, and right slap bang in the middle of it, an ad for slate (a MSN and thus M$ outfit, right?) with a picture of a dazed, beat-up penguin.
That's pretty tacky. And transparent.
Dangit, I can't even find out if the durn thing will run Linux or if anyone is selling it with Linux pre-installed. :-(
In my NSH opinion, RTF and DOC formats are one and the same; the former is just an ascii markup version of the latter. Both should be avoided like the plague.
Read my rant^H^H^H^HTreatise on the topic of document interchange for more info.
Think about it: you've just brought down a major ISP, sent their sysadmins to the unemployment lines, and now they have plenty of time on their hands, probably have copies of all the logs, and nothing better to do than go through them with a fine tooth comb to find who messed up their lives.
Nosiree, I would not want to be in those script kiddie shoes. Not that I'm saying the sysadmins would stoop to anything illegal, but there's lots they can do legally if they find out who's behind the attack.