Hotline: Macintosh Support hotline! How can I help you?
User: Yeah, I am trying to use Perl to do some reporting on my apache access logs. But I have to recompile Perl to fix a bug in the regular expression matching, and there is no gcc installed on the system. What do I do?
Hotline: Ok sir is the computer plugged in?
User: Of course. (annoyed)
Hotline: Well, that fixes about 50% of the problems we get here.
User: But I just want to know how to install the GNU developer toolset.
Hotline: Ok sir, could you reboot the computer?
User: What the hell would that accomplish.
Hotline: Sir, please.
User: (pretends to reboot). Ok, rebooted
Hotline: Wow, you have a fast machine.
Did that fix your problem?
The prices I have seen quoted for this service are ridiculous, especially given the testimony of one employee of the provider that this is not real, live access - it's batched email and cached/canned web content.
Even if I am on an expense account $12/hr for 'internet access' is ridiculous. I can batch up my emails myself and send them when I get on the ground thank you very much.
The same thing applies to in room hotel broadband. Most of these services are priced at something like $10-$15/day. What?! Most business travellers might connect for thirty minutes each night to check email. For this a modem is quite enough, and virtually free. Its fine for web surfing too. I just don't get that much more out of a broadband pipe to justify that kind of cost.
These bozos need to learn something about pricing. When you offer a service and charge a hell of a lot more than the competing service, it had better offer a lot more, either in the way of convenience or services.
On a plane the competing service is waiting to get to a land line on the ground. Most people will gladly do this, accept perhaps on extremely long flights. Add to that the complexity of setting up the service and the software and the in flight internet access just does not seem to be a competitive service - it is way over priced and only marginally more convenient than the free options.
Also on the plane, Internet access is competing with the inflight movie and reading materials - which are virtually free to the traveller. This is about the only reason I might browse the internet on a long flight, for entertainment purposes. I don't know that reading some canned day old wall street journal web site on my laptop is better than reading the real thing I bought for 75 cents in the terminal.
My god, if retailers kept abusing their power to price things differently for different individuals, congress might have to enact a 'fair pricing' law. Heaven forfend.
What the hell is with people that think pricing should be 'fair'? Who the hell ever guaranteed that everyone should pay the same price for the same goods? Is that in the consitution somewhere?
Is it unfair that I have to pay more for gas in the city than out in the countryside? Is it unfair that I have to pay more for a plane ticket than the guy who reserved weeks in advance?
Amazon displayed the purchase price and every single one of the people that are now getting a 'refund', agreed to pay the price Amazon quoted. I don't get it, refund of what? If you paid the price both you and the seller agreed upon how can there be a refund?
First of all - what is this concept of 'Earning' that type of connection?
Second, yes, broadband users do download more, but there is a limit. I seriously doubt that connecting to slashdot at 100mb/s version 1mb/s (as I now do) is going to seriously increase the amount of data I download from slashdot.
Most likely users with extremely high bandwidth connections will never utilize even a tiny fraction of the bandwidth, and when they do they will be connection to services (video on demand) that are specifically designed to handle the load.
ROTFL! There are no [cough...choke] "backlights" anymore. Active matrix means each pixel is its own teeny, tiny incandescent bulb! Sherman, set the Way-Back machine to...
Let me be the first to correct you. Active matrix does indeed use a backlight. My laptop has an active matrix display (purchases a year ago, not WAY back) with a touchy backlight. Sometimes the backlight won't turn on right away when I boot. I can see the screen very faintly, so the pixels are on, but certainly not bright enough to see, until the backlight kicks in.
If they know you are price sensitive, presumedly they will not gouge you. I fail to see how a merchant having more information about your preferences can possibly hurt you in the long run.
You know what price points you are willing to buy at, if the merchant steps out of those bounds don't buy. They'll figure out they messed up.
And really this is just good old supply and demand at the microscopic level. Instead of gauging demand at the macroscopic level (orders are up 50% over last month) they are attempting to gauge demand on an individual basic. Very smart, and possibly very lucrative.
Think about it this way. This allows the merchant to be much more flexible with pricing, not just to gouge you. In fact the opposite might be the case. You might be able to get a very good deal on a certain item because there are others who are willing to pay more for that same item, and you have already demonstrated your price sensitivity in this market segment (in the same way business travelers subsidize the discount airline seats).
This feels pretty vapor. Some Quotes from their web site which don't indicate a high degree of cluefullness:
Can take two computers and put all their components on a split screen on the same computer. Makes two computer households obsolete.
"Honey, could you press the escape key for me, and stop hogging he 'E'"
Presents key system peripherals to multiple Run Time OS's at the same time, while each OS can totally be satisfied with its virtual device as a complete physical drive
wow, I would love to see my mouse as a complete physical drive
It [Flash VOS] gives the user the capability of running an application without an Operating System running at all. Many applications do not need an Operating System to make them run. With Flash Vos(TM) Super O/S, you can click on the application you wish to use and begin working.
No operating system at all? I am starting to get the idea this is a bad translation.
Management is one of the basic functions included in Flash Vos(TM) Super O/S.
Does one get a PHB for free?
In a bulletted list of advantages:
- protect user data from predatory/monopolistic behavior of traditional OS's
Is that the OS or the company that makes the OS?
Flash Vos, Inc., a Texas Corporation, was incorporated in Highlands, Texas in April 1998. Its business is internal in scope and intended to invent, design, develop and distribute the technology and products associated with the next generation of super operating systems.
Internal in scope? "Invent, design, develop"? Was this written by a bad resume writing program? Why not a Super-Duper OS?
Either they need to hire a better technical writer, or they let the marketting droids lose to develop the techical content of their web site. Or perhaps they don't know what they are talking about.
-josh
What is with the fascination with Einstein's brain
on
Driving Mr. Albert
·
· Score: 1
Yes, he was a great physicist, but there are many many more who have arguably accomplished more, and who were easily just as smart. They just weren't lucky enough to have developed this bizarre cult of personality around them.
I could care less about Einstein's gray matter. Dissect Feynman's brain, I am sure its much fresher.
They are porting IE, Outlook and so forth to the Unix platform. It just so happens that at this time this includes only Solaris and HP/UX.
I imagine the tools they are using could just as easily be used to target the ports to Linux, and in fact I would be suprised if some enterprising developer at Mainsoft doesn't spend a late night at work doing just that, just for the sheer novelty of running IE under Linux. Of course he would have to destroy his work or face severe legal retribution.
I guess all I am saying is that even though Mainsoft is not doing a Linux port, they are doing 99% of the work required for a Linux port. So it could still happen.
Yet again Jon discovers a long standing pre-existing trend.
Academia needs money, always has always will. When people give you money there are strings attached. How is the fact that corporations are now funding academic research any more troubling than the massive amounts of cash the US government has pumped into the University system?
Much of my graduate program was run on DOE grants alone. How much money did 'Star Wars' pump into the system? I would rather corporations shell out some money and help fund our higher educational system, in the long run they can only benefit. There can certainly be abuses but the system will be much more resistant to such abuses when they are many troughs to feed from, as opposed to a single governmental trough.
If this guy can be held liable for the use of his software what about all of the contributors to 'ftp'? Historically the ftp protocol has been the conduit for the vast majority of pirated digital goods.
Let's go after Microsoft for their filthy 'file-sharing' software.
Hell, while we are at it, let's lynch the designers of the Internet. All this file sharing software wouldn't be possible without the Internet. Shouldn't the makers of the Internet have foreseen this misuse of their creation. For shame Al Gore.
But seriously, I cannot see any sane judge wanting to set such a dangerous precendent as holding the creators of software responsible for the actions of the users of that software, except perhaps in the case where the only possible use of the software is to break the law.
And as for the creator of Yo!NK - this was a brilliant bit of PR work on his part. He catapults himself from relative obscurity as a maker of Yet Another Napster/Gnutella clone, to some level of noteriety. Many more people now know about his software. I doubt very much this guy would have contributed to the Salon article is he seriously anticipated any sort of legal retribution - why draw attention to yourself.
I am glad to see some work being done on Linux to add real support for truly massived parallel systems. It has always been said that Linux does not scale well past a few processors (perhaps 4 at most) because modifying Linux to support systems with larger processor counts would hurt performance on low end hardware. Additionally one can assume that the kernel developers in generally don't have access to such massively parallel architectures.
This little project holefully will prove that it can be done, and one might hope it's results will be applicable to less exotic multiprocessor hardware (say an 8 or 16 way x86 server).
People have theorized for years about how a cubic shape to a computer's exterior could drastically increase system performance, and now we finally have this amazing technology in hand - wow.
Yeah, I loaded slashdot.org, and wondered if I had somehow mistakenly already clicked on a discussion link. Nope, that's the front page.
Anyway, Kylix sounds like a great cross platform tool. I just wonder if they can manage to sell it to a bunch of people that tend to whine quite loudly if their software isn't free.
This is the first time someone has produced a genetic modification in the germ line (i.e. the germ cells - egg and sperm, get the modification also).
This has some rather serious repercussions. If you screw up a genetic modification to a group of cells in the body (say the heart muscle), no big deal, that modification dies with that body. Now we have potential screwups that can be passed on from generation to generation. Not all that much different than inbreeding:)
Slashdot Mirror
Hotline: Macintosh Support hotline! How can I help you?
User: Yeah, I am trying to use Perl to do some reporting on my apache access logs. But I have to recompile Perl to fix a bug in the regular expression matching, and there is no gcc installed on the system. What do I do?
Hotline: Ok sir is the computer plugged in?
User: Of course. (annoyed)
Hotline: Well, that fixes about 50% of the problems we get here.
User: But I just want to know how to install the GNU developer toolset.
Hotline: Ok sir, could you reboot the computer?
User: What the hell would that accomplish.
Hotline: Sir, please.
User: (pretends to reboot). Ok, rebooted
Hotline: Wow, you have a fast machine.
Did that fix your problem?
User: *dialtone*
The prices I have seen quoted for this service are ridiculous, especially given the testimony of one employee of the provider that this is not real, live access - it's batched email and cached/canned web content.
Even if I am on an expense account $12/hr for 'internet access' is ridiculous. I can batch up my emails myself and send them when I get on the ground thank you very much.
The same thing applies to in room hotel broadband. Most of these services are priced at something like $10-$15/day. What?! Most business travellers might connect for thirty minutes each night to check email. For this a modem is quite enough, and virtually free. Its fine for web surfing too. I just don't get that much more out of a broadband pipe to justify that kind of cost.
These bozos need to learn something about pricing. When you offer a service and charge a hell of a lot more than the competing service, it had better offer a lot more, either in the way of convenience or services.
On a plane the competing service is waiting to get to a land line on the ground. Most people will gladly do this, accept perhaps on extremely long flights. Add to that the complexity of setting up the service and the software and the in flight internet access just does not seem to be a competitive service - it is way over priced and only marginally more convenient than the free options.
Also on the plane, Internet access is competing with the inflight movie and reading materials - which are virtually free to the traveller. This is about the only reason I might browse the internet on a long flight, for entertainment purposes. I don't know that reading some canned day old wall street journal web site on my laptop is better than reading the real thing I bought for 75 cents in the terminal.
Eventually my gas would be free.
I'd love that.
-josh
My god, if retailers kept abusing their power to price things differently for different individuals, congress might have to enact a 'fair pricing' law. Heaven forfend.
What the hell is with people that think pricing should be 'fair'? Who the hell ever guaranteed that everyone should pay the same price for the same goods? Is that in the consitution somewhere?
Is it unfair that I have to pay more for gas in the city than out in the countryside? Is it unfair that I have to pay more for a plane ticket than the guy who reserved weeks in advance?
Amazon displayed the purchase price and every single one of the people that are now getting a 'refund', agreed to pay the price Amazon quoted. I don't get it, refund of what? If you paid the price both you and the seller agreed upon how can there be a refund?
-josh
Christ, ever heard of sarcasm?
Hell, this would never effect me, I just mail cash. Ones are the best for mailing.
-josh
First of all - what is this concept of 'Earning' that type of connection?
Second, yes, broadband users do download more, but there is a limit. I seriously doubt that connecting to slashdot at 100mb/s version 1mb/s (as I now do) is going to seriously increase the amount of data I download from slashdot.
Most likely users with extremely high bandwidth connections will never utilize even a tiny fraction of the bandwidth, and when they do they will be connection to services (video on demand) that are specifically designed to handle the load.
-josh
Let me be the first to correct you. Active matrix does indeed use a backlight. My laptop has an active matrix display (purchases a year ago, not WAY back) with a touchy backlight. Sometimes the backlight won't turn on right away when I boot. I can see the screen very faintly, so the pixels are on, but certainly not bright enough to see, until the backlight kicks in.
-josh
If they know you are price sensitive, presumedly they will not gouge you. I fail to see how a merchant having more information about your preferences can possibly hurt you in the long run.
You know what price points you are willing to buy at, if the merchant steps out of those bounds don't buy. They'll figure out they messed up.
And really this is just good old supply and demand at the microscopic level. Instead of gauging demand at the macroscopic level (orders are up 50% over last month) they are attempting to gauge demand on an individual basic. Very smart, and possibly very lucrative.
Think about it this way. This allows the merchant to be much more flexible with pricing, not just to gouge you. In fact the opposite might be the case. You might be able to get a very good deal on a certain item because there are others who are willing to pay more for that same item, and you have already demonstrated your price sensitivity in this market segment (in the same way business travelers subsidize the discount airline seats).
-josh
Can take two computers and put all their components on a split screen on the same computer. Makes two computer households obsolete.
"Honey, could you press the escape key for me, and stop hogging he 'E'"
Presents key system peripherals to multiple Run Time OS's at the same time, while each OS can totally be satisfied with its virtual device as a complete physical drive
wow, I would love to see my mouse as a complete physical drive
It [Flash VOS] gives the user the capability of running an application without an Operating System running at all. Many applications do not need an Operating System to make them run. With Flash Vos(TM) Super O/S, you can click on the application you wish to use and begin working.
No operating system at all? I am starting to get the idea this is a bad translation.
Management is one of the basic functions included in Flash Vos(TM) Super O/S.
Does one get a PHB for free?
In a bulletted list of advantages:
- protect user data from predatory/monopolistic behavior of traditional OS's
Is that the OS or the company that makes the OS?
Flash Vos, Inc., a Texas Corporation, was incorporated in Highlands, Texas in April 1998. Its business is internal in scope and intended to invent, design, develop and distribute the technology and products associated with the next generation of super operating systems.
Internal in scope? "Invent, design, develop"? Was this written by a bad resume writing program? Why not a Super-Duper OS?
Either they need to hire a better technical writer, or they let the marketting droids lose to develop the techical content of their web site. Or perhaps they don't know what they are talking about.
-josh
Yes, he was a great physicist, but there are many many more who have arguably accomplished more, and who were easily just as smart. They just weren't lucky enough to have developed this bizarre cult of personality around them.
I could care less about Einstein's gray matter. Dissect Feynman's brain, I am sure its much fresher.
-josh
That maybe these rocks are all the result of a large Mars meteor strike 175 million years ago?
The meteor struck, blasted a crapload of molten rock to escape velocity, where it cooled and solidified, resetting this isotope 'clock'.
-josh
They are porting IE, Outlook and so forth to the Unix platform. It just so happens that at this time this includes only Solaris and HP/UX.
I imagine the tools they are using could just as easily be used to target the ports to Linux, and in fact I would be suprised if some enterprising developer at Mainsoft doesn't spend a late night at work doing just that, just for the sheer novelty of running IE under Linux. Of course he would have to destroy his work or face severe legal retribution.
I guess all I am saying is that even though Mainsoft is not doing a Linux port, they are doing 99% of the work required for a Linux port. So it could still happen.
-josh
Yet again Jon discovers a long standing pre-existing trend.
Academia needs money, always has always will. When people give you money there are strings attached. How is the fact that corporations are now funding academic research any more troubling than the massive amounts of cash the US government has pumped into the University system?
Much of my graduate program was run on DOE grants alone. How much money did 'Star Wars' pump into the system? I would rather corporations shell out some money and help fund our higher educational system, in the long run they can only benefit. There can certainly be abuses but the system will be much more resistant to such abuses when they are many troughs to feed from, as opposed to a single governmental trough.
-josh
Wow, and next week I betcha the patent for Babbage's Difference Engine will finally come through.
-josh
If this guy can be held liable for the use of his software what about all of the contributors to 'ftp'? Historically the ftp protocol has been the conduit for the vast majority of pirated digital goods.
Let's go after Microsoft for their filthy 'file-sharing' software.
Hell, while we are at it, let's lynch the designers of the Internet. All this file sharing software wouldn't be possible without the Internet. Shouldn't the makers of the Internet have foreseen this misuse of their creation. For shame Al Gore.
But seriously, I cannot see any sane judge wanting to set such a dangerous precendent as holding the creators of software responsible for the actions of the users of that software, except perhaps in the case where the only possible use of the software is to break the law.
And as for the creator of Yo!NK - this was a brilliant bit of PR work on his part. He catapults himself from relative obscurity as a maker of Yet Another Napster/Gnutella clone, to some level of noteriety. Many more people now know about his software. I doubt very much this guy would have contributed to the Salon article is he seriously anticipated any sort of legal retribution - why draw attention to yourself.
-josh
I am glad to see some work being done on Linux to add real support for truly massived parallel systems. It has always been said that Linux does not scale well past a few processors (perhaps 4 at most) because modifying Linux to support systems with larger processor counts would hurt performance on low end hardware. Additionally one can assume that the kernel developers in generally don't have access to such massively parallel architectures.
This little project holefully will prove that it can be done, and one might hope it's results will be applicable to less exotic multiprocessor hardware (say an 8 or 16 way x86 server).
-josh
Contracts can require you to give people money for no particular reason.
Don't like the contract, don't sign it.
-josh
The address does not have to be exact. They could use pattern matching so:
John_Smith-123-elm-kalamzoo-mi-48330@usps.gov
someone-123-elm-mi-48330@usps.gov
would both go to the same place. Actually you probably only need the street address and zip.
You (the recipient) would either recieve a printed copy in the mail (postage due?), or would register an email forwarding address with the USPS.
-josh
It's all USB, should just be an issue of drivers.
-josh
Its not a patent, it's a trademark.
Sheeeesh.
-josh
I dutifully clicked on the link, and what did I see? "Hot Grits Rule".
-josh
People have theorized for years about how a cubic shape to a computer's exterior could drastically increase system performance, and now we finally have this amazing technology in hand - wow.
Kudos to Apple. My hat's off.
-josh
Yeah, I loaded slashdot.org, and wondered if I had somehow mistakenly already clicked on a discussion link. Nope, that's the front page.
Anyway, Kylix sounds like a great cross platform tool. I just wonder if they can manage to sell it to a bunch of people that tend to whine quite loudly if their software isn't free.
-josh
This is the first time someone has produced a genetic modification in the germ line (i.e. the germ cells - egg and sperm, get the modification also).
:)
This has some rather serious repercussions. If you screw up a genetic modification to a group of cells in the body (say the heart muscle), no big deal, that modification dies with that body. Now we have potential screwups that can be passed on from generation to generation. Not all that much different than inbreeding
-josh