So when you buy a set of headphones, does the manufacturer of the headphones charge the manufacturer of your home stereo for the priviledge?
Many of the iPod accessories connect or attach using the outside of the iPod or the headphone jack. There should be no licensing fees for that.
If you are arguing that they use a picture of an iPod on the case, or use the name iPod in the product name or description, you might have a point. But what a product was marketed without referring to the iPod (though it obviously was an iPod accessory)??
Having a good product doesn't mean it will be popular. It has to grab the attention of consumers, and it has to have interesting add-ons.
Part of the ipod's success ir probably due to all the neat accessories you can get for it.
If you have a car stereo that lets you plug an iPod into it, then the owner of that stereo will probably choose and iPod. If you don't have an iPod-ready stereo, but notice that the iPod has an fm-transmitter that allows you to send your music to your car stereo, it's a plus for Apple.
If you want to go jogging with an mp3 player, and you see that the iPod has an arm band, but no one else does, it will influence your decision.
All those accessories make money for Apple. They are looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Accessories for things like the iPod and PSP are already grossly overpriced. Plastic iPod cases for $50 CDN (that probably cost about 8 cents to make, and $2 to ship and deliver), $50 CDN arm bands. $7 plastic UMD cases. I wonder if the licensing costs will be passed onto the consumers...
People still buy from Dell, but more and more people are building their own systems, or having someone build one for them.
I send people to Dell if they are non-technical. And I advise them to upgrade their warranty to 3-year, on-site service (unless they plan on replacing the computer in less than three years).
I build my own (and I'm on my third AMD CPU at home, and on my second at work - our whole office runs on AMD, and so do the majority of our servers), but I hate doing it. All sorts of little issues pop up, and I usually have two or three cuts on my hand from the case or the heatsink, etc.
I'd use Dell sometimes, but unfort I usually upgrade piecemeal - my hard-drives move from one system to the next, and so do my monitors, etc (and some Dell systems force you to buy at least a 17" CRT monitor, at least on Dell.ca). And of course, no AMD, no Dell (at least until Intel comes out with something more compelling at the same price point, which I doubt is going to happen any time soon).
Disclaimer: I own shares in AMD, and have for a while. I'll sell them if I think Intel has something better (and probably buy Intel).
This is a very wrong-headed assertion. If you've got a requirement to individually process each of fifty million rows, which is better - pulling them all across the network to the client app, processing, then pushing them back to the DB, or doing the processing on the (big, powerful, local) DB?
The data travels from our database to our application/web services layer, and it's a gigabit ethernet. It can also be done locally, on the machine.
Many applications, in many languages, hit our databases dozens of times a day, to do many many things. And we still only use Views on Oracle for reporting, etc.
A view may be fundamental to the mathematical relationships that are supposed to exist in a relational database, but lets be honest - there are no truely relational databases on the market. SQL isn't a relational language. We're dealing with an impure form of the relational database.
"MySQL doesn't have triggers or stored procedures and views" to "Even if it does have triggers, stored procedures and views, it's still not a real database like Postgres/Oracle/SQLServer".
We have two websites, Boats.com and Yachtworld.com - Boats has an Oracle backend databsae, and YW has MySQL using the InnoDB engine.
The uptime is about the same for the two. We've had some issues on the Yachtworld database box due to 3ware drivers in Linux - they were corrupting pages in the database. Guess what? Innodb recovered without any lost data. Twice. This was a driver/hardware/linux issue, not a MySQL issue. We now appear to have a stable set of drivers, and I expect the MySQL database to hit 100% uptime pretty much every month.
Yachtworld gets several million distict page views per day, whereas Boats.com gets half a million.
Our MySQL database runs on a dual-opteron server, with 8 gig of RAM, with 6 gig of it allocated to the innodb block buffer pool (it caches row and index data so you don't have to go to disk).
Try doing that in Oracle 10g on Linux. The SGA (Shared Global Area) can't get larger than 1.7 gig unless you,
1) Use memory as a temporary file system so that Oracle can cache a bit more, and you also get the benefit of dicking around for several days, trying to configure your machine to try to take advantage of it (if it even can - we were never successful). 2) Remap all the shared libraries so that they load in a lower memory address, to squeeze another few hundred meg of memory.
Postgres (last I checked) preferred to let the OS do the data-caching. Thanks, but no thanks. And no 64-bit version (though I've read a few people have managed to compile one, I wouldn't trust it unless Postgres gave it the thumbs up).
MySQL with InnoDB is straighforward (it's use of tablespaces, replication, tuning, and even compiling from source - someone with mediocre Linux skills like myself can do it without issue every time).
MySQL with InnoDB is very fast, very reliable, and has awesome support via the MySQL mailing lists.
MySQL is very well documented, with lots of great third party books that don't cost an arm and a leg (unlike an Oracle library).
MySQL does not have stored procedures, triggers, and views in the current production version.
Here's what I think of that:
1) Triggers are hidden application logic that are very hard to debug, and are easily overlooked or forgotten by developers. Business logic (other than defensive logic like unique indexes, primary keys, foreign keys, not-null columns) does not belong in the database. They belong in the middle tier. They also make it much more difficult to move to another database.
2) Stored procedures are like PERL - it's very easy to make a mess unless you are very careful. They are also hidden logic, and very difficult to debug. And again, keep that logic out of the database. They also make it much more difficult to move to another database.
3) Views are a nice feature, but most often used to support business and reporting. I don't like managers connecting to the database to run queries (SELECT * FROM very_large_table_1, very_large_table_2; and suddenly you have cartesian join that results in tens of millions of rows coming back, bogging everything down). To do reports, views aren't necessary.
If you think MySQL is not a "real" database, it is, and has been since 4.0. As an Oracle (and now MySQL DBA), I can honestly say that I can't wait to dump Oracle and get the Boats.com website over to MySQL.
And for the few people who made comments like, "Do you really want your bank running on MySQL?": many banks run on old, legacy hardware and systems. Transactions are written out in many places (with geographic diversity) to ensure that a hardware or software crash is recoverable. There is no reason why you couldn't put MySQL in a situation like that, so long as the same precautions are taken.
Get the economy of scale working, get the car companies working towards better batteries and technologies.
I still think it's better to just stay out of vehicles whenever possible.
I take public transit into work, and it's awesome. I get to play an hour of Tiger Woods on my PSP (or catch up on the weeks BattleStar Galactica, playing off a memory stick), or read a book - two things that probably shouldn't be done while operating a motor vehicle.
Another option that's really cool here in Vancouver is the Car Co-op. You pay a monthly fee and a per-kilometer fee (if you drive alot, you pay a higher montly fee and a lower per-km fee, but if you don't use a car much, then you can get a lower monthly fee and a higher per-km fee). All you have to do is leave the vehicle clean, and put gas in it if it's got less than a quarter tank (and the co-op reimburses you for the fuel). This gives you access to a vehicle if you need it, and you avoid the hassle of ownership.
I think there are lots of ways of getting out of cars, and that should be the goal. Cars create pollutants during manufacture (think of all the batteries a hybrid uses, the paint, the plastics, etc), use a lot of electricity (to mine, refine, transport all the steel and other components), use a precious, finite resource, and put alot of crud into the air.
I agree. It's a money making ploy decided in the editing room. Next Christmas, we'll see a box set of digitally re-mastered, with more scenes, and some pseudo documentary.
Quite frankly, I have no interest in these movies. Serenity/Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Rome, and Lost are way more appealing.
I'm more concerned about the bigger picture rather than the lack of huricane names.
But your point is a good one - if all storms are a bit stronger, then some that would have been classified as tropical will now be considered hurricanes.
I suggest that Bush change the rating, and raise the requirements for a hurricane. In one stroke, he will reduce the number of hurricanes that hit Florida and the Gulf. He'll be a hero.
"The strongest hurricanes in the present climate may be upstaged by even more intense hurricanes over the next century as the earth's climate is warmed by increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."
"The results described above are based on a recent simulation study carried out by Thomas R. Knutson and Robert E. Tuleya at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). This study examined the response of simulated hurricanes to the climate warming projected for a substantial build-up of atmospheric CO2. Such an increase in the upper-limit intensity of hurricanes with global warming was suggested on theoretical grounds by M.I.T. Professor Kerry Emanuel in 1987."
MIT, NOAA - pretty reputable sources. So point me to the articles where the link between Global Warming and extreme weather (like hurricanes) is dismissed?
Actually, I should say, "There is far more evidence for Global Warming than there *was* for WMDs in Iraq", as even the White House now says that WMDs are unlikely to ever be found.
The question now is about America staying the course in Iraq - destroy the existing government in a country, will you stay around long enough to leave it as stable as you found it?
Hundreds of Nobel Prize winning scientists come out and say Global Warming is a reality, and it's the greatest threat we face. Bush refuses to believe it.
The weapons inspectors in Iraq say there is no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Bush refuses to believe it.
It seems to me that there is far more evidence for global warming than there is for WMDs, yet people (from soldiers to children) are dying in Iraq (not to mention the billions being spent - so much for the so-called Peace Dividend), and Americans still drive their Range Rovers.
Is it any wonder that there isn't much love for Bush (and, as a result, America) in the rest of the world??
I agree. I thought his emailed-response back to Microsoft was pedantic, vain, and immature (he could have used this opportunity to politely explain why and perhaps planted a seed in a Microsoft head), but I thought The Cathedral and the Bazaar was a great piece of writing, and it did have a profound impact on several companies at the time. The Firefox browser I'm typing this into is a result of TCATB, I believe.
For MySQL, don't forget sub-selects in 4.1. Unfort, the feature is almost useless, as indexes aren't used in the parent query.
MySQL also only uses one-index-per-table-per-query, which is kind of nasty.
On the flip side, MySQL replication is a breeze to use (compared to commercial-only replication (or SLONY - an add on) in Postgres).
Postgres optimization (last I looked, in 8) had gotten much better than it was in 7.x, but there's still way more fuzziness in Postgres (more like Oracle).
I also like the tablespace-per-table that InnoDB offers, and in general the way InnoDB handles tablespaces and backups.
The MySQL bookshelf is also much fuller than the Postgres bookshelf.
Both are awesome projects, but MySQL seemed a bit cleaner, with a feature-set that was more appropriate to what we needed.
Lots of the arguments below are of the variety, "We've only been measuring it for 30 years, and the earth has been around for billions, so we don't know if this is normal or not".
They do measure carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gasses using core samples that go back tens of thousands of years. The makeup of the atmosphere has changed more dramatically in the last 100 years or so than it has in a very very long time.
And for the big things, like life and death, I prefer to err on the side of caution, even if it means I can't drive a big-ass SUV (I don't).
The collapse of the Atlantic cod is a perfect example. Scientists said it was on the verge of collapse. People with a vested interest in fishing said it wasn't. The US and Canadian government did not err on the side of caution, and now there is no cod fishery on the east coast. The same thing is happening with the salmon, halibut and pacific cod fishery on the west coast (some say that the pacific cod is already gone, and halibut is close).
That's just fish (well, and a part of a complex eco system we don't really understand). Imagine if hurricanes like Katrina were yearly events, and didn't just the Southern US, but were all up and down the east and west coast. I think I'd prefer to err on the side of caution. I like my house above the waterline, thanks.
The best, smartest scientests in the world say weather and the earths atmosphere is far more complex than they can realistically model - how can a politician make a decision (especially someone like Bush). The best solution is to avoid antagonizing a marginally-stable system so that we can avoid making it a very unstable system.
Where is the weather control we were promised in in 1950??
I not-so-secretly believe that people who are certified do so because they don't have the experience, and want to get into a technology without starting at the bottom. That's fine, but the original goal was to give some formal recognition to experience, not to replace experience.
I guess the importance of certification comes down to who short-lists the resumes, and who does the hiring. If it's an HR department, then it's important. If it's a technical person, then it's not (or might even be a negative, as in my case).
Memory card, four games (all of which are ports), wireless controller, tote bag with Bill Gates face on it, 6 action figures from unrelated Sega Genisis games, a 14 inch orange latex dildo (the colour didn't sell well), and you have to pack away the green-fuzzy 6-month-old left over lunches from the EB staff fridge.
Whatever. Local retailers (including EB) pulled the same crap with the PSP. I'll just wait till the hype is done (again) if I decide I want one of these things.
Slashdot Mirror
include a Rootkit?
So when you buy a set of headphones, does the manufacturer of the headphones charge the manufacturer of your home stereo for the priviledge?
Many of the iPod accessories connect or attach using the outside of the iPod or the headphone jack. There should be no licensing fees for that.
If you are arguing that they use a picture of an iPod on the case, or use the name iPod in the product name or description, you might have a point. But what a product was marketed without referring to the iPod (though it obviously was an iPod accessory)??
Having a good product doesn't mean it will be popular. It has to grab the attention of consumers, and it has to have interesting add-ons.
Part of the ipod's success ir probably due to all the neat accessories you can get for it.
If you have a car stereo that lets you plug an iPod into it, then the owner of that stereo will probably choose and iPod. If you don't have an iPod-ready stereo, but notice that the iPod has an fm-transmitter that allows you to send your music to your car stereo, it's a plus for Apple.
If you want to go jogging with an mp3 player, and you see that the iPod has an arm band, but no one else does, it will influence your decision.
All those accessories make money for Apple. They are looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Accessories for things like the iPod and PSP are already grossly overpriced. Plastic iPod cases for $50 CDN (that probably cost about 8 cents to make, and $2 to ship and deliver), $50 CDN arm bands. $7 plastic UMD cases. I wonder if the licensing costs will be passed onto the consumers...
I used to have a Palm Tungsten E, and a Samsung cel phone - both used to fit in my pocket, and both got washed by my wife.
My new Audiovox PDA/phone combo and PSP are too large to fit in my pocket, and I consider that a good thing.
People still buy from Dell, but more and more people are building their own systems, or having someone build one for them.
I send people to Dell if they are non-technical. And I advise them to upgrade their warranty to 3-year, on-site service (unless they plan on replacing the computer in less than three years).
I build my own (and I'm on my third AMD CPU at home, and on my second at work - our whole office runs on AMD, and so do the majority of our servers), but I hate doing it. All sorts of little issues pop up, and I usually have two or three cuts on my hand from the case or the heatsink, etc.
I'd use Dell sometimes, but unfort I usually upgrade piecemeal - my hard-drives move from one system to the next, and so do my monitors, etc (and some Dell systems force you to buy at least a 17" CRT monitor, at least on Dell.ca). And of course, no AMD, no Dell (at least until Intel comes out with something more compelling at the same price point, which I doubt is going to happen any time soon).
Disclaimer: I own shares in AMD, and have for a while. I'll sell them if I think Intel has something better (and probably buy Intel).
You're right - I see torrents for 64-bit versions. Last time I checked was the later 7.x (maybe even 8.0 beta).
This is a very wrong-headed assertion. If you've got a requirement to individually process each of fifty million rows, which is better - pulling them all across the network to the client app, processing, then pushing them back to the DB, or doing the processing on the (big, powerful, local) DB?
The data travels from our database to our application/web services layer, and it's a gigabit ethernet. It can also be done locally, on the machine.
Many applications, in many languages, hit our databases dozens of times a day, to do many many things. And we still only use Views on Oracle for reporting, etc.
A view may be fundamental to the mathematical relationships that are supposed to exist in a relational database, but lets be honest - there are no truely relational databases on the market. SQL isn't a relational language. We're dealing with an impure form of the relational database.
"MySQL doesn't have triggers or stored procedures and views" to "Even if it does have triggers, stored procedures and views, it's still not a real database like Postgres/Oracle/SQLServer".
We have two websites, Boats.com and Yachtworld.com - Boats has an Oracle backend databsae, and YW has MySQL using the InnoDB engine.
The uptime is about the same for the two. We've had some issues on the Yachtworld database box due to 3ware drivers in Linux - they were corrupting pages in the database. Guess what? Innodb recovered without any lost data. Twice. This was a driver/hardware/linux issue, not a MySQL issue. We now appear to have a stable set of drivers, and I expect the MySQL database to hit 100% uptime pretty much every month.
Yachtworld gets several million distict page views per day, whereas Boats.com gets half a million.
Our MySQL database runs on a dual-opteron server, with 8 gig of RAM, with 6 gig of it allocated to the innodb block buffer pool (it caches row and index data so you don't have to go to disk).
Try doing that in Oracle 10g on Linux. The SGA (Shared Global Area) can't get larger than 1.7 gig unless you,
1) Use memory as a temporary file system so that Oracle can cache a bit more, and you also get the benefit of dicking around for several days, trying to configure your machine to try to take advantage of it (if it even can - we were never successful).
2) Remap all the shared libraries so that they load in a lower memory address, to squeeze another few hundred meg of memory.
Postgres (last I checked) preferred to let the OS do the data-caching. Thanks, but no thanks. And no 64-bit version (though I've read a few people have managed to compile one, I wouldn't trust it unless Postgres gave it the thumbs up).
MySQL with InnoDB is straighforward (it's use of tablespaces, replication, tuning, and even compiling from source - someone with mediocre Linux skills like myself can do it without issue every time).
MySQL with InnoDB is very fast, very reliable, and has awesome support via the MySQL mailing lists.
MySQL is very well documented, with lots of great third party books that don't cost an arm and a leg (unlike an Oracle library).
MySQL does not have stored procedures, triggers, and views in the current production version.
Here's what I think of that:
1) Triggers are hidden application logic that are very hard to debug, and are easily overlooked or forgotten by developers. Business logic (other than defensive logic like unique indexes, primary keys, foreign keys, not-null columns) does not belong in the database. They belong in the middle tier. They also make it much more difficult to move to another database.
2) Stored procedures are like PERL - it's very easy to make a mess unless you are very careful. They are also hidden logic, and very difficult to debug. And again, keep that logic out of the database. They also make it much more difficult to move to another database.
3) Views are a nice feature, but most often used to support business and reporting. I don't like managers connecting to the database to run queries (SELECT * FROM very_large_table_1, very_large_table_2; and suddenly you have cartesian join that results in tens of millions of rows coming back, bogging everything down). To do reports, views aren't necessary.
If you think MySQL is not a "real" database, it is, and has been since 4.0. As an Oracle (and now MySQL DBA), I can honestly say that I can't wait to dump Oracle and get the Boats.com website over to MySQL.
And for the few people who made comments like, "Do you really want your bank running on MySQL?": many banks run on old, legacy hardware and systems. Transactions are written out in many places (with geographic diversity) to ensure that a hardware or software crash is recoverable. There is no reason why you couldn't put MySQL in a situation like that, so long as the same precautions are taken.
Saw a message of the day at the bottom of the slashdot page a few weeks ago:
"Men don't know what happiness is until they are married, but by then it's too late".
Good for wedding toasts...
Get the economy of scale working, get the car companies working towards better batteries and technologies.
I still think it's better to just stay out of vehicles whenever possible.
I take public transit into work, and it's awesome. I get to play an hour of Tiger Woods on my PSP (or catch up on the weeks BattleStar Galactica, playing off a memory stick), or read a book - two things that probably shouldn't be done while operating a motor vehicle.
Another option that's really cool here in Vancouver is the Car Co-op. You pay a monthly fee and a per-kilometer fee (if you drive alot, you pay a higher montly fee and a lower per-km fee, but if you don't use a car much, then you can get a lower monthly fee and a higher per-km fee). All you have to do is leave the vehicle clean, and put gas in it if it's got less than a quarter tank (and the co-op reimburses you for the fuel). This gives you access to a vehicle if you need it, and you avoid the hassle of ownership.
I think there are lots of ways of getting out of cars, and that should be the goal. Cars create pollutants during manufacture (think of all the batteries a hybrid uses, the paint, the plastics, etc), use a lot of electricity (to mine, refine, transport all the steel and other components), use a precious, finite resource, and put alot of crud into the air.
I agree. It's a money making ploy decided in the editing room. Next Christmas, we'll see a box set of digitally re-mastered, with more scenes, and some pseudo documentary.
Quite frankly, I have no interest in these movies. Serenity/Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Rome, and Lost are way more appealing.
Thanks - my post ended up second (not quite first), but the first post was "This is a dupe", so technically, it was redundant.
A -1 won't hurt my karma.
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/0 9/20/1834242&tid=156&tid=146&tid=10
I'm more concerned about the bigger picture rather than the lack of huricane names.
But your point is a good one - if all storms are a bit stronger, then some that would have been classified as tropical will now be considered hurricanes.
I suggest that Bush change the rating, and raise the requirements for a hurricane. In one stroke, he will reduce the number of hurricanes that hit Florida and the Gulf. He'll be a hero.
How about the NOAA?
The link has some interesting quotes:
"The strongest hurricanes in the present climate may be upstaged by even more intense hurricanes over the next century as the earth's climate is warmed by increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."
"The results described above are based on a recent simulation study carried out by Thomas R. Knutson and Robert E. Tuleya at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). This study examined the response of simulated hurricanes to the climate warming projected for a substantial build-up of atmospheric CO2. Such an increase in the upper-limit intensity of hurricanes with global warming was suggested on theoretical grounds by M.I.T. Professor Kerry Emanuel in 1987."
MIT, NOAA - pretty reputable sources. So point me to the articles where the link between Global Warming and extreme weather (like hurricanes) is dismissed?
Actually, I should say, "There is far more evidence for Global Warming than there *was* for WMDs in Iraq", as even the White House now says that WMDs are unlikely to ever be found.
The question now is about America staying the course in Iraq - destroy the existing government in a country, will you stay around long enough to leave it as stable as you found it?
Hundreds of Nobel Prize winning scientists come out and say Global Warming is a reality, and it's the greatest threat we face. Bush refuses to believe it.
The weapons inspectors in Iraq say there is no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Bush refuses to believe it.
It seems to me that there is far more evidence for global warming than there is for WMDs, yet people (from soldiers to children) are dying in Iraq (not to mention the billions being spent - so much for the so-called Peace Dividend), and Americans still drive their Range Rovers.
Is it any wonder that there isn't much love for Bush (and, as a result, America) in the rest of the world??
They claim (which I can't verify) that the equation is from:
"COURTESY: BOSCH AUTOMOTIVE HANDBOOK, 5TH EDITION"
Looks like you need a degree if physics to figure it out. Also looks like a scan of a piece of paper.
I agree. I thought his emailed-response back to Microsoft was pedantic, vain, and immature (he could have used this opportunity to politely explain why and perhaps planted a seed in a Microsoft head), but I thought The Cathedral and the Bazaar was a great piece of writing, and it did have a profound impact on several companies at the time. The Firefox browser I'm typing this into is a result of TCATB, I believe.
For MySQL, don't forget sub-selects in 4.1. Unfort, the feature is almost useless, as indexes aren't used in the parent query.
MySQL also only uses one-index-per-table-per-query, which is kind of nasty.
On the flip side, MySQL replication is a breeze to use (compared to commercial-only replication (or SLONY - an add on) in Postgres).
Postgres optimization (last I looked, in 8) had gotten much better than it was in 7.x, but there's still way more fuzziness in Postgres (more like Oracle).
I also like the tablespace-per-table that InnoDB offers, and in general the way InnoDB handles tablespaces and backups.
The MySQL bookshelf is also much fuller than the Postgres bookshelf.
Both are awesome projects, but MySQL seemed a bit cleaner, with a feature-set that was more appropriate to what we needed.
Lots of the arguments below are of the variety, "We've only been measuring it for 30 years, and the earth has been around for billions, so we don't know if this is normal or not".
They do measure carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gasses using core samples that go back tens of thousands of years. The makeup of the atmosphere has changed more dramatically in the last 100 years or so than it has in a very very long time.
And for the big things, like life and death, I prefer to err on the side of caution, even if it means I can't drive a big-ass SUV (I don't).
The collapse of the Atlantic cod is a perfect example. Scientists said it was on the verge of collapse. People with a vested interest in fishing said it wasn't. The US and Canadian government did not err on the side of caution, and now there is no cod fishery on the east coast. The same thing is happening with the salmon, halibut and pacific cod fishery on the west coast (some say that the pacific cod is already gone, and halibut is close).
That's just fish (well, and a part of a complex eco system we don't really understand). Imagine if hurricanes like Katrina were yearly events, and didn't just the Southern US, but were all up and down the east and west coast. I think I'd prefer to err on the side of caution. I like my house above the waterline, thanks.
The best, smartest scientests in the world say weather and the earths atmosphere is far more complex than they can realistically model - how can a politician make a decision (especially someone like Bush). The best solution is to avoid antagonizing a marginally-stable system so that we can avoid making it a very unstable system.
Where is the weather control we were promised in in 1950??
And I consider a certification a negative.
I not-so-secretly believe that people who are certified do so because they don't have the experience, and want to get into a technology without starting at the bottom. That's fine, but the original goal was to give some formal recognition to experience, not to replace experience.
I guess the importance of certification comes down to who short-lists the resumes, and who does the hiring. If it's an HR department, then it's important. If it's a technical person, then it's not (or might even be a negative, as in my case).
And ripping the DVD to mp4 and dumping it on your memory stick for free.
Memory card, four games (all of which are ports), wireless controller, tote bag with Bill Gates face on it, 6 action figures from unrelated Sega Genisis games, a 14 inch orange latex dildo (the colour didn't sell well), and you have to pack away the green-fuzzy 6-month-old left over lunches from the EB staff fridge.
Whatever. Local retailers (including EB) pulled the same crap with the PSP. I'll just wait till the hype is done (again) if I decide I want one of these things.
Ya, I'm joking.