I don't think I care very much if Sun is acquired by another company, or even which company. Lemme think, a moment or two here. Let's start with "IBM compatible". Yes, IBM was instrumental in creating the personal computer. Somehow, they didn't end up as the great hulking monopoly of personal computing as a result of that. IBM has contributed a lot to computing since then - certainly more than Microsoft, and probably more than any other software company. Big Blue contributes both HARDWARE innovations, as well as software. And, they haven't capitalized on that to become a monopoly. I scratch my head, and wonder, just how much harm can IBM do to personal computing? Or, business computing, for that matter. Granted, some other shops may do a little more with some branch of research. Some other shop might see things in a different light, thereby coming up with something that IBM misses. But, IBM certainly doesn't seem to be the people to outright stifle innovation. I can point to a number of patent trolls (Microsoft, anyone?) who actually DO stifle innovation. Maybe it would be beneficial to keep Sun independent of IBM, but it certainly can't make THAT GREAT a difference to me, the end user. I mean, it's debatable whether Sun's best known product is even useful. Everything Java is a resource hog, for instance. Java is still mighty damned quirky in a 64 bit environment. I don't want to slam Sun, but hey, it is debatable whether they have contributed anything as important as IBM has contributed to computer sciences. The one Sun product that I use more than any other, Virtual Box, was not a Sun development - they bought that. What else has sun created, that the world "can't do without"? Solaris is cool, but there are several replacements, with equally good support. Will we really miss Sun, if they disappear? Personally, I think we'll miss them a little bit, for a couple years. Then, Sun will be just another trip down Nostalgia Lane, like Amiga. No big deal, in the grand scheme of things.
I always thought that Amiga and Playboy contracted Cheech and Chong to do that video. They did some acid, turned on some funky black lights, and filmed some old skank dancing. Filmed with a jerky 8mm camera. I swore off those dots candies after watching this, then reading about LSD laced dots being sold in the ghetto.
That video doesn't appear to cross the line. It looks like an educational view into music, and the overuse of some common chords. And, I HAVE noticed that a lot of music uses the same lead-in, or whatever. Fact is, I generally identify a song on the radio by the first chords - only to find that I'm wrong pretty often. Now, if you want a LEGAL decision as to whether that video is "fair use" or not, you're talking to the wrong person. Morally speaking, there's nothing there to worry about.;)
Maybe the screenwriters should go back to writing stories, instead of lame excuses for plots, hidden behind special effects? Nahh, it'll never happen. The stuffed shirts investing money would never go for it. Stories don't always boil down to a Lowest Common Denominator.
Broken windows a mile away isn't a major consideration. I have replaced a few windows in my lifetime, because a farmer felt the need to blast some stumps out of the ground. It isn't like debris rained down on the town, shattering windows. Glass is fragile, subject to breakage with a minor shock. Especially if the glass has previously been subjected to a shock of some sort, which started a crack.
This is slashdot, not the kleenex factory. Take your whining and sniveling down the road, and please stop leaking bodily fluids on our floor. Shit happens, get over it.
Forget it. You've got to supply banking information, so that they can "deposit royalties" for me. I don't want to get in badly enough to give them my banking information.
Well - I'm certainly glad that I have never made a post that makes me look foolish.;) Thanks for the link, Homburg. I really don't know how I made that mistake - two links close to each other, and I clicked the wrong one? Whatever, I'm again toying with the idea of signing up. Anyone else?
You miss my point: I cannot BECOME a member. Go ahead, try it. If you don't have that magic identity number, you can't join. And, no, your facetious "shocking" statement still won't be on target. It isn't really "shocking" that a private club of greedy bastids don't want to allow some working stiff to join. Sad, yes, but not shocking.;)
Your two cents is pretty accurate, really. A lot of the content on youtube is over the line. I'm guilty of viewing some old videos of artists that I may have heard of, but never saw before. Some acts by artists that I knew, but hadn't seen that act. And, we are'nt talking of short snippets - look around long enough, you can find entire performances, I'm certain. Yes, a lot of users go well beyond what common sense should dictate as "Fair Use". And, somewhere in that mess, Google really should step up, and draw the line. Yeah, half the world will call them assholes for drawing a line at all, and the rest of the world will be divided over where the line should be drawn. But, right is right, and wrong is wrong. I love bashing the greedy folk at RIAA, but the greed on the other side is just as bad.
https://apps.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/apps/memberadmin/Registration.asp?primaryAcc=1
I looked for a signup, thinking I just MIGHT have some little say. No way. You have to have a CAE Number to even sign up. Is that like a tax number, a club membership number, or what? Obviously, no colonials are welcome, whatever it might be. And, just as obviously, if you don't agree with the stated mission of squeezing money out of everyone online, your views are MOST unwelcome. I'll bet they have a voice in the ACTA treaty, though, unlike any voting American citizen.
Gotta agree - VM's have limitations. So far, I've only run them on a single core processor, with USB sound. USB is a problem in and of itself. BUT - I have parts coming to build a new computer with a kickass processor, and I'll stick sound on the thing - I HOPE to prove that gaming in a VM doesn't suck to bad when I'm finished. No, I don't expect it to run the newest and shiniest, most demanding game on the market. Just things like Age of Empires, and some Java apps would satisfy me...... I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means.:-)
Oh, I most certainly DO NOT believe anything the RIAA puts out for public relations. And, yes, I agree anything that goes counter to RIAA's wishes is great. My question, though, regards the treaty. If that treaty is signed, the courts will have very little to say, regarding enforcement. The government will be bound to round up anyone who violates the treaty, and to punish them. Of course, the treaty is all bound up in secrecy, with RIAA and brethren "advising" all the governments involved. Even the "Open Government" President, Obama, has signed off on that secrecy. We are about to be shafted, no matter what any court rules, thereby making all court rulings irrelevant. And, that won't just be us, in the U.S. - this thing is going to go global!!
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/EU_denies_ACTA_document_request%3B_democracy_undermined%3F
Obama Administration Claims Copyright Treaty Involves State Secrets?!?
from the openness,-transparency dept
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090313/1456154113.shtml
In short, my freind, the stakes have been raised.
exactly WHY someone should make money off of every individual in the world who uses a computer and/or computing resources. I mean, I have several clocks. I buy them, bring them home, and for that one time investment, I get years of service. Some wind up, some use batteries, some use the electric grid. But, they are all mine, and no one makes money from my use of them. Why should computing be any different? The cloud will cost me directly or indirectly, forever. Subscriptions to Microsoft will cost me forever. Smartphones likewise. Desktops and laptops? They are like my clocks. One time investment, and they work until they quit working, which will likely be a very long time if I paid for quality to start with. Why does RedHat, or Microsoft, or anyone else think that they need to make money, every time I solve a mathematical problem, watch a movie, or play a game? Screw them all. The cloud is aptly named, when you think about it. Vaporware to the max! My money is (slightly) more substantial than vapor, and I intend to keep it in my wallet, thank you.
Errr, maybe the average homeuser has little use for a full-blown server? Or, maybe he's afraid of trying to set one up? Or, he doesn't understand the benefits of a server? Personally - I've only dabbled with server OS's enough to realize that some hacking on Win2003 results in a pretty secure and very reliable desktop. As a result of a growing family and growing home network, I intend to set up a server in the very near future. But, I regard this as a leap into the unknown. Do I want to serve only files (and file space), or do I want to serve applications? Multimedia streaming? What exactly DO I WANT?!? It's not exactly scary to me - but it will certainly scare off the non-geek.
People are still using multiple boot desktops? Even here in Backwoods, Nowhere, we have had Virtual Machines working for quite some time. No need to reboot, when I can network Mac, Ubuntu, WinXP, Win7, and Debian machines ALL ON ONE DESKTOP MACHINE! Phhht! Multi-boot is so, what? 1999?
24 hour telephone tech support? Uhhhh - it looks prohibitively expensive at fifty bucks. Really - how many hours of learning do you have in Linux? Personally, I couldn't tally up the hours I've spent researching one thing, or another. Dozens of hours testing and settling on a traffic shaper, for one thing. Maybe telephone tech support would have shortened that time by a couple of factors, but SOMEONE has to pay that tech support guy who spent hours on the phone with me. And, that is just ONE aspect of setting up a desktop.
France also sold off Louisiana for a song and a dance, so that they could fund another losing war, as I recall. Funding the American Revolution came back to bite them in the ass, har har har!!
It depends on the kid. For one kid, it's impossible, for another, it is first nature. Everyone is different. Some kids NEED isolation - my youngest son might have done better with home schooling, but the other two, no way. There is no way in HELL that anyone could ever have PREVENTED my middle son from talking to everyone he met, home schooling, public schooling, or private schooling. All of us are what we are - and trying to blame our environment is one way to ensure we won't grow and develop.
Alright, you grew up without developing your social skills. Cool, I can't argue with you, on that score. I most certainly WILL question why you attribute your lack of social skills to home schooling. My own social skills were severely retarded, primarily because my home was dysfunctional, and I withdrew from everyone. This, in spite of the fact that I attended public schools, where teachers and counselors would theoretically notice that I had problems. Take my word for it - few teachers really give a damn, and the social skills you learn in the locker room aren't all that important to success in life.
Odd. Perhaps you haven't heard of the "dumbing down of America". What's odd is, the public schools are the venue of half the dumbing down. The media is the venue of the other half. As a rule, home schooled and private schooled kids are more likely to excel at the skills that schools are SUPPOSED to teach. To hell with social skills - it is NOT imperative that a child learn how to text in slang.
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I don't think I care very much if Sun is acquired by another company, or even which company. Lemme think, a moment or two here. Let's start with "IBM compatible". Yes, IBM was instrumental in creating the personal computer. Somehow, they didn't end up as the great hulking monopoly of personal computing as a result of that. IBM has contributed a lot to computing since then - certainly more than Microsoft, and probably more than any other software company. Big Blue contributes both HARDWARE innovations, as well as software. And, they haven't capitalized on that to become a monopoly. I scratch my head, and wonder, just how much harm can IBM do to personal computing? Or, business computing, for that matter. Granted, some other shops may do a little more with some branch of research. Some other shop might see things in a different light, thereby coming up with something that IBM misses. But, IBM certainly doesn't seem to be the people to outright stifle innovation. I can point to a number of patent trolls (Microsoft, anyone?) who actually DO stifle innovation. Maybe it would be beneficial to keep Sun independent of IBM, but it certainly can't make THAT GREAT a difference to me, the end user. I mean, it's debatable whether Sun's best known product is even useful. Everything Java is a resource hog, for instance. Java is still mighty damned quirky in a 64 bit environment. I don't want to slam Sun, but hey, it is debatable whether they have contributed anything as important as IBM has contributed to computer sciences. The one Sun product that I use more than any other, Virtual Box, was not a Sun development - they bought that. What else has sun created, that the world "can't do without"? Solaris is cool, but there are several replacements, with equally good support. Will we really miss Sun, if they disappear? Personally, I think we'll miss them a little bit, for a couple years. Then, Sun will be just another trip down Nostalgia Lane, like Amiga. No big deal, in the grand scheme of things.
Amiga fans are looking as bad as MSfanbois here. They are all modding each other up!! (All twelve of them!)
I always thought that Amiga and Playboy contracted Cheech and Chong to do that video. They did some acid, turned on some funky black lights, and filmed some old skank dancing. Filmed with a jerky 8mm camera. I swore off those dots candies after watching this, then reading about LSD laced dots being sold in the ghetto.
That video doesn't appear to cross the line. It looks like an educational view into music, and the overuse of some common chords. And, I HAVE noticed that a lot of music uses the same lead-in, or whatever. Fact is, I generally identify a song on the radio by the first chords - only to find that I'm wrong pretty often. Now, if you want a LEGAL decision as to whether that video is "fair use" or not, you're talking to the wrong person. Morally speaking, there's nothing there to worry about. ;)
Maybe the screenwriters should go back to writing stories, instead of lame excuses for plots, hidden behind special effects? Nahh, it'll never happen. The stuffed shirts investing money would never go for it. Stories don't always boil down to a Lowest Common Denominator.
Broken windows a mile away isn't a major consideration. I have replaced a few windows in my lifetime, because a farmer felt the need to blast some stumps out of the ground. It isn't like debris rained down on the town, shattering windows. Glass is fragile, subject to breakage with a minor shock. Especially if the glass has previously been subjected to a shock of some sort, which started a crack.
This is slashdot, not the kleenex factory. Take your whining and sniveling down the road, and please stop leaking bodily fluids on our floor. Shit happens, get over it.
Forget it. You've got to supply banking information, so that they can "deposit royalties" for me. I don't want to get in badly enough to give them my banking information.
Well - I'm certainly glad that I have never made a post that makes me look foolish. ;) Thanks for the link, Homburg. I really don't know how I made that mistake - two links close to each other, and I clicked the wrong one? Whatever, I'm again toying with the idea of signing up. Anyone else?
You miss my point: I cannot BECOME a member. Go ahead, try it. If you don't have that magic identity number, you can't join. And, no, your facetious "shocking" statement still won't be on target. It isn't really "shocking" that a private club of greedy bastids don't want to allow some working stiff to join. Sad, yes, but not shocking. ;)
Your two cents is pretty accurate, really. A lot of the content on youtube is over the line. I'm guilty of viewing some old videos of artists that I may have heard of, but never saw before. Some acts by artists that I knew, but hadn't seen that act. And, we are'nt talking of short snippets - look around long enough, you can find entire performances, I'm certain. Yes, a lot of users go well beyond what common sense should dictate as "Fair Use". And, somewhere in that mess, Google really should step up, and draw the line. Yeah, half the world will call them assholes for drawing a line at all, and the rest of the world will be divided over where the line should be drawn. But, right is right, and wrong is wrong. I love bashing the greedy folk at RIAA, but the greed on the other side is just as bad.
https://apps.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/apps/memberadmin/Registration.asp?primaryAcc=1 I looked for a signup, thinking I just MIGHT have some little say. No way. You have to have a CAE Number to even sign up. Is that like a tax number, a club membership number, or what? Obviously, no colonials are welcome, whatever it might be. And, just as obviously, if you don't agree with the stated mission of squeezing money out of everyone online, your views are MOST unwelcome. I'll bet they have a voice in the ACTA treaty, though, unlike any voting American citizen.
Gotta agree - VM's have limitations. So far, I've only run them on a single core processor, with USB sound. USB is a problem in and of itself. BUT - I have parts coming to build a new computer with a kickass processor, and I'll stick sound on the thing - I HOPE to prove that gaming in a VM doesn't suck to bad when I'm finished. No, I don't expect it to run the newest and shiniest, most demanding game on the market. Just things like Age of Empires, and some Java apps would satisfy me...... I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means. :-)
Oh, I most certainly DO NOT believe anything the RIAA puts out for public relations. And, yes, I agree anything that goes counter to RIAA's wishes is great. My question, though, regards the treaty. If that treaty is signed, the courts will have very little to say, regarding enforcement. The government will be bound to round up anyone who violates the treaty, and to punish them. Of course, the treaty is all bound up in secrecy, with RIAA and brethren "advising" all the governments involved. Even the "Open Government" President, Obama, has signed off on that secrecy. We are about to be shafted, no matter what any court rules, thereby making all court rulings irrelevant. And, that won't just be us, in the U.S. - this thing is going to go global!! http://wikileaks.org/wiki/EU_denies_ACTA_document_request%3B_democracy_undermined%3F Obama Administration Claims Copyright Treaty Involves State Secrets?!? from the openness,-transparency dept http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090313/1456154113.shtml In short, my freind, the stakes have been raised.
I question the relevancy, NYCL. If things proceed with the anti-counterfeiting treaty, RIAA and their freinds will have done an end run around any and all court rulings. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/06/211236&from=rss http://consumerist.com/tag/copyright/?i=5014035&t=leaked-acta-treaty-will-outlaw-p2p Once the ACTA is put into effect, RIAA and freinds won't even have to file a suit - they just send the Gestapo to round your butt up, and ship you to someplace like Guantanamo.
exactly WHY someone should make money off of every individual in the world who uses a computer and/or computing resources. I mean, I have several clocks. I buy them, bring them home, and for that one time investment, I get years of service. Some wind up, some use batteries, some use the electric grid. But, they are all mine, and no one makes money from my use of them. Why should computing be any different? The cloud will cost me directly or indirectly, forever. Subscriptions to Microsoft will cost me forever. Smartphones likewise. Desktops and laptops? They are like my clocks. One time investment, and they work until they quit working, which will likely be a very long time if I paid for quality to start with. Why does RedHat, or Microsoft, or anyone else think that they need to make money, every time I solve a mathematical problem, watch a movie, or play a game? Screw them all. The cloud is aptly named, when you think about it. Vaporware to the max! My money is (slightly) more substantial than vapor, and I intend to keep it in my wallet, thank you.
Errr, maybe the average homeuser has little use for a full-blown server? Or, maybe he's afraid of trying to set one up? Or, he doesn't understand the benefits of a server? Personally - I've only dabbled with server OS's enough to realize that some hacking on Win2003 results in a pretty secure and very reliable desktop. As a result of a growing family and growing home network, I intend to set up a server in the very near future. But, I regard this as a leap into the unknown. Do I want to serve only files (and file space), or do I want to serve applications? Multimedia streaming? What exactly DO I WANT?!? It's not exactly scary to me - but it will certainly scare off the non-geek.
People are still using multiple boot desktops? Even here in Backwoods, Nowhere, we have had Virtual Machines working for quite some time. No need to reboot, when I can network Mac, Ubuntu, WinXP, Win7, and Debian machines ALL ON ONE DESKTOP MACHINE! Phhht! Multi-boot is so, what? 1999?
24 hour telephone tech support? Uhhhh - it looks prohibitively expensive at fifty bucks. Really - how many hours of learning do you have in Linux? Personally, I couldn't tally up the hours I've spent researching one thing, or another. Dozens of hours testing and settling on a traffic shaper, for one thing. Maybe telephone tech support would have shortened that time by a couple of factors, but SOMEONE has to pay that tech support guy who spent hours on the phone with me. And, that is just ONE aspect of setting up a desktop.
France also sold off Louisiana for a song and a dance, so that they could fund another losing war, as I recall. Funding the American Revolution came back to bite them in the ass, har har har!!
It depends on the kid. For one kid, it's impossible, for another, it is first nature. Everyone is different. Some kids NEED isolation - my youngest son might have done better with home schooling, but the other two, no way. There is no way in HELL that anyone could ever have PREVENTED my middle son from talking to everyone he met, home schooling, public schooling, or private schooling. All of us are what we are - and trying to blame our environment is one way to ensure we won't grow and develop.
Alright, you grew up without developing your social skills. Cool, I can't argue with you, on that score. I most certainly WILL question why you attribute your lack of social skills to home schooling. My own social skills were severely retarded, primarily because my home was dysfunctional, and I withdrew from everyone. This, in spite of the fact that I attended public schools, where teachers and counselors would theoretically notice that I had problems. Take my word for it - few teachers really give a damn, and the social skills you learn in the locker room aren't all that important to success in life.
Yes, read what schon wrote before I got back here. How would you like to have a squad of gnarly old men groping YOUR bodily parts, on any pretext?
Odd. Perhaps you haven't heard of the "dumbing down of America". What's odd is, the public schools are the venue of half the dumbing down. The media is the venue of the other half. As a rule, home schooled and private schooled kids are more likely to excel at the skills that schools are SUPPOSED to teach. To hell with social skills - it is NOT imperative that a child learn how to text in slang.
A sock is a pretty impressive weapon. Just take it off, and drop anything with weight into it. Sand works GREAT!