A number of places bit the distributed.net game as a sort of platform-vs.-platform contest, feeling that showing who can bust through the most blocks somehow indicates system superiority.
Does team affiliation matter in the end, or is the greater goal the cooperative effort of so many people as members of distributed.net?
Does anything I say matter in the end? Probably not. Just wondering, is all.:^)
Hrm. Yes, this is old "news." Yes, the media has been saturating us with information about this guy and his little e-commerce publicity stunt. Yes, he's got to be a little wacky to do this voluntarily, even though it's not too strange compared to how some other geeks live as it is.
But an entire year without being able to go out and meet other people?
Ya gotta wonder just how much cyberpr0n this guy is going to access during his year long sentence! Pr0nDotComGuy?
Well, you can configure this on the end-user interface by selecting that the articles be displayed "Newest First."
I don't know if this requires you to be logged in, however. Either way, it's a nice way to get Slashdot to behave the way you want, even if the occasional Anonymous Coward still won't.
Sure, the general consensus is that Keanu is a lousy actor. I can grant as much, and in fact, I was deeply scared that his Bill&Tedified acting style was going to put a severe crimp in my ability to enjoy what the trailers portrayed as a kick-ass flick.
I was pleasantly surprised. I think his "mono-emotional" and general appearance as Dude-With-Severe-Lack-Of-Clue worked very well for him in his role as Neo... a character who spent most of the movie without a Clue, and trying desperately to cope with the changing world around him. Not much of a stretch. The problem came when Neo finally got a grip on the Matrix at the end of the movie. That's when I was unable to think of Keanu's flat affect as being appropriate to the character.
This could be a major problem when the sequels are filmed... unless someone shells out for lessons for our man Reeves. Donations, anyone?
I think that, while the thought of the Amiga rights being handed over to the Amino group is some of the most positive news Amiga users have heard in a long time, Amiga fans need to bite back their usual rabid enthusiasm. Certainly, Bill and Fleecy aren't going to stand up in the next few days and begin announcing the production of all-new Amiga super computers. There is a lot that has to be done between now and then.
Amino is a group made up of many people who have been prominent in the Amiga Community. As any wanderings through an Amiga UseNet group will demonstrate, there are multiple opinions about exactly what direction Amiga needs to go in order to innovate and survive in today's market. One of the first things Amino will need to do is come forth with a single coherent direction for the future. That sure as hell isn't happening overnight!
Secondly, what kind of financial backing does Amino have? Do they have the juice to kick out the kind of development that Amiga users are craving? Maybe not now, but they might develop sufficient fiscal muscle in the future. But until then, we'll probably have to continue the proud Amiga end-user tradition of sitting on our hands waiting for the sun to peek out from the clouds.
I'm not telling you (other Amigaheads) not to be thrilled at the news. Nor am I trying to be a complete pessimist. We've been burned repeatedly in the past by news developments which serve to inflate our hopes, only to leave us disappointed in the end. You'd think that after so many such experiences, we'd learn to approach each news story with a little more realism/skepticism.
I wish the Amino group the best of luck. This Amiga 4000 could use some new toys.:^)
Wolf Detrich and Phase5 bragging about their products eons before they ever hit distribution is nothing new. They've become something of a phenomenon in the Amiga world, being infamous for their "promise now, deliver later" attitude. It would appear they enjoy sounding "ahead of the times" by announcing all sorts of radical products... but they don't seem to be quite so advanced when their development timelines start to get extended... and extended... and extended.
Can you tell I have a real beef with this? I can understand announcing a product in advance to generate interest, but phase5 typically does so about a YEAR in advance, and then takes their announced "anticipated ship dates" and adds MONTHS to them.
Dammit Wolf, I know there aren't many hardware developers left for the Amiga, but that doesn't give you and your company free reign to jerk us all around.
The Amiga Kickstart 3.1 ROMs are available from a number of retailers all over the world (believe it or not, that stuff still sells). I'm not going to turn this message board into a post of free-plugs for Amiga resellers, but they're out there if you choose to look.
Actually, as of late the ROMs have been selling in higher quantities, because hardware ROMs are required for the latest 3.5 release of the AmigaOS (http://www.amiga.de/amigaos35). It's forcing everyone to abandon their softkick ROM emulation hacks and go out and buy the real thing. Amiga Inc. is bundling the upgrade chips with their OS software for that segment of the population.
Anyway. This is getting a little off topic. Where were we? Oh yeah... iWin sucks.:^)
I try not to get emotionally involved in these reports, but this time I can't help it... and I apologize in advance.
iWin shot its credibility down the craphole when it started making grandiose claims about creating a next generation Amiga computer. As the Amiga market, desperate for any kind of light at end of this long dark (and exceedingly depressing) tunnel, began to examine their product specifications... they began to realize that they were being fed a load of bullshit. I think some of this was thrown on up on Slashdot way back when.
iWin was creating an nextgen Amiga system, and yet their sales did not include either Kickstart hardware ROMS (standard Amiga equipment), or a copy of the operating system. Amiga Inc. was never contacted, and as such could not (and did not) officially lisence their tech. iWin continued to plead it's legitimacy, but (I'm not going to cite specifics, I'm just writing quick) more and more holes began to appear in their story.
I think it's fair to say that anyone who has followed the iWin story is convinced that they're full of shit. This feels like the "company" is just taking their hoaxing of the Amiga Market and throwing it in the face the larger Linux community.
Ordered mine beginning of October. I'm still waiting for it to show up. I've sent a number of E-mails via. their web site to Customer Service requesting information about when my unit will be shipped... politely explaining my reasons for needing a timeline a little more specific than their standard "4-6 weeks after ordering" line... but I've yet to receive a response of any kind.
I called them once. Way back when. Just to see if my order was subject to their ordering database bug (see their website). They redirected me from the toll-free number to an ordinary long distance number to get information on my unit... and they put me back on hold during that time.
(That might have changed, since their staffing has apparently been seriously reinforced.)
In the end, I learned my order was intact, and that my Visor should be in my hands "around Halloween" as I was originally promised. I'M STILL WAITING.
Once it comes, I'll happily throw my two cents in about battery life and anything else I can blather about without being as off topic as this message seems to have become.
Many people seem to be missing the point. The author is primarily discussing the use of open source software in the management of medical information. Charting, databases, lab reports, demographics, etc. etc. Nowhere did I see the use of OSS in cardiac monitors or CT scanners mentioned, nor do I think that's anywhere near what he's proposing.
You can guarantee in the vast majority of cases that the software produced for those specific "mission-critical" devices will be proprietary to the device itself. How the assertion of this turns the previous replies in this thread to "complete garbage," however, is beyond me.
"If Open Source had caught-on in a major way 10+ years ago, things would certainly be different in today's medical industry.
I think the author is trying to make the point that things *CAN* be different in the medical industry, if the open-source ideals (which have only really hit the general public over the last year or two, if at all) are embraced now. Give it another ten years or so and we'll see what the playing field looks like then.
"... yet doctors profit bigtime selling those same organs and blood to patients in need."
Um.
Doctors get paid for implementing their expertise in the transplantation/transfusion procedure itself... not for the selling the biomatter. There is no way you can claim physicians are making heavy cash by selling organs... at least, not legally. It's absurd.
Then again, with the HMO system as it's emerged in the United States (as viewed from my Canadian perspective), I wouldn't be surprised if the insurance companies started trying to get their greedy fingers into the organ donation game...:^)
"In 1996 if you even brought up the subject of computers in medicine at an interview they would have drawn and quartered you and used your remains to teach gross anatomy (personal experience)"
Counterpoint. I did talk a bit about the application of computers and information management technology during my medical school interview (1997), and not only did they allow me to leave with my limbs still attached to my body, but they let me in. Since then, I've been intimately involved in the school's attempts (however feeble at times) to incorporate IT into their curriculum.
Physicians aren't as scared of tech as many might think. Well... not all of them.:^)
"OSS' greatest enemy isn't Microsoft; it's its own zealots."
Learn from Amiga's example. Fantastic computer system, (and still is, IMHO) but it's largely disregarded mostly because of the sheer magnitude of the fanaticism generated by the extremists of the group. In the face of such silliness, it's very easy to just suck in your gut and tell everyone to fuck off with their opinions. If OSS isn't careful, it could fall into the same hole... and very easily too.
(and yes, there are many other reasons that Amigas aren't around much any more, but I'm not going to get into it here, and I hope you don't either)
The article mentions the actual document the Pentagon produced, "An Assessment of International Legal Issues in Information Operations.".
Would anyone know how someone such as myself would be able to get their hands on such a report? It sounds downright fascinating, even though I would anticipate it being a generally dry legalistic read.
Incidentially (and I know I'm picking a minor point out of the major thrust of the text), the lastest version of the Voyager browser does in fact have plug-ins for Shockwave multimedia extensions.
Not just phase 5... the people at AROS, and the Phoenix Consortium's attempts to built a true successor to the Amiga computer in the absence of any "Amiga Inc." support would just love to get their hands on this stuff. Coupled with ESR's plea to open-source the old AmigaOS code, it could potentially go a long way.
Then again, I still use my Amiga4000 as my primary machine (beside a Linux dual C366 and others here at home) so I guess I'm an eternal optimist.
I've been an Amiga user for the last eternity, and one of the programs I use most often on the 'mig is Photogenics. While people tend to hear "Amiga" and immediately think "outdated" (I'll leave the "Amiga was always ahead of its time arguements for another time), Paul Nolan has done an excellent job of continuing development of his product throughout the years, and Photogenics is very up to date (vs. programs like Deluxe Paint which evoke nostalgia from former Amigans). Photogenics truly stands up to the other software packages in its field, regardless of platform. Yes, it is directed more toward graphic manipulation than graphic creation (ie: a paint program), but I don't find it particularily limited on either front. Photogenics has a simple yet powerful user interface which is generally quite intuitive to use.
(Ohmigosh, that last sentence sounds like such marketing drivel.)
You can make all the philosophical arguements you want, but when I take a look at the fact that Photogenics might be coming to my Linux box, I'm damned excited. Two of my computers running Photogenics instead of just one? Sweeeeeeet.
I wrote this in one thread, but I'm guessing it'll be too buried for a lot of people to get to (or it'll get moderated down, blah blah blah).
http://ipmasq.cjb.net is the URL for the Linux IP Masquerade Resource page. Once there, consult the IP Masquerade mini-HOWTO (v1.76-Jul18.99), patches for older kernels, the mailing list, the IP masquerade application collection (if you want to configure that one pesky piece of Internet software just right.), the TrinityOS step-by-step documentation for IPMASQ and network security, and even goodies for people on dynamic (gasp!) IP connections.
It's an excellent site, which was truly an invaluable resource when I was trying to put the jumper cables to my own IP MASQ'ing gateway box. Even my Amiga has no problem getting through to the outside world via. the Linux box.
Good luck. It can be a little tricky in spots, but the end result is worth it.
Slashdot Mirror
Does team affiliation matter in the end, or is the greater goal the cooperative effort of so many people as members of distributed.net?
Does anything I say matter in the end? Probably not. Just wondering, is all. :^)
But an entire year without being able to go out and meet other people?
Ya gotta wonder just how much cyberpr0n this guy is going to access during his year long sentence! Pr0nDotComGuy?
Heh heh heh.
I don't know if this requires you to be logged in, however. Either way, it's a nice way to get Slashdot to behave the way you want, even if the occasional Anonymous Coward still won't.
I was pleasantly surprised. I think his "mono-emotional" and general appearance as Dude-With-Severe-Lack-Of-Clue worked very well for him in his role as Neo... a character who spent most of the movie without a Clue, and trying desperately to cope with the changing world around him. Not much of a stretch. The problem came when Neo finally got a grip on the Matrix at the end of the movie. That's when I was unable to think of Keanu's flat affect as being appropriate to the character.
This could be a major problem when the sequels are filmed... unless someone shells out for lessons for our man Reeves. Donations, anyone?
Amino is a group made up of many people who have been prominent in the Amiga Community. As any wanderings through an Amiga UseNet group will demonstrate, there are multiple opinions about exactly what direction Amiga needs to go in order to innovate and survive in today's market. One of the first things Amino will need to do is come forth with a single coherent direction for the future. That sure as hell isn't happening overnight!
Secondly, what kind of financial backing does Amino have? Do they have the juice to kick out the kind of development that Amiga users are craving? Maybe not now, but they might develop sufficient fiscal muscle in the future. But until then, we'll probably have to continue the proud Amiga end-user tradition of sitting on our hands waiting for the sun to peek out from the clouds.
I'm not telling you (other Amigaheads) not to be thrilled at the news. Nor am I trying to be a complete pessimist. We've been burned repeatedly in the past by news developments which serve to inflate our hopes, only to leave us disappointed in the end. You'd think that after so many such experiences, we'd learn to approach each news story with a little more realism/skepticism.
I wish the Amino group the best of luck. This Amiga 4000 could use some new toys. :^)
Can you tell I have a real beef with this? I can understand announcing a product in advance to generate interest, but phase5 typically does so about a YEAR in advance, and then takes their announced "anticipated ship dates" and adds MONTHS to them.
Dammit Wolf, I know there aren't many hardware developers left for the Amiga, but that doesn't give you and your company free reign to jerk us all around.
"Razer makes for penetrating, explosive gameplay."
Who says there's no sex in advertising? :^)
Actually, as of late the ROMs have been selling in higher quantities, because hardware ROMs are required for the latest 3.5 release of the AmigaOS (http://www.amiga.de/amigaos35). It's forcing everyone to abandon their softkick ROM emulation hacks and go out and buy the real thing. Amiga Inc. is bundling the upgrade chips with their OS software for that segment of the population.
Anyway. This is getting a little off topic. Where were we? Oh yeah... iWin sucks. :^)
iWin shot its credibility down the craphole when it started making grandiose claims about creating a next generation Amiga computer. As the Amiga market, desperate for any kind of light at end of this long dark (and exceedingly depressing) tunnel, began to examine their product specifications... they began to realize that they were being fed a load of bullshit. I think some of this was thrown on up on Slashdot way back when.
iWin was creating an nextgen Amiga system, and yet their sales did not include either Kickstart hardware ROMS (standard Amiga equipment), or a copy of the operating system. Amiga Inc. was never contacted, and as such could not (and did not) officially lisence their tech. iWin continued to plead it's legitimacy, but (I'm not going to cite specifics, I'm just writing quick) more and more holes began to appear in their story.
I think it's fair to say that anyone who has followed the iWin story is convinced that they're full of shit. This feels like the "company" is just taking their hoaxing of the Amiga Market and throwing it in the face the larger Linux community.
Don't believe the hype.
I called them once. Way back when. Just to see if my order was subject to their ordering database bug (see their website). They redirected me from the toll-free number to an ordinary long distance number to get information on my unit... and they put me back on hold during that time.
(That might have changed, since their staffing has apparently been seriously reinforced.)
In the end, I learned my order was intact, and that my Visor should be in my hands "around Halloween" as I was originally promised. I'M STILL WAITING.
Once it comes, I'll happily throw my two cents in about battery life and anything else I can blather about without being as off topic as this message seems to have become.
You can guarantee in the vast majority of cases that the software produced for those specific "mission-critical" devices will be proprietary to the device itself. How the assertion of this turns the previous replies in this thread to "complete garbage," however, is beyond me.
I think the author is trying to make the point that things *CAN* be different in the medical industry, if the open-source ideals (which have only really hit the general public over the last year or two, if at all) are embraced now. Give it another ten years or so and we'll see what the playing field looks like then.
Um.
Doctors get paid for implementing their expertise in the transplantation/transfusion procedure itself... not for the selling the biomatter. There is no way you can claim physicians are making heavy cash by selling organs... at least, not legally. It's absurd.
Then again, with the HMO system as it's emerged in the United States (as viewed from my Canadian perspective), I wouldn't be surprised if the insurance companies started trying to get their greedy fingers into the organ donation game... :^)
Counterpoint. I did talk a bit about the application of computers and information management technology during my medical school interview (1997), and not only did they allow me to leave with my limbs still attached to my body, but they let me in. Since then, I've been intimately involved in the school's attempts (however feeble at times) to incorporate IT into their curriculum.
Physicians aren't as scared of tech as many might think. Well... not all of them. :^)
(I'm not a doctor, but I play one on IRC.)
Learn from Amiga's example. Fantastic computer system, (and still is, IMHO) but it's largely disregarded mostly because of the sheer magnitude of the fanaticism generated by the extremists of the group. In the face of such silliness, it's very easy to just suck in your gut and tell everyone to fuck off with their opinions. If OSS isn't careful, it could fall into the same hole... and very easily too.
(and yes, there are many other reasons that Amigas aren't around much any more, but I'm not going to get into it here, and I hope you don't either)
The article mentions the actual document the Pentagon produced, "An Assessment of International Legal Issues in Information Operations.".
Would anyone know how someone such as myself would be able to get their hands on such a report? It sounds downright fascinating, even though I would anticipate it being a generally dry legalistic read.
"It's not dead, it's resting."
He did say it was a "loose" interpretation, after all.
Then again, I still use my Amiga4000 as my primary machine (beside a Linux dual C366 and others here at home) so I guess I'm an eternal optimist.
My biases are my own.
(Ohmigosh, that last sentence sounds like such marketing drivel.)
You can make all the philosophical arguements you want, but when I take a look at the fact that Photogenics might be coming to my Linux box, I'm damned excited. Two of my computers running Photogenics instead of just one? Sweeeeeeet.
It was worth a shot, no?
I stand erected.
Amiga snobs think of the 600 as being closer to a CALCULATOR than a real 'miggy.
http://ipmasq.cjb.net is the URL for the Linux IP Masquerade Resource page. Once there, consult the IP Masquerade mini-HOWTO (v1.76-Jul18.99), patches for older kernels, the mailing list, the IP masquerade application collection (if you want to configure that one pesky piece of Internet software just right.), the TrinityOS step-by-step documentation for IPMASQ and network security, and even goodies for people on dynamic (gasp!) IP connections.
It's an excellent site, which was truly an invaluable resource when I was trying to put the jumper cables to my own IP MASQ'ing gateway box. Even my Amiga has no problem getting through to the outside world via. the Linux box.
Good luck. It can be a little tricky in spots, but the end result is worth it.
Let that be a lesson to you. Always preview before you submit.