I am sorry but the Broadband heaven in Canada is absolute BS. Maybe Canada was great about 4 years ago, but not these days. I live in Switzerland and can get better broadband then living in the sticks of Canada. We have a house in Canada, that is 15 clicks away from a DSL node. For the past 5 years NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING has changed! I can get neither Cable, nor DSL, and just recently could get Satellite, but with the restrictive policies on usage it is not even close to worth its money.
Funny, you rant about the lefties, consider yourself a leftie and will vote Bush?
So if you are a liberal as you say you are, why not Nader? If you truly believe in a democratic system and are disgusted by both sides then voting for Nader is the only logical discourse, no?
Of course if I may be cynical here, maybe you are a center right who will vote for Bush because you want to point out the "evils" of the left.
Frankly there is nothing wrong with Moore or the media. More like it, it reminds me of the early seventies where people did the same thing. The problem is that as a society in the Western world we are being faced with many changes (abortion, civil liberties, gay marriage, etc). Many people cannot handle those changes and that is causing strive.
>> whereas in a democracy, the people vote directly on policy, but in practice this doesn't work unless you're a small tribe or village
Could it be that you have been duped? Think hard about this. A democracy puts the power of the vote into the hands of the people. Would representational governments pursue this? It would mean that the elected officials loose their power to rule as the hand of the people would always be the final word?
Let me give you an example from the Canadian election. Before the conservatives said "We need referrendums". Well into the election Harper toned down and said, "referrendums are not good for every little deal, just the really big issues". They asked which issues and he replied, "voting on the constitution". In other words the conservatives backed down because it meant loosing power.
Let me give another example, why is the Bush family or the Kennedy family always elected as politicians? This is democractic form of a monarchy!
So think again are you not being duped? I see democracy working well here in Switzerland.
You are referring to what is known as a semi-democractic system, like what most governments in the world have. America is a Republic, using democratic representation. This means that people do not directly influence what is going on in their country as they believe the people who represent them will do that correctly. What warps the American system these days is the fact that money makes the system go round.
Switzerland on the other hand is one of the only democracies on this planet. Now about the command what's best for the country. Sure that works in a real democracy, but not in representational governments. These days politicians have become professional politicians and do what is best for them to get reelected, which does not mean best for the country.
This guy is making the argument that if software can be owned as in the case of the BSD license then, well, its easier to sue and "integrate" into the business world. Remember to a person who only has a hammer everything in the world is a nail.
Well I used to be a Business week subscriber and quit because of idiocy like this. The guy who wrote the column often thinks of REALLY dumb things. You just shake your head and wonder why he is even writing a column.
Ok, The mathes are not completely correct. First the numbers you used are "clean". The Cp of Water is about 4, but moist air has a Cp of 2. Ok, so now we have a 1 to 2 ratio. But you fail to realize that you cannot have a 1 to 2 ratio because that is ideal. In engineering you would have a heat transfer of maybe 50% if you are lucky. So now we are essentially at 1 to 1.
Ok, so we need 59,000 tons of water to cool 59,000 tons of air. That ratio is most likely on a per hour basis as they did not seem to give a time line. Crunching the numbers we have an additional degree a year of heat added to the lake.
Does not sound like much, but it cumulates and there is a steady state. The problem though is what happens when more companies want to do this? And what happens if you do shift the lake temperature patterns?
I am not saying, dooms day, but there are ramifications. There always are ramifications. I lived a long time in North America and it gets me that they would rather change the environment than change their bad habits.
Is it so neglible? From their home page they have 59,000 tons of capacity. 59,000 tons of cooled air is not insignificant. Do some heat ratio calculations and many many thousands of tons of water will be circulated every hour. That removed water will have to be replaced by warmer water.
The problem with their approach is that they are pulling cool steady state water, as 4 degree water is the densest. The water that you call a heat store is at higher levels. The water that they are pulling is the water that is the result of thousands and thousands of summers.
There is a VERY SIMPLE solution to this! USE LESS AIRCONDITIONING! It annoys me how people in North America overdo it with the air conditioning. Usually I have to put on a sweater because it is too DAMM cold. I used to live on the Cote D'Azur and people rarely had air conditioning even though the entire summer hovered between 21C in the night and 33C in the day. There are few places that REALLY need air-conditioning on the level used in North America.
>>> Page 5: As clearly demonstrated, other than the toy OS Mac OSX, Windows has the lowest TCO.
This is pure BS! Just that comment makes me question his entire sincerity and unbiased attitude.
Let me explain my reasoning. He is making such a comment about another OS, which means from square one he is already biased and searching for data to make his point fit.
I was wondering why the Greens and co would come out with this paper. Especially since the CSU loves patents! Hey I voted for them once and will regret it for the rest of my life!
I truly hope that software patents are not allowed in Europe. Patents are bad! Copyrights are fine, but patents give monopolies on ideas which multiple people can think of.
It costs 59 per year or 9.95 per month. http://direct.msn.com/about/service.aspx I checked it out, and what I find interesting is that there no universal coverage. That is really interesting as it means in most places (not much coverage) your watch is a great wrist weight.
Agreed, with respect to being broad, etc. I would even go further and say this is an example of patent used not for technology, but to squezze money out of other companies.
Consider the following:
1) The number of references and other patents. I swear this person just wanted to overload the patent agent with bogus information.
2) The description is worded so tersely that it becomes incomprehensible. Actually it is worded to fit whatever the patent owner wants it to fit.
3) The best is the last part. Catch the title.
-"Method and system for distributing updates by presenting directory of software available for user installation that is not already installed on user station"-
Read the sentence carefully and think of what it is saying. Method and system for distributing updates for software not installed! Is this not contradictory? How can you install an update for a piece of software that is not installed?
I would substitude the word update with application and then it would be right. But oh yeah, then we can't sue Microsoft and Apple, and oh, BTW it would not be unique and patentable!
I read the article and it seemed to me the quotes of a man who has lost contact to reality.
Sure if I have a billion dollars in the bank can I have information whenever, where ever I want it. However, I am about a billion dollars short and as such have to stick to cheaper things. Namely DVD's on special or the Movie Channels.
Also what Mr Gates is forgetting YET AGAIN, is that I like to own my own data or movies.
I am also amazed at his prediction that TV's and computer's will know what I want to see. Especially since often I have no idea what I want to watch and make a habit of channel surfing.
An individual who has too much money and time on his hands....
People like to own things, whether it be a car, home, clothes, etc. Only when there is no other choice will be use "communal" stuff (electricity, etc)
When I went to University we had this "virtual" computer concept (University of Waterloo). Everything was networked and you could log on anywhere and get access to your files and programs.
YET people who could afford it bought their own computer. Simple reason why: 1) Can use the computer when you want to 2) Can put silly stickers and colors on your computer and using your own keyboard and mouse. Remember not everybody wants to use an American keyboard and push mouse. I need a trackball because I have problems with my fingers. 3) Have access to a computer, without the hassle of finding one. Imagine going from your office to a library. With a laptop it is called suspend. Going from the office to library first means finding a free computer at the library.
What you mention is an excellent point. When I was living in Canada everything was labelled in metric. So instead of buying a 1/2 liter bottle you bought 13 fluid ounces and 534 ml bottle. Ok the numbers are not totally right, but you get the idea.
NOW, most of the measurements in the US and Canada are 12.345 fluid ounces or 500 ml. It seems that even though the US does not want to change all things like you mention are in metric. I also know that the entire car industry is in metric.
So what I wonder is why people are still using imperial units....
Yes CSU is a sister party of the CDU. However the CSU is MORE right wing than the CDU. At least the CDU can be considered semi progressive, whereas the CSU is nothing more than a bunch of anti-foreigner, anti-modern old fuddy duddy's.
These folks make Bush look semi liberal! The worst part is that I actually voted for these baffoons.
Ah, but there was no vaccine when the small pox virus was put into the blankets. All there was, was the knowledge that if you already got small pox, then you were not going to catch it again.
Part of your high-mortality and highly-contagious disease theory is wrong because it does not work. For example Eobla happens to be that disease. Yet it has never caught on as a world wide problem. The reason is that it is too quick. It kills too fast to be a problem.
What is a killer disease is AIDS. It does not kill everybody, but is highly contagious. For a disease to be effective it has to both be good for carriers, and good for slowly killing the host. Fast diseases make for interesting headlines, but they do nothing to actually wipe out humanity. There was a documentary book written called Congo or something like that I think and it explains what makes a killer disease.
It is very simple to explain why people like Apple and not Sun. Apple is open to Open Source and Sun does a nice double talk. For example Sun on one hand says, "Oh we like Linux", they on the other hand say, "Oh but only for small servers not REAL hardware, as only SUN can make REAL hardware operating systems". Double talk is not good and only angers people.
> So you mean to say you've done little more than squint at them beside each other across a crowded room ?
No, I have done more than that. In fact quite a bit more.
> OS X and Linux are fundamentally different in pretty much every way that matters. About the only way they are similar is that unixy software is relatively easy to port to both of them.
Are you not contradicting yourself here? On the one hand you say they are fundamentally different, and then on the other hand it is UNIX'y and yet easy to port? So which is it? Windows is fundamentally different from Linux or OSX.
The logic is that if it is easy to port then it must be similar, no? Ok, maybe at the kernel level and for device driver writers there are huge differences. However, most people do not work at that level. They work at the UNIX'y level.
The problem I have this argument is yet again people are ignoring history. People like Bill Joy should read history a bit more before attempting to sound profound.
The problem I find all too often is that people do not acquaint themselves with history to know what the problems actually are. For germ warfare is not new. In fact it is over two hundred years old. Let me give an example http://www.somsd.k12.nj.us/~chssocst/ssgavittus1am herstsmallpox.htm
To beat the Indians instead of fighting them a general handed out Small Pox infested blankets. The effects to the Native American's were devestating and wiped out many people.
My point is that we ALREADY have the power to eradicate many people in very cost-efficient and effective manner. It is not new...
I buy your argument, but you cannot argue with Mr Brown like that. The problem is that Mr Brown believes in strong IP protection. Strong IP protection means that an individual has a unique thought that nobody else had. And if there is another person who does the "same" thing faster, or more lines, then that other person copied. After all another person could not be faster, or smarter, or more efficient.
The reason why people like him argue that way is because globalization is having this ugly boomerrang effect. Companies like globalization because it allows them to export. The problem is that as markets open other places can produce goods cheaper, better and more efficient. This means those companies that fought for globalization are saying; "Oh wait, this is not working like I wanted it to. I know how we will stop this, lets call it IP and protect the sh*t out of it".
Software was not "supposed" to be adopted as quick as it has in other countries. You see other countries should produce our cheap radio's and TV's. BUT they should never have been smart enough to be able to code software or do "intelligent" things. Ok I am being cynical!
I don't find this a bad thing because I actually use an OSX box. The thing that OSX did, and Sun nor Microsoft will do is that Apple went the Open Source route.
Apple went out of its way to make sure that its platform was compatible with most Open Source operating systems. I see very little difference between a Linux box and an OSX.
Sun and Microsoft will not do that and they mistakenly believe that they can be as successful as Apple. Sun and Microsoft will go the route of the laser disk, whereas Apple is going the route of the VHS tape.
Ok, instead of commenting on your individual comments, I will comment in general and I forgot to mention my points are with respect to the mainstream.
I am going out on a limb here and thinking that you and I belong to the five percent club. I call it the five percent club because it means that we like things that five percent of the mainstream population likes. This does not mean that you and I like the same thing.
The five percent club is a sad club because you will always be an outsider and not of interest to the marketeer. The problem of our society is that marketing for the mainstream has been too successful. There is only so much consumption of the mainstream and in the music industry it has been saturated. The downside to mainstream marketing is that people do not look for options anymore. People do not want variety.
So while *YOU* do all of these things, the masses do not. Until that cycle is broken nothing will change.
No kidding... The article is so lacking in imagination it is not even funny.
I even doubt that he is right. The reason is because it will become impractical. Right now we have plenty of CPU power on the desktop. For example we can build cars (drag racers) with 2000HP, but is it practical for a mainstream car? Not with oil prices being what they are.
As you point out computers will integrate into mainstream and the features that we pre-occupy ourselves with (RAM, CPU Speed, etc) will become irrelevant. Even now I do not say the MHZ of my computers, as it is not proportional to performance.
Slashdot Mirror
I am sorry but the Broadband heaven in Canada is absolute BS. Maybe Canada was great about 4 years ago, but not these days. I live in Switzerland and can get better broadband then living in the sticks of Canada. We have a house in Canada, that is 15 clicks away from a DSL node. For the past 5 years NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING has changed! I can get neither Cable, nor DSL, and just recently could get Satellite, but with the restrictive policies on usage it is not even close to worth its money.
Funny, you rant about the lefties, consider yourself a leftie and will vote Bush?
So if you are a liberal as you say you are, why not Nader? If you truly believe in a democratic system and are disgusted by both sides then voting for Nader is the only logical discourse, no?
Of course if I may be cynical here, maybe you are a center right who will vote for Bush because you want to point out the "evils" of the left.
Frankly there is nothing wrong with Moore or the media. More like it, it reminds me of the early seventies where people did the same thing. The problem is that as a society in the Western world we are being faced with many changes (abortion, civil liberties, gay marriage, etc). Many people cannot handle those changes and that is causing strive.
>> whereas in a democracy, the people vote directly on policy, but in practice this doesn't work unless you're a small tribe or village
Could it be that you have been duped? Think hard about this. A democracy puts the power of the vote into the hands of the people. Would representational governments pursue this? It would mean that the elected officials loose their power to rule as the hand of the people would always be the final word?
Let me give you an example from the Canadian election. Before the conservatives said "We need referrendums". Well into the election Harper toned down and said, "referrendums are not good for every little deal, just the really big issues". They asked which issues and he replied, "voting on the constitution". In other words the conservatives backed down because it meant loosing power.
Let me give another example, why is the Bush family or the Kennedy family always elected as politicians? This is democractic form of a monarchy!
So think again are you not being duped? I see democracy working well here in Switzerland.
Here is your answer:
A democracy, like Switzerland! Not a representational government.
You are referring to what is known as a semi-democractic system, like what most governments in the world have. America is a Republic, using democratic representation. This means that people do not directly influence what is going on in their country as they believe the people who represent them will do that correctly. What warps the American system these days is the fact that money makes the system go round.
Switzerland on the other hand is one of the only democracies on this planet. Now about the command what's best for the country. Sure that works in a real democracy, but not in representational governments. These days politicians have become professional politicians and do what is best for them to get reelected, which does not mean best for the country.
This guy is making the argument that if software can be owned as in the case of the BSD license then, well, its easier to sue and "integrate" into the business world. Remember to a person who only has a hammer everything in the world is a nail.
Well I used to be a Business week subscriber and quit because of idiocy like this. The guy who wrote the column often thinks of REALLY dumb things. You just shake your head and wonder why he is even writing a column.
Ok, The mathes are not completely correct. First the numbers you used are "clean". The Cp of Water is about 4, but moist air has a Cp of 2. Ok, so now we have a 1 to 2 ratio. But you fail to realize that you cannot have a 1 to 2 ratio because that is ideal. In engineering you would have a heat transfer of maybe 50% if you are lucky. So now we are essentially at 1 to 1.
Ok, so we need 59,000 tons of water to cool 59,000 tons of air. That ratio is most likely on a per hour basis as they did not seem to give a time line. Crunching the numbers we have an additional degree a year of heat added to the lake.
Does not sound like much, but it cumulates and there is a steady state. The problem though is what happens when more companies want to do this? And what happens if you do shift the lake temperature patterns?
I am not saying, dooms day, but there are ramifications. There always are ramifications. I lived a long time in North America and it gets me that they would rather change the environment than change their bad habits.
Is it so neglible? From their home page they have 59,000 tons of capacity. 59,000 tons of cooled air is not insignificant. Do some heat ratio calculations and many many thousands of tons of water will be circulated every hour. That removed water will have to be replaced by warmer water.
The problem with their approach is that they are pulling cool steady state water, as 4 degree water is the densest. The water that you call a heat store is at higher levels. The water that they are pulling is the water that is the result of thousands and thousands of summers.
There is a VERY SIMPLE solution to this! USE LESS AIRCONDITIONING! It annoys me how people in North America overdo it with the air conditioning. Usually I have to put on a sweater because it is too DAMM cold. I used to live on the Cote D'Azur and people rarely had air conditioning even though the entire summer hovered between 21C in the night and 33C in the day. There are few places that REALLY need air-conditioning on the level used in North America.
Here is a comment I "love"
>>> Page 5: As clearly demonstrated, other than the toy OS Mac OSX, Windows has the lowest TCO.
This is pure BS! Just that comment makes me question his entire sincerity and unbiased attitude.
Let me explain my reasoning. He is making such a comment about another OS, which means from square one he is already biased and searching for data to make his point fit.
I was wondering why the Greens and co would come out with this paper. Especially since the CSU loves patents! Hey I voted for them once and will regret it for the rest of my life!
I truly hope that software patents are not allowed in Europe. Patents are bad! Copyrights are fine, but patents give monopolies on ideas which multiple people can think of.
It costs 59 per year or 9.95 per month.
http://direct.msn.com/about/service.aspx
I checked it out, and what I find interesting is that there no universal coverage. That is really interesting as it means in most places (not much coverage) your watch is a great wrist weight.
Gee makes me REALLY want to buy it, NOT!
Agreed, with respect to being broad, etc. I would even go further and say this is an example of patent used not for technology, but to squezze money out of other companies.
Consider the following:
1) The number of references and other patents. I swear this person just wanted to overload the patent agent with bogus information.
2) The description is worded so tersely that it becomes incomprehensible. Actually it is worded to fit whatever the patent owner wants it to fit.
3) The best is the last part. Catch the title.
-"Method and system for distributing updates by presenting directory of software available for user installation that is not already installed on user station"-
Read the sentence carefully and think of what it is saying. Method and system for distributing updates for software not installed! Is this not contradictory? How can you install an update for a piece of software that is not installed?
I would substitude the word update with application and then it would be right. But oh yeah, then we can't sue Microsoft and Apple, and oh, BTW it would not be unique and patentable!
Na ja....
I read the article and it seemed to me the quotes of a man who has lost contact to reality.
Sure if I have a billion dollars in the bank can I have information whenever, where ever I want it. However, I am about a billion dollars short and as such have to stick to cheaper things. Namely DVD's on special or the Movie Channels.
Also what Mr Gates is forgetting YET AGAIN, is that I like to own my own data or movies.
I am also amazed at his prediction that TV's and computer's will know what I want to see. Especially since often I have no idea what I want to watch and make a habit of channel surfing.
An individual who has too much money and time on his hands....
eeehhhhh.... NOT....
People like to own things, whether it be a car, home, clothes, etc. Only when there is no other choice will be use "communal" stuff (electricity, etc)
When I went to University we had this "virtual" computer concept (University of Waterloo). Everything was networked and you could log on anywhere and get access to your files and programs.
YET people who could afford it bought their own computer. Simple reason why:
1) Can use the computer when you want to
2) Can put silly stickers and colors on your computer and using your own keyboard and mouse. Remember not everybody wants to use an American keyboard and push mouse. I need a trackball because I have problems with my fingers.
3) Have access to a computer, without the hassle of finding one. Imagine going from your office to a library. With a laptop it is called suspend. Going from the office to library first means finding a free computer at the library.
Nope, generally speaking silly idea....
Try Jeb Bush?
What you mention is an excellent point. When I was living in Canada everything was labelled in metric. So instead of buying a 1/2 liter bottle you bought 13 fluid ounces and 534 ml bottle. Ok the numbers are not totally right, but you get the idea.
NOW, most of the measurements in the US and Canada are 12.345 fluid ounces or 500 ml. It seems that even though the US does not want to change all things like you mention are in metric. I also know that the entire car industry is in metric.
So what I wonder is why people are still using imperial units....
Yes CSU is a sister party of the CDU. However the CSU is MORE right wing than the CDU. At least the CDU can be considered semi progressive, whereas the CSU is nothing more than a bunch of anti-foreigner, anti-modern old fuddy duddy's.
These folks make Bush look semi liberal! The worst part is that I actually voted for these baffoons.
Ah, but there was no vaccine when the small pox virus was put into the blankets. All there was, was the knowledge that if you already got small pox, then you were not going to catch it again.
Part of your high-mortality and highly-contagious disease theory is wrong because it does not work. For example Eobla happens to be that disease. Yet it has never caught on as a world wide problem. The reason is that it is too quick. It kills too fast to be a problem.
What is a killer disease is AIDS. It does not kill everybody, but is highly contagious. For a disease to be effective it has to both be good for carriers, and good for slowly killing the host. Fast diseases make for interesting headlines, but they do nothing to actually wipe out humanity. There was a documentary book written called Congo or something like that I think and it explains what makes a killer disease.
It is very simple to explain why people like Apple and not Sun. Apple is open to Open Source and Sun does a nice double talk. For example Sun on one hand says, "Oh we like Linux", they on the other hand say, "Oh but only for small servers not REAL hardware, as only SUN can make REAL hardware operating systems". Double talk is not good and only angers people.
> So you mean to say you've done little more than squint at them beside each other across a crowded room ?
No, I have done more than that. In fact quite a bit more.
> OS X and Linux are fundamentally different in pretty much every way that matters. About the only way they are similar is that unixy software is relatively easy to port to both of them.
Are you not contradicting yourself here? On the one hand you say they are fundamentally different, and then on the other hand it is UNIX'y and yet easy to port? So which is it? Windows is fundamentally different from Linux or OSX.
The logic is that if it is easy to port then it must be similar, no? Ok, maybe at the kernel level and for device driver writers there are huge differences. However, most people do not work at that level. They work at the UNIX'y level.
The problem I have this argument is yet again people are ignoring history. People like Bill Joy should read history a bit more before attempting to sound profound.
m herstsmallpox.htm
The problem I find all too often is that people do
not acquaint themselves with history to know what the problems actually are. For germ warfare is not new. In fact it is over two hundred years old. Let me give an example http://www.somsd.k12.nj.us/~chssocst/ssgavittus1a
To beat the Indians instead of fighting them a general handed out Small Pox infested blankets. The effects to the Native American's were devestating and wiped out many people.
My point is that we ALREADY have the power to eradicate many people in very cost-efficient and effective manner. It is not new...
I buy your argument, but you cannot argue with Mr Brown like that. The problem is that Mr Brown believes in strong IP protection. Strong IP protection means that an individual has a unique thought that nobody else had. And if there is another person who does the "same" thing faster, or more lines, then that other person copied. After all another person could not be faster, or smarter, or more efficient.
The reason why people like him argue that way is because globalization is having this ugly boomerrang effect. Companies like globalization because it allows them to export. The problem is that as markets open other places can produce goods cheaper, better and more efficient. This means those companies that fought for globalization are saying; "Oh wait, this is not working like I wanted it to. I know how we will stop this, lets call it IP and protect the sh*t out of it".
Software was not "supposed" to be adopted as quick as it has in other countries. You see other countries should produce our cheap radio's and TV's. BUT they should never have been smart enough to be able to code software or do "intelligent" things. Ok I am being cynical!
I don't find this a bad thing because I actually use an OSX box. The thing that OSX did, and Sun nor Microsoft will do is that Apple went the Open Source route.
Apple went out of its way to make sure that its platform was compatible with most Open Source operating systems. I see very little difference between a Linux box and an OSX.
Sun and Microsoft will not do that and they mistakenly believe that they can be as successful as Apple. Sun and Microsoft will go the route of the laser disk, whereas Apple is going the route of the VHS tape.
Ok, instead of commenting on your individual comments, I will comment in general and I forgot to mention my points are with respect to the mainstream.
I am going out on a limb here and thinking that you and I belong to the five percent club. I call it the five percent club because it means that we like things that five percent of the mainstream population likes. This does not mean that you and I like the same thing.
The five percent club is a sad club because you will always be an outsider and not of interest to the marketeer. The problem of our society is that marketing for the mainstream has been too successful. There is only so much consumption of the mainstream and in the music industry it has been saturated. The downside to mainstream marketing is that people do not look for options anymore. People do not want variety.
So while *YOU* do all of these things, the masses do not. Until that cycle is broken nothing will change.
No kidding... The article is so lacking in imagination it is not even funny.
I even doubt that he is right. The reason is because it will become impractical. Right now we have plenty of CPU power on the desktop. For example we can build cars (drag racers) with 2000HP, but is it practical for a mainstream car? Not with oil prices being what they are.
As you point out computers will integrate into mainstream and the features that we pre-occupy ourselves with (RAM, CPU Speed, etc) will become irrelevant. Even now I do not say the MHZ of my computers, as it is not proportional to performance.