The record shortest survival time, last time I checked, at the University of Alberta is four seconds. That's from the time they plugged in an unprotected Windows XP machine until the time it was compromised.
That's not enough time to engage your software firewall pre-SP2. I'm not sure of the condition post-SP2.
Oh, sorry, I'm not saying that you can currently get a tablet in the $375 - $750 region, I'm saying this is what a well-priced tablet would cost and what I'd hope Apple would charge if they released one. There are several major reasons why wintel tablet pcs haven't taken off, one of the biggest of these is the price point they are selling them at. Absolutely outrageous. If Apple released a tablet in the region of $1000 - $2500, they'd be rightfully laughed out of the auditorium.
Your 12" iBook costs roughly $1099 U.S. new. A well-priced tablet would be, I'm estimating, in the $375 - $750 region.
More importantly, a well-designed tablet would allow you to start working on your desktop, decide you want to head downstairs for a coffee, and take your tablet with you. All the software running on the desktop would move over to the tablet, you do your work, then you return and move everything back.
Now, I have no idea if either of these points would apply to a proposed Apple tablet, but this is what my friends and I have been discussing as possibilities if Apple released a tablet.
The term "COMPUTER" as used herein shall mean the HARDWARE, if the HARDWARE is a single computer system, or shall mean the computer system with which the HARDWARE operates, if the HARDWARE is a computer system component.
So no, the definition does not include any computing device owned by me.:)
The hardware, by the way, is defined as
the computer system or computer system component [...] with which you acquired the Microsoft software product(s).
Most of the time, you can buy an OEM version of Windows along with a cable. In that case, you may be able to play silly games by selling (or transferring) the cable. It would be even more confusing if you bought the OEM version WITHOUT any hardware.
Re:Apple is still ahead
on
Linux vs. Windows
·
· Score: 1, Informative
From my EULA for Windows XP:
* Software as a Component of the Computer - Transfer. THIS LICENSE MAY NOT BE SHARED, TRANSFERRED TO OR USED CONCURRENTLY ON DIFFERENT COMPUTERS.
The SOFTWARE is licensed with the COMPUTER as a single integrated product and may only be used with the COMPUTER. If the SOFTWARE is not accompanied by HARDWARE, you may not use the SOFTWARE. You may permanently transfer all of your rights under this EULA only as part of a permanent sale or transfer of the COMPUTER, provided you retain no copies, if you transfer the SOFTWARE (including all component parts, the media, any upgrades, this EULA and the Certificate of Authenticity), and the recipient agrees to the terms of this EULA. If the SOFTWARE is an upgrade, any transfer must also include all prior versions of the SOFTWARE.
So, you are wrong. I am not entitled by my EULA to sell Windows XP separate from the computer. Furthermore, I cannot transfer it from one computer (say, a computer destroyed in fire) to another, new one.
The wired article has a good point, many systems shipping with Linux will in fact end up with Windows. However, the reverse also holds. My work system shipped with a license for Windows XP, and I got another license with MSDN. However, my work machine was immediately stripped before its first boot and had Linux installed on it. My home computer runs Windows for gaming and Linux for everything else.
Neither of these systems are included in IDC's count of Linux desktops as neither system came with Linux when delivered.
Fundamentally, it is really hard to estimate how many desktop systems primarily run Linux. You can't even ask corporate managers, many of them don't have a good idea of what is going on.
Your country has a rather annoying tendency of assuming they have legal jurisdiction over the entire world. See Dmitri Sklyarov, for example. Jon Johansen should be safe provided he never sets foot on U.S. soil any point in his life (the major mistake that Sklyarov made). They probably don't care enough to extradite him (and would likely fail in any case), like they are attempting with Bobby Fischer (admittedly, a U.S. citizen at the time).
What evidence do you have that this employee is using Seagate's IP as leverage? Isn't it more likely that he simply no longer wants to work at Seagate but still wants to work in his field? After all, Western Digital couldn't legally use any of the IP that this employee brought over anyway.
In my opinion, a company should be able to make the non-compete time as long as they want, provided they pay you fair market rates during this time. If that is too costly to the company, fine... let the ex-employee work for someone else.
You inevitably learn things while employed. While it would be morally wrong to take trade secrets from one employer to another, it is not morally wrong to take your experience. After all, that's the reason you hire people who have worked in the field rather than people fresh out of school.
If this employee's knowledge is that valuable, Seagate should have no problem paying him during the two year non-compete. Alternatively, they should allow him to work in his field and sue the pants off of Western Digital if the trade secrets suddenly appear in future products from WD.
No. Trade secrets are still protected. However, just because you know some trade secrets does not imply that you can no longer work in your field. The new company you work for just has to be careful, as do you, not to spill them.
My problem isn't with the protection of trade secrets, it is with the ex-employer preventing you from working in your field.
Heck, I'd even say it would be fair to pay the ex-employee the greater of his previous salary and the going rate for an employee with those skills, over the next two years.
I see no problem with this whatsoever, provided of course that Seagate does the only reasonable thing and pays this ex-employee the greater of what he'd have earnt working at Seagate and what he was offered at Western Digital over the next two years.
Now, if they aren't willing to do this, they are essentially trying to stop this guy from earning a living by working in his field. And that is unreasonable and illegal in most places.
iBooks have pretty decent battery life when you aren't doing anything much with them but when I was using my iBook for compiling, etc., I found I'd get only about as much life out of it as I would out of, say, a Dell laptop. That is to say, roughly two hours. I'd mention the heat problems but that's off-topic and affects Wintel and Linux laptops just as much these days.
In fact, he claims SCO has no intention of launching new lawsuits against "Linux users" (not just SCO customers), at least until the claims currently in front of the various courts are worked out.
Of course, you could well be right, he may change his mind and claim later that only customers are safe. Of course, this has so far proven incorrect, SCO customers are the least safe.
I love Linux. I think SCO's claims are totally without merit. But please remember, just because Darl McBride says he won't sue any more customers does not mean he'll follow through. Remember, he's made all kinds of claims and promises in the past, almost none of which turned out to be true. His lack of honesty (or, optimistically, his lack of knowledge) cuts both ways.
So, if you are an SCO customer, or even if you aren't, and if you run Linux, BSD, or Windows (all of which SCO has stated a claim to), you are still not safe. They may still sue you, even after claiming they won't.
This may be true in the U.S. (in fact, I believe it is illegal to mail yourself something in the U.S.), however this is an acceptable form of proof in Canada and is indeed encouraged by the copyright board of Canada.
Do you have any evidence showing that the cost of living in Canada is 40% less? Last time I checked, I found that the cost of living was actually pretty similar, despite the fact that Canadian programmers tend to get paid less in Canadian dollars than U.S. programmers get in U.S. dollars.
I'm not saying that the cost of living is not much less in Canada, only that the last time I checked, I could not find evidence of this.
That's a link for the vc toolkit 2003. The Qt non-commercial Windows edition requires Visual Studio 6 and will not work with earlier or later compilers.
See my follow-up for some comments I made for a similar response.
"It also wouldn't work with my iPod until I allowed it to delete every song on my iPod"
Probably because you: A) Were using an OS X iPod on a PC or vice versa. Duh, they're formatted differently. B) Switched the management styles. Duh, iTunes can't track stuff when it doesn't know where it came from.
No, I was using a Windows-formatted iPod. I don't know why iTunes can't track stuff when it doesn't know where it came from, the other software I use with my iPod has no such problem. iTunes is the only iPod-management application I've ever seen that demands you erase the entire iPod before it'll deign to run with it.
As to my unresponsiveness, are you sure that you can still use iTunes while it is synchronising with your iPod (such as when you plug your iPod in)? For example, can you play songs? Can you access the menu? Can you add new songs to your playlist? Can you create a new playlist? Does the mouse cursor change or does it stay an arrow?
If everything works properly for you, I think I'll file a bug report and see if Apple can track down the problem.
My apologies, my initial message was not meant as a troll and it looks like I got at least one thing wrong, the right-mouse-button.
My complaint about my iPod not working with iTunes until I allowed iTunes to delete all contents on my iPod still stands. I do not want to use my iPod with multiple computers but I do want to use it with other software, primarily Linux software. I never had any problem with any of the other iPod-management software I used but now iTunes refuses to allow anything else.
I did not notice the plus button at the bottom left as I almost never use tool buttons. Thanks for pointing this out. I had been trying to right-click on the playlist area to add a new playlist and was annoyed that it did not work.
I have no explanation for why iTunes is responsive for everyone else and not for me. I hook up to the iPod via firewire but when I first plug in the iPod or when it is updating, I cannot do anything else with iTunes. The menu doesn't work (iirc), I can't move songs around, add new playlists, etc. Are you really saying that iTunes continues to be responsive for you during this time? I just checked that I really am using iTunes 4.6 and not some early beta version.
Ugggh! iTunes has some serious and very significant problems with its user-interface design and implementation for Windows. Now, I've used OS X and really quite like it. I'd consider picking up a Mac for my next computer. Sure, there are things I don't like about OS X but in general, it's the best user interface I've used.
But iTunes is not a good way to introduce people to the OS X way. In fact, it seems more likely to turn people off the idea. iTunes doesn't use the right mouse button, a serious problem for a Windows app. iTunes becomes non-responsive for long periods of time when used with my iPod. iTunes requires you use the menu to perform simple tasks like adding a new playlist (or at least, I could find no way around that). It also wouldn't work with my iPod until I allowed it to delete every song on my iPod, a horrible design decision that I believe was made for political reasons.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that iTunes is crap. All I'm saying is that it is a lousy way to introduce someone to the OS X way and is more likely to turn users off. I mean, come on... they can't be bothered to turn the cursor into an hourglass on long-running processes? They just make the UI completely unresponsive during that time? Please.
I'll happily introduce anyone who cares to the OS X environment, and expect after a couple of days that they'll be quite happy in using it. I'd hesitate to recommend iTunes to any Windows users if there's a reasonable alternative, though, and although it does many things well, it has far too many annoying idiosynchrasies to use as a teaching tool.
I don't have a telephone line. In order for my company to pay for dial-up for me, it would actually cost them more than paying for high-speed Internet for me. I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and we tend to get much better deals than Internet users in the U.S. (and our broadband technology is generally several years ahead). That said, we are behind the curve on several other areas of technology so it pretty much evens out.
My employer does not pay for my high speed Internet, mind you. But then, I don't normally work from home.
I agree that this is a great book but the title is a little misleading. It's more about the natural sciences than about 'everything'. Furthermore, if it already covers a topic you know about, you'll find it is at rather a higher level (i.e. less detailed) than other books you've read. That pretty much comes from it being a short history rather than a complete history.
It's also available from audible.com and is worth picking up from there.
Slashdot Mirror
The record shortest survival time, last time I checked, at the University of Alberta is four seconds. That's from the time they plugged in an unprotected Windows XP machine until the time it was compromised.
That's not enough time to engage your software firewall pre-SP2. I'm not sure of the condition post-SP2.
Oh, sorry, I'm not saying that you can currently get a tablet in the $375 - $750 region, I'm saying this is what a well-priced tablet would cost and what I'd hope Apple would charge if they released one. There are several major reasons why wintel tablet pcs haven't taken off, one of the biggest of these is the price point they are selling them at. Absolutely outrageous. If Apple released a tablet in the region of $1000 - $2500, they'd be rightfully laughed out of the auditorium.
Now, I have no idea if either of these points would apply to a proposed Apple tablet, but this is what my friends and I have been discussing as possibilities if Apple released a tablet.
So no, the definition does not include any computing device owned by me.
The hardware, by the way, is defined as
Most of the time, you can buy an OEM version of Windows along with a cable. In that case, you may be able to play silly games by selling (or transferring) the cable. It would be even more confusing if you bought the OEM version WITHOUT any hardware.
So, you are wrong. I am not entitled by my EULA to sell Windows XP separate from the computer. Furthermore, I cannot transfer it from one computer (say, a computer destroyed in fire) to another, new one.
The wired article has a good point, many systems shipping with Linux will in fact end up with Windows. However, the reverse also holds. My work system shipped with a license for Windows XP, and I got another license with MSDN. However, my work machine was immediately stripped before its first boot and had Linux installed on it. My home computer runs Windows for gaming and Linux for everything else.
Neither of these systems are included in IDC's count of Linux desktops as neither system came with Linux when delivered.
Fundamentally, it is really hard to estimate how many desktop systems primarily run Linux. You can't even ask corporate managers, many of them don't have a good idea of what is going on.
Your country has a rather annoying tendency of assuming they have legal jurisdiction over the entire world. See Dmitri Sklyarov, for example. Jon Johansen should be safe provided he never sets foot on U.S. soil any point in his life (the major mistake that Sklyarov made). They probably don't care enough to extradite him (and would likely fail in any case), like they are attempting with Bobby Fischer (admittedly, a U.S. citizen at the time).
What evidence do you have that this employee is using Seagate's IP as leverage? Isn't it more likely that he simply no longer wants to work at Seagate but still wants to work in his field? After all, Western Digital couldn't legally use any of the IP that this employee brought over anyway.
In my opinion, a company should be able to make the non-compete time as long as they want, provided they pay you fair market rates during this time. If that is too costly to the company, fine... let the ex-employee work for someone else.
You inevitably learn things while employed. While it would be morally wrong to take trade secrets from one employer to another, it is not morally wrong to take your experience. After all, that's the reason you hire people who have worked in the field rather than people fresh out of school.
If this employee's knowledge is that valuable, Seagate should have no problem paying him during the two year non-compete. Alternatively, they should allow him to work in his field and sue the pants off of Western Digital if the trade secrets suddenly appear in future products from WD.
No. Trade secrets are still protected. However, just because you know some trade secrets does not imply that you can no longer work in your field. The new company you work for just has to be careful, as do you, not to spill them.
My problem isn't with the protection of trade secrets, it is with the ex-employer preventing you from working in your field.
Heck, I'd even say it would be fair to pay the ex-employee the greater of his previous salary and the going rate for an employee with those skills, over the next two years.
I see no problem with this whatsoever, provided of course that Seagate does the only reasonable thing and pays this ex-employee the greater of what he'd have earnt working at Seagate and what he was offered at Western Digital over the next two years.
Now, if they aren't willing to do this, they are essentially trying to stop this guy from earning a living by working in his field. And that is unreasonable and illegal in most places.
Faster pipe at work, on my Linux machine, than I have at home with my Windows XP machine.
iBooks have pretty decent battery life when you aren't doing anything much with them but when I was using my iBook for compiling, etc., I found I'd get only about as much life out of it as I would out of, say, a Dell laptop. That is to say, roughly two hours. I'd mention the heat problems but that's off-topic and affects Wintel and Linux laptops just as much these days.
In fact, he claims SCO has no intention of launching new lawsuits against "Linux users" (not just SCO customers), at least until the claims currently in front of the various courts are worked out.
Of course, you could well be right, he may change his mind and claim later that only customers are safe. Of course, this has so far proven incorrect, SCO customers are the least safe.
I love Linux. I think SCO's claims are totally without merit. But please remember, just because Darl McBride says he won't sue any more customers does not mean he'll follow through. Remember, he's made all kinds of claims and promises in the past, almost none of which turned out to be true. His lack of honesty (or, optimistically, his lack of knowledge) cuts both ways.
So, if you are an SCO customer, or even if you aren't, and if you run Linux, BSD, or Windows (all of which SCO has stated a claim to), you are still not safe. They may still sue you, even after claiming they won't.
This may be true in the U.S. (in fact, I believe it is illegal to mail yourself something in the U.S.), however this is an acceptable form of proof in Canada and is indeed encouraged by the copyright board of Canada.
This is only for Java projects, it seems.
Do you have any evidence showing that the cost of living in Canada is 40% less? Last time I checked, I found that the cost of living was actually pretty similar, despite the fact that Canadian programmers tend to get paid less in Canadian dollars than U.S. programmers get in U.S. dollars.
I'm not saying that the cost of living is not much less in Canada, only that the last time I checked, I could not find evidence of this.
Yes, exactly. C# is standardised. The .NET framework is not. You simply provided additional support for this position.
That's a link for the vc toolkit 2003. The Qt non-commercial Windows edition requires Visual Studio 6 and will not work with earlier or later compilers.
No, I was using a Windows-formatted iPod. I don't know why iTunes can't track stuff when it doesn't know where it came from, the other software I use with my iPod has no such problem. iTunes is the only iPod-management application I've ever seen that demands you erase the entire iPod before it'll deign to run with it.
As to my unresponsiveness, are you sure that you can still use iTunes while it is synchronising with your iPod (such as when you plug your iPod in)? For example, can you play songs? Can you access the menu? Can you add new songs to your playlist? Can you create a new playlist? Does the mouse cursor change or does it stay an arrow?
If everything works properly for you, I think I'll file a bug report and see if Apple can track down the problem.
My apologies, my initial message was not meant as a troll and it looks like I got at least one thing wrong, the right-mouse-button.
My complaint about my iPod not working with iTunes until I allowed iTunes to delete all contents on my iPod still stands. I do not want to use my iPod with multiple computers but I do want to use it with other software, primarily Linux software. I never had any problem with any of the other iPod-management software I used but now iTunes refuses to allow anything else.
I did not notice the plus button at the bottom left as I almost never use tool buttons. Thanks for pointing this out. I had been trying to right-click on the playlist area to add a new playlist and was annoyed that it did not work.
I have no explanation for why iTunes is responsive for everyone else and not for me. I hook up to the iPod via firewire but when I first plug in the iPod or when it is updating, I cannot do anything else with iTunes. The menu doesn't work (iirc), I can't move songs around, add new playlists, etc. Are you really saying that iTunes continues to be responsive for you during this time? I just checked that I really am using iTunes 4.6 and not some early beta version.
Ugggh! iTunes has some serious and very significant problems with its user-interface design and implementation for Windows. Now, I've used OS X and really quite like it. I'd consider picking up a Mac for my next computer. Sure, there are things I don't like about OS X but in general, it's the best user interface I've used.
But iTunes is not a good way to introduce people to the OS X way. In fact, it seems more likely to turn people off the idea. iTunes doesn't use the right mouse button, a serious problem for a Windows app. iTunes becomes non-responsive for long periods of time when used with my iPod. iTunes requires you use the menu to perform simple tasks like adding a new playlist (or at least, I could find no way around that). It also wouldn't work with my iPod until I allowed it to delete every song on my iPod, a horrible design decision that I believe was made for political reasons.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that iTunes is crap. All I'm saying is that it is a lousy way to introduce someone to the OS X way and is more likely to turn users off. I mean, come on... they can't be bothered to turn the cursor into an hourglass on long-running processes? They just make the UI completely unresponsive during that time? Please.
I'll happily introduce anyone who cares to the OS X environment, and expect after a couple of days that they'll be quite happy in using it. I'd hesitate to recommend iTunes to any Windows users if there's a reasonable alternative, though, and although it does many things well, it has far too many annoying idiosynchrasies to use as a teaching tool.
I don't have a telephone line. In order for my company to pay for dial-up for me, it would actually cost them more than paying for high-speed Internet for me. I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and we tend to get much better deals than Internet users in the U.S. (and our broadband technology is generally several years ahead). That said, we are behind the curve on several other areas of technology so it pretty much evens out.
My employer does not pay for my high speed Internet, mind you. But then, I don't normally work from home.
If you like submarine stories in general, the non-fiction book Silent Running was absolutely riveting. One of the best books I've ever read.
I agree that this is a great book but the title is a little misleading. It's more about the natural sciences than about 'everything'. Furthermore, if it already covers a topic you know about, you'll find it is at rather a higher level (i.e. less detailed) than other books you've read. That pretty much comes from it being a short history rather than a complete history.
It's also available from audible.com and is worth picking up from there.