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User: Peteresch

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Comments · 30

  1. Re:so? on EU Fines for Microsoft Approved, Off the Record · · Score: 2, Insightful
    It will simply force MS to rethink their compliance, or face a whole continent migrating to other operating systems.

    More likely that the residents of that continent will throw a tantrum when their computer breaks down and they can't get support because "your government won't let us" forcing the law makers to back down and find another route.
  2. Re:Cheat codes? on Spore Is EA's New Ace · · Score: 2, Funny
    I think you want a God-mode where you simply go from dirt => to sentient species.
    Get your own dirt. - God
  3. BMW: Source on Steam Hybrid Car from BMW · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does this mean a car that gets automatic repairs and upgrades all delivered through Steam?

  4. Size doesn't matter on Searchable C/C++ DB surpasses 275 million lines · · Score: 1

    It's the quality of the search results that counts.

  5. Re:Fitts Law and the Dual Layer Task Bar on KDE 3.5 Released · · Score: 1
    Except now I've got to move the mouse back to the point where I was previously. Which is now a long way and a small target.
    But if you switched between apps the original position of the mouse is no longer relevant. It is a clean slate. Also, the shorter distance only applies to the top row of tasks and even that is neglegible. Don't get me wrong, I agree that (ii) is preferable but I don't see how it applies in this case.
  6. Re:Fitts Law and the Dual Layer Task Bar on KDE 3.5 Released · · Score: 1

    So would you prefer something more akin to Apple's Expose task switcher?

  7. Fitts Law and the Dual Layer Task Bar on KDE 3.5 Released · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Fitts's Law: The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.

    Placing task bar items along the edge of the screen provides the benefit of "infinite height". With the stacked display of items on the KDE task bar the top row of items do not benefit from this.

    Why have many Linux Desktop Environments chosen to implement the dual layer task bar?

    Now I understand that by providing more rows the width of the items can be greater than if they were all forced onto a single row. While the size of the target benefits from the greater width does it outweigh the benefits of the infiite height?

  8. Re:Running out of ideas? on CSI Takes On Grand Theft Auto · · Score: 1
    Will it include a Jack Thompson kind of lawer?
    If it does he will be the good guy.
  9. First Post - Offtopic on Google Releases GDS 2.0 · · Score: 1

    What happened to the site? There seems to be some technical difficulties. I am getting 404 pages and internal server errors.

  10. Project Gutenberg on Congress Pushing Open Access for Government-Funded Research · · Score: 1

    So when will they be available from gutenberg.net?

    Or perhaps Audible will provide the downloads through the iTunes Music Store?

  11. Re:Not just graphics on Third Largest Supercomputer... at Weta Digital · · Score: 1

    The CG for Master and Commander was done at ILM. Just another small special effects company :-)

  12. Default Music Store on Microsoft Agrees to Stop Hijacking Music-Shopping · · Score: 1

    I would prefer to set my "Default Music Store" just as I would set my browser or email client. Have the link configurable to launch iTunes or Napster and not just go to some msn web page.

  13. But how many Re-Rewrites? on Rewrites Considered Harmful? · · Score: 1

    For instance: Mozilla was a rewrite of the Netscape code base, but Firebird was able to leverage the new code with out rewriting it again. This says to me that the developers did it right the second time around. Is that really so bad?

  14. Re:that does it! on Yahoo Reminds Users That 'No' Doesn't Mean 'No' · · Score: 1

    Smoke signals? Ha!

    Then spamming would be as simple as starting a flame war!

  15. Re:standards? on Opera Releases "Bork" Edition · · Score: 1

    Cool! Opera.com validates as XHTML 1.0 Strict!

  16. Recommended Reading on Indecision 2002 · · Score: 1

    The U.S. Constitution.

    The United States is a constitutional republic. We vote for people who do the voting for us.

    http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitu ti on.overview.html

  17. Where's The Link? on Google's Search Appliance · · Score: 1

    The best way to ensure a high listing on Google is for your page to be linked from lots of pages on other sites.

    How would this model work in an intranet setting? Would it count the number of desktop shortcuts? Yes the algorithm works great in the internet world but is it a universal find-all?
  18. Re:offspring on Carmack: Lord of the Games · · Score: 1

    Carmack and Torvalds should have a child...


    "And you in your pride thought you could produce the Kwisatz Haderach! A Torvalds daughter could've been wed to a Gates heir and sealed the breach. We may lose both bloodlines now."


    Paraphrased from Dune by Frank Herbert.

  19. Re:not only that on Microsoft Promotions Turn Up in USPS Offices · · Score: 2, Informative
    Maybe we need to add "separation of corporation and state" to our "separation of church and state" in the constitution?

    Yes, I know this is an offtopic rabbit trail...

    The other replies are correct in saying that it is nowhere in the constitution. The phrase was coined by the 17th century Baptist leader Roger Williams, and used by Thomas Jefferson on January 1, 1802 (11 years after the First Amendment was ratified).

    The U.S. Supreme Court, the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution's meaning, first utilized the phrase in the 1878 case of Reynolds v. United States, stating that Jefferson's term 'wall of separation between church and state' "may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the [First] Amendment."

    Over the years the Court has developed and applied what has become known as the "Lemon Test" to decide Establishment Clause cases. The Lemon Test, codified in the Court's 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman, is a three-pronged inquiry:

    1) Does the challenged legislation or activity have a legitimate secular purpose?;

    2) Does the legislation or activity have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion? and

    3) Does the legislation or activity excessively entangle government with religion?

    Although individual Justices of the Court have, on various occasions, expressed dissatisfaction with this standard of review, the Lemon Test has not yet been replaced.
  20. Slashcode in a box on A New Year's Idea: Pay For Some Freedom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So what will it cost me to get Slashcode sent to me in a nice #006666 green box complete with documentation, a /. beanie and 1000 hours of AOL free* to host my site?

    * Subject to terms and license agreement. Some restrictions may apply. Void where prohibited. Offer not valid in Holland, MI.

  21. Could this be their advertising? on Uplink · · Score: 1

    What better way to advertise a hacking game than to make people actually have to work to get ahold of it. Not that using google or fileplanet is hacking, but it did make us think, and after all, isn't that the point of the game?

  22. Really Targeted Advertising on Oracle Donates Software for Big Brother Database · · Score: 1

    Would National ID cards raise the advertising revenue for /. by showing me adds that fit my profile?

  23. Oracle.Net? on Oracle Donates Software for Big Brother Database · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Does anyone know if Elison & Gates have been talking to each other? I can just see it...

    Oracle convinces Gov to use national ID card

    Microsoft signs deal to merge Oracle database with Passport and .Net services

    Oracle controls the largest personal information collection ever.

    Microsoft convinces Government that Windows is required on all computers to keep information confidential

    Government forbids the use of any other OS

    Of course some see them as opposites.


    ... Gates never lobbied for a law requiring that every person in the United States be forced to use Internet Explorer.
  24. Why Doesn't /. have this problem? on Advertisers Escalate Banner Ad War · · Score: 1
    These companies are going to extremes because they can't get the clicks they need through normal methods. So why does it work for slashdot?

    Simple. The ads are relevant to the target audience. I find myself clicking on more banners on OSDN sites than all the other sites combined. They show me somthing that interests me and I click, they get the money, we are all happy.

    Sidenote for those of you using ad eliminators...
    Let slashdot ads through, you might be plesantly suprised!

  25. Re:Right... on Are There Any Fun Tech Jobs Left? · · Score: 1
    ...unless they were involved in a large scale university project, they haven't learned how to really write software...


    Although I fall into this category, I completely agree. So what can I do to get out of this rut that my bad choice in educational institutions put me in? I can have fun writing a script to parse slashdot headlines but that won't get me a job.