As far as a structural remedy, wouldn't separating Windows from Office just create TWO monopolies?
Like I said in a previous comment, this is not the case. Monopolies are all about unfair business practices, which boil down to leverage. If the Office line was spun off, there would be no way for the new company to leverage anyone into buying their product. It would be Office benefits vs. other suites' benefits.
I don't know if anyone has asked this yet... but if Microsoft does get split up, what would the names of the new companies be? Just like Ma Bell got split into "Baby Bells" (most of which still have "Bell" in the company name), are we going to see products with "Microsoft" incorporated in them somehow?
What if more than one person wants to maintain a project and can't agree to work together? Is it first come, first serve? Or would they judge qualifications, amount of time able to devote to the program, etc.
What happens if the original maintainer wants back in? Are they allowed back in, even if the new person in charge thinks they have nothing sufficient to contribute?
Will the old/new maintainers have the right to close the source at any point?
I'm not a chip designer, but from what I can tell by looking at these specs, the P2 might be able to do rendering-on-the-fly that is hard to distinguish from FMV. It will be interesting to see what directions 3rd party developers take this technology. I'd like to see a game that pushes the emotion chip to its limit... maybe a real-time, more complex version of Dragon's Lair?
Luckily, the government doesn't (shouldn't?) care if Microsoft's products are incredible... or even marginally functional. The govenment is going after them because of their illegal business practices. Fair market and all that. Someone at work the other day asked:
"What's the point of breaking up Microsoft into smaller companies if each part will still have a monopoly in their niche?"
Well, the point is: they won't. The reason they have a monopoly is because they have dominant products in most major categories and use that to leverage companies into choosing them over smaller guys. If you break them up, the pieces won't have enough power individually to become a monopoly.
... how the posters on Slashdot keep linking to the phony Save Iridium project. Let's take a look at a couple of facts about this obvious scam:
The web site has no contact information besides email addresses... if they were serious about raising the kind of money necessary for this project, don't you think venture capitalists might want at least a name and phone number?
This site is full of simple spelling and grammatical errors: "informatiom", "utilise", and my personal favorite "The message board is on it's way". How do they expect to save a bunch of LEO satellites when they can't grasp a fifth grade grammar concept?
The has a link that works called "Hack Iridium". What exactly do they plan to hack? They have no idea. They ask for t-shirt suggestions under this link. Nothing like a funny t-shirt to raise 170 million dollars!
I had a chance to chat with these clowns in IRC a few days ago. I started asking for answers to the same points above and what did I get? Informed replies? A FAQ to look at? No. I got squelched. Apparently, actively trying to Save Iridum involves sitting on IRC and saying things like "yo im going to call you know is that cool?"
It's not hard to see this for what it is: a group of kids trying to get money and attention. Please, hemos, quit posting their utter crap on the front page.
I seriously doubt these changes will have much of an effect on the way patents are awarded. As long as the US Patent Office continues to base examiners' pay and bonuses on the number of patent applications they review, the process will be rushed.
Since the field of computer/internet patents seems to be exploding, I propose this solution: after each individual reviewer has finished their work on a patent, they take it to a board or panel of patent "judges" (don't really know how else to describe them). The reviewer says, "Well I researched this patent and here is what I found/didn't find, what do you think?" This would hopefully eliminate a lot of oversight and possible bonus pushing by reviewers.
This is really bad... I expect the next step will be Hemos posting leech l/p to t0nz 0f r33t ju4r3z sit0rz.
GNUTella is a cool utility... but only if people share the files. Won't work too well if everyone's trying to leech and there isn't anything up to leech.
I think everyone might be overlooking one important point. Yes, it's possible to have your credit card information stolen over the net. What you have to realize is that brick and mortar cc payments are just as vulnerable to being lifted. The clerk sees your information, there is a hard copy of the transaction made (usually with your cc info on it), and there's always the possibility of the card being physically stolen.
I strikes me as a "pick your poison" sort of deal. People are quick to bash online commerce but I think credit cards are the real problem. They need some sort of authentication system in place before I'll fully trust them.
now, if we could only get CD-players that could also do mp3s
I bought an Apex DVD player from Circuit City for $180 that is capable of playing audio CDs as well as mp3s burned onto CDs. I even made a test CD full of mp3s in multiple directories and levels just to see how flaky it was... no problems so far.
So... if they make a DVD player for the home that can play mp3s and they make DVD players for the car, the combination of the two shouldn't be very far off... hopefully.
Oh, and it can play karaoke CDs and has a nifty little microphone jack in the front. Well worth the money, IMHO.
If Linux-centric games start being developed and released on a broader scale, do you think making the source available under the GPL after release would be a viable solution to quick patches and bug fixes? Or would this lead to illegal forks becoming as much of a problem as pirating?
In the near future, do you see a breakthrough in the efficiency of data compression... a new algorithm or technique that could improve current compression rates by orders of magnitude?
Slashdot Mirror
I guess these 335,435 Napster users truly are...
The Unforgiven.
love,
br4dh4x0r
I'd like to point out that the correct sequence is:
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, B, A, Start.
Hit select between the last A and Start if you want to use the Konami Code for a 2 player game.
Amateur.
love,
br4dh4x0r
As far as a structural remedy, wouldn't separating Windows from Office just create TWO monopolies?
Like I said in a previous comment, this is not the case. Monopolies are all about unfair business practices, which boil down to leverage. If the Office line was spun off, there would be no way for the new company to leverage anyone into buying their product. It would be Office benefits vs. other suites' benefits.
I don't know if anyone has asked this yet... but if Microsoft does get split up, what would the names of the new companies be? Just like Ma Bell got split into "Baby Bells" (most of which still have "Bell" in the company name), are we going to see products with "Microsoft" incorporated in them somehow?
love,
br4dh4x0r
It can happen... if you're modded, say to 5, and then someone mods your comment as troll, it will show (Score: 4, Troll).
Happened to me earlier today... I was so proud to be such a high ranking troll. *sniffle*
love,
br4dh4x0r
Okay, don't take this the wrong way, Slashdot crew...
:)
I'm sure you're all very intelligent and quite accomplished... but...
You might want to look into using some of the Andover money to buy a sense of humor.
love,
br4dh4x0r
What if more than one person wants to maintain a project and can't agree to work together? Is it first come, first serve? Or would they judge qualifications, amount of time able to devote to the program, etc.
What happens if the original maintainer wants back in? Are they allowed back in, even if the new person in charge thinks they have nothing sufficient to contribute?
Will the old/new maintainers have the right to close the source at any point?
love,
br4dh4x0r
I'm not a chip designer, but from what I can tell by looking at these specs, the P2 might be able to do rendering-on-the-fly that is hard to distinguish from FMV. It will be interesting to see what directions 3rd party developers take this technology. I'd like to see a game that pushes the emotion chip to its limit... maybe a real-time, more complex version of Dragon's Lair?
love,
br4dh4x0r
(except driver support and that's just nitpicking)
... duh.
Yeah, I mean who really needs driver support? I mean, I know I don't when I'm listening to mp3s, typing a report and using my LAN to --
love,
br4dh4x0r
Luckily, the government doesn't (shouldn't?) care if Microsoft's products are incredible... or even marginally functional. The govenment is going after them because of their illegal business practices. Fair market and all that. Someone at work the other day asked:
"What's the point of breaking up Microsoft into smaller companies if each part will still have a monopoly in their niche?"
Well, the point is: they won't. The reason they have a monopoly is because they have dominant products in most major categories and use that to leverage companies into choosing them over smaller guys. If you break them up, the pieces won't have enough power individually to become a monopoly.
love,
br4dh4x0r
It's a site run by Americans, judging from the whois info. I would no more expect to see "utilise" as I would "colour".
love,
br4dh4x0r
The web site has no contact information besides email addresses... if they were serious about raising the kind of money necessary for this project, don't you think venture capitalists might want at least a name and phone number?
This site is full of simple spelling and grammatical errors: "informatiom", "utilise", and my personal favorite "The message board is on it's way". How do they expect to save a bunch of LEO satellites when they can't grasp a fifth grade grammar concept?
The has a link that works called "Hack Iridium". What exactly do they plan to hack? They have no idea. They ask for t-shirt suggestions under this link. Nothing like a funny t-shirt to raise 170 million dollars!
I had a chance to chat with these clowns in IRC a few days ago. I started asking for answers to the same points above and what did I get? Informed replies? A FAQ to look at? No. I got squelched. Apparently, actively trying to Save Iridum involves sitting on IRC and saying things like "yo im going to call you know is that cool?"
It's not hard to see this for what it is: a group of kids trying to get money and attention. Please, hemos, quit posting their utter crap on the front page.
love,
br4dh4x0r
I seriously doubt these changes will have much of an effect on the way patents are awarded. As long as the US Patent Office continues to base examiners' pay and bonuses on the number of patent applications they review, the process will be rushed.
Since the field of computer/internet patents seems to be exploding, I propose this solution: after each individual reviewer has finished their work on a patent, they take it to a board or panel of patent "judges" (don't really know how else to describe them). The reviewer says, "Well I researched this patent and here is what I found/didn't find, what do you think?" This would hopefully eliminate a lot of oversight and possible bonus pushing by reviewers.
love,
br4dh4x0r
This is really bad... I expect the next step will be Hemos posting leech l/p to t0nz 0f r33t ju4r3z sit0rz.
GNUTella is a cool utility... but only if people share the files. Won't work too well if everyone's trying to leech and there isn't anything up to leech.
love,
br4dh4x0r
Dear sissy,
I can't help it if moderators are jealous of my beowulf cluster of Vic-20s.
Love,
br4dh4x0r
Dear idiot,
Do you need someone to define "troll" for you, since you obviously have no concept of what it means?
Love,
br4dh4x0r
I think everyone might be overlooking one important point. Yes, it's possible to have your credit card information stolen over the net. What you have to realize is that brick and mortar cc payments are just as vulnerable to being lifted. The clerk sees your information, there is a hard copy of the transaction made (usually with your cc info on it), and there's always the possibility of the card being physically stolen.
I strikes me as a "pick your poison" sort of deal. People are quick to bash online commerce but I think credit cards are the real problem. They need some sort of authentication system in place before I'll fully trust them.
love,
br4dh4x0r
Dear Moderator:
If emmett cannot correctly spell a common abbreviation in his post and I point it out, that is hardly off-topic. Trolling, perhaps.
Is there some sort of disclaimer you have to sign before you can moderate posts now?
"I promise to moderate to the worst of my ability. If at all possible, I will incorrectly spend every single moderation point I am given."
Dur.
love,
br4dh4x0r
Posted by emmett on Wednesday March 22,
@11:54AM
from the str-wiz-dex-cha-con-int dept.
*gasp!* The abbreviation is WIS... as in wisdom... as in you need more of the D&D kind.
br4dh4x0r's nitpicking *** DEMOLISHES *** the beastly emmett!
love,
br4dh4x0r
now, if we could only get CD-players that could also do mp3s
I bought an Apex DVD player from Circuit City for $180 that is capable of playing audio CDs as well as mp3s burned onto CDs. I even made a test CD full of mp3s in multiple directories and levels just to see how flaky it was... no problems so far.
So... if they make a DVD player for the home that can play mp3s and they make DVD players for the car, the combination of the two shouldn't be very far off... hopefully.
Oh, and it can play karaoke CDs and has a nifty little microphone jack in the front. Well worth the money, IMHO.
Love,
br4dh4x0r
If you're going to waste your time writing lyrics about Transmeta, please have the decency to pick a decent song.
Love,
br4dh4x0r
If you hate "issue retread" so much, why did you post the story?
If Linux-centric games start being developed and released on a broader scale, do you think making the source available under the GPL after release would be a viable solution to quick patches and bug fixes? Or would this lead to illegal forks becoming as much of a problem as pirating?
In the near future, do you see a breakthrough in the efficiency of data compression... a new algorithm or technique that could improve current compression rates by orders of magnitude?
Purchase this book at fatbrain.
It's kind of sad that Jon has given up on being a serious journalist and has reduced himself to a third rate salesman for Fatbrain.
I hope the $.50 you make for each copy of this book that sells is worth whoring yourself out.
Go ahead and mod me down... you know it's true, though.
br4dh4x0r
"I think computer viruses should count as life. We've created life in our own image." - Stephen Hawking
Then again, life is full of complete morons like yourself, your a dime a dozen.
Don't you find it ironic that you're using atrocious grammar while calling me a moron?