Put some money aside for the fallout of the class action suit when someone's data gets into the wrong hands. This is a stupid way to treat your customers.
I've been dreaming for a while about a virtual environment which is itself a sneaky introduction to virtualisation and modelling. These are the skills the next generation needs. Anyone suggest a decent free 3d engine?
What 'proof' would you find convincing? I've known it happen to several people so either my friends are all con artists on the sly or this is an endemic problem in electronics retail.
Try and find a used copy of Dan's 'currently unavailable' novel Dog Days. He started out mocking MS (in a sub-Coupland stylee) and when that didn't get him much kudos he started taking it out on their competitors.
A lot of the criticism of this guy seems to be knee-jerk defensiveness. Read his papers on 'NULL Convention Logic' and its applicability to asynchronous circuit design and you will see where he is coming from.
His big idea seems to be that extending Boolean logic with a third value, of NULL, allows it to be more expressive and allows processes to be handled purely in relational logic rather than by rule-based algorithms. I can see there could be advantages for certain applications. I'd like to see a good example of the benefits.
If I were VeriSign, I'd get someone from legal to talk to their 'expert' before he gets them sued by either OfficeMax or Fujitsu or both. His opinion could be seen as coming close to extortion to buy their services.
The DS is a strange and unique beast for gaming, with its dual screens, touch screen, stylus, microphone, etc. I think its this innovative approach that has led to some interesting games. I have a PSP and a DS, and evn though the PSP is more spangly in design and screen size, the PSP is positioned for the trad gamer market and the DS is going after a wider non-traditional market. That's why its puzzle games and sims are so popular. I never expected much from the DS, but I can't find many compelling games on the PSP. Whereas I've spent hours on Nintendogs, its just so clever. The DS is much cuter than I expected.
The fact that he gets treated as some sort of technology expert by the BBC would be a joke if it didn't mean that I'm forced to contribute to his salary.
My experience with a 12" Powerbook makes me think that was over-engineered and would always suffer from overheating. It's a shame, I liked that machine, but I wouldn't buy another. I'd really like to see the repair rate of the individual models, as I'm thinking of trying a 15" PB...
Transactions make applications *fail* reliably, they don't make them *work* reliably. They simplify things at one level by bundling them up and abstracting them, so when they do fail it's hard to know exactly why they failed. The dreaded 'we can't do what you want at this time, try later' horribly vague error message is the result. Transactions are no replacement for serious fault analysis.
I'm not sure that's true. Globalisation should lead to more effective resource allocation and an all round increase in wealth, but that doesn't necessarily mean greater wealth distribution. I've seen research that says that regions with an economic advantage gain a greater advantage from free trade. The whole point about capitalism is that the more capital you have the less risk you have. I don't see real evidence of the 'trickle down effect', I see an increasing economic divide. Are you saying Bill Gates is deliberately bringing about a drop in his own relative wealth? I'm sceptical.
Photoshop didn't *innovate* most of its methods, they were established by other programs first. Otherwise they'd still be under patent. Photoshop is the success it is because Adobe are leaders in carefully applying the theory rather than because there isn't any. The Gimp is a decent image editor, but still lacks the color management tools that would make it useful for professional print work. It's coming on fast though.
Microsoft is already paying for development of an ODF converter for MS Office. They'd rather feed smear stories to the press and buy off politicians than give their customers what they want, but they'll readily support OpenDocument if they start losing those customers.
Either way, it looks like the days of the Office monopoly are numbered, and the 75% monopoly rent profit margin too. Micosoft only has itself to blame if it doesn't want to compete on a level playing field.
It'd be nice if a little competition made MS raise its game. Maybe in a few years MS will grace us with a truly great os, and it'll all be down to Linus.
Here's my attempt, sent to all the MEPs for my area...
I am concerned at attempts to widen the uses for Data Retention beyond the initial aims of combatting serious crime such as terrorism.
I strongly believe that acceptance of the proposed amendment by MEP Bill Newton Dunn, which has been the subject of lobbying by the CMBA, would make the law an invasive and overbearing infringement of our rights to both free association and privacy.
I am disturbed that this attempt to change the scope of the legislation has come despite prior justification that it was necessary for fighting terrorism and would be limited to fighting serious crime.
One of the strongest arguments against this type of legislation is that its use is inevitably broadened in an undemocratic and authoritarian manner. This inevitably weakens public support for what might otherwise be seen as acceptable to society.
Abuse of process and betrayal of public trust in this way, supported by misleading lobbying by special interest parties is profoundly undemocratic.
What is more, it is inevitable that the public's response to such an egregious abuse of power to diminish privacy would include the widespread use of technological countermeasures that would undermine the intended purpose of the legislation.
For these reasons I would ask you to ensure that the legislation is not hijacked when it comes before the Parliament in the coming weeks.
Some things are just easier and faster when done by keyboard, especially if done repeatedly. When editing text I far prefer to use keystrokes. The mouse is handy for exploring menus, pointing at things and context-sensitive stuff but when you know what you need to do a keyboard shortcut is invaluable. I also hate the horrible clutter of icons it most apps these days, I know though that once you learn where they are that's a useful way of packing in functionality. I just think its gone too far.
Slashdot Mirror
Put some money aside for the fallout of the class action suit when someone's data gets into the wrong hands. This is a stupid way to treat your customers.
How much of that do you think is paid product placement?
I've been dreaming for a while about a virtual environment which is itself a sneaky introduction to virtualisation and modelling. These are the skills the next generation needs. Anyone suggest a decent free 3d engine?
What 'proof' would you find convincing? I've known it happen to several people so either my friends are all con artists on the sly or this is an endemic problem in electronics retail.
Yup, he's turned into the worst kind of attention whore
Unfortunately despite all their bluster they didn't have any patents and Novell now claims copyright on Unix. Caveat emptor.
Try and find a used copy of Dan's 'currently unavailable' novel Dog Days. He started out mocking MS (in a sub-Coupland stylee) and when that didn't get him much kudos he started taking it out on their competitors.
Somebody should start a Fake Dan Lyons blog...
A lot of the criticism of this guy seems to be knee-jerk defensiveness. Read his papers on 'NULL Convention Logic' and its applicability to asynchronous circuit design and you will see where he is coming from.
His big idea seems to be that extending Boolean logic with a third value, of NULL, allows it to be more expressive and allows processes to be handled purely in relational logic rather than by rule-based algorithms. I can see there could be advantages for certain applications. I'd like to see a good example of the benefits.
http://www.theseusresearch.com/NCLPaper01.htm
What Would Turing Do? Computing was gay right from the start off.
If I were VeriSign, I'd get someone from legal to talk to their 'expert' before he gets them sued by either OfficeMax or Fujitsu or both. His opinion could be seen as coming close to extortion to buy their services.
As Margaret Cho has said, the US Army could *never* win a war without lesbians.
What WoW really needs is a makeover from the Queer Eye five.
Microsoft
'I'm lovin' it'
The DS is a strange and unique beast for gaming, with its dual screens, touch screen, stylus, microphone, etc. I think its this innovative approach that has led to some interesting games. I have a PSP and a DS, and evn though the PSP is more spangly in design and screen size, the PSP is positioned for the trad gamer market and the DS is going after a wider non-traditional market. That's why its puzzle games and sims are so popular. I never expected much from the DS, but I can't find many compelling games on the PSP. Whereas I've spent hours on Nintendogs, its just so clever. The DS is much cuter than I expected.
The fact that he gets treated as some sort of technology expert by the BBC would be a joke if it didn't mean that I'm forced to contribute to his salary.
My experience with a 12" Powerbook makes me think that was over-engineered and would always suffer from overheating. It's a shame, I liked that machine, but I wouldn't buy another. I'd really like to see the repair rate of the individual models, as I'm thinking of trying a 15" PB...
Transactions make applications *fail* reliably, they don't make them *work* reliably. They simplify things at one level by bundling them up and abstracting them, so when they do fail it's hard to know exactly why they failed. The dreaded 'we can't do what you want at this time, try later' horribly vague error message is the result. Transactions are no replacement for serious fault analysis.
I'm not sure that's true. Globalisation should lead to more effective resource allocation and an all round increase in wealth, but that doesn't necessarily mean greater wealth distribution. I've seen research that says that regions with an economic advantage gain a greater advantage from free trade. The whole point about capitalism is that the more capital you have the less risk you have. I don't see real evidence of the 'trickle down effect', I see an increasing economic divide. Are you saying Bill Gates is deliberately bringing about a drop in his own relative wealth? I'm sceptical.
Photoshop didn't *innovate* most of its methods, they were established by other programs first. Otherwise they'd still be under patent. Photoshop is the success it is because Adobe are leaders in carefully applying the theory rather than because there isn't any. The Gimp is a decent image editor, but still lacks the color management tools that would make it useful for professional print work. It's coming on fast though.
Ackkk, inept astroturfing is so embarassing, thanks for the heads up.
Agreed, I'm not 'stunned' at all by this news, I'm just mildly bemused that someone tried to hype it up that way.
Microsoft is already paying for development of an ODF converter for MS Office. They'd rather feed smear stories to the press and buy off politicians than give their customers what they want, but they'll readily support OpenDocument if they start losing those customers.
Either way, it looks like the days of the Office monopoly are numbered, and the 75% monopoly rent profit margin too. Micosoft only has itself to blame if it doesn't want to compete on a level playing field.
It'd be nice if a little competition made MS raise its game. Maybe in a few years MS will grace us with a truly great os, and it'll all be down to Linus.
Here's my attempt, sent to all the MEPs for my area...
I am concerned at attempts to widen the uses for Data Retention beyond the initial aims of combatting serious crime such as terrorism.
I strongly believe that acceptance of the proposed amendment by MEP Bill Newton Dunn, which has been the subject of lobbying by the CMBA, would make the law an invasive and overbearing infringement of our rights to both free association and privacy.
I am disturbed that this attempt to change the scope of the legislation has come despite prior justification that it was necessary for fighting terrorism and would be limited to fighting serious crime.
One of the strongest arguments against this type of legislation is that its use is inevitably broadened in an undemocratic and authoritarian manner. This inevitably weakens public support for what might otherwise be seen as acceptable to society.
Abuse of process and betrayal of public trust in this way, supported by misleading lobbying by special interest parties is profoundly undemocratic.
What is more, it is inevitable that the public's response to such an egregious abuse of power to diminish privacy would include the widespread use of technological countermeasures that would undermine the intended purpose of the legislation.
For these reasons I would ask you to ensure that the legislation is not hijacked when it comes before the Parliament in the coming weeks.
Some things are just easier and faster when done by keyboard, especially if done repeatedly. When editing text I far prefer to use keystrokes. The mouse is handy for exploring menus, pointing at things and context-sensitive stuff but when you know what you need to do a keyboard shortcut is invaluable. I also hate the horrible clutter of icons it most apps these days, I know though that once you learn where they are that's a useful way of packing in functionality. I just think its gone too far.