Minitel is what technology could give in 1978 for mass access to an early form of e-business. Besides, there would be no internet if not for the HTTP protocol, which has been invented by a government paid American, working for a European institution. You would be reliant on proprietary protocols from AOL, MSN or I dont know what if he hadn't been there.
Note that there is no American CE industry anymore. All the CE, and particularly TV, industry is Japanese, Corean and European. So apart from M$ trying to put its stuff everywhere and Time Warner / AOL negociating their content (Sony already owns a substantial part of the catalog), what does the US has to offer to consortiums that define standarts ?
In France we have had DTV for a long time now, first by satellite, then on cable. I think that in all Europe now satellite TV is synonymous with digital and that only a few consider buying a dish for the purpose of getting analog broadcasts.
Well Americans should not worry. Their "do not involve the government" approach can also lead to standarts. Like Windows.
these insults have obviously themselves a babelfish translation from american swearings. You are just trying to proove that babelfish is definitely a reversible transformation
First, let me say that I have not heard about this story outside slashdot. And I live in France.
Second, nobody ever "invented" the english weight and measurement system. Actually two hundred years ago every country had its own system, that was made arbitrarily by the local kings. French navigators were using Paris as the meridian origin, English navigators were using Greenwitch. The French were using pounds and inches that were slightly different from English pounds and inches (today there is still a English oz and an American oz, and a difference between nautical miles and miles). Actually the definition of these units was, for example in a business discussion, a matter of who had the power to impose its point of view. The French revolution wanted to introduce a weight and measures system that was independent of any localization or balance of power, that would be designed to do science and that would have a rational basis. Hence the metric system, which later evolved into the SI units system for physicists.
In the indispensable globalization of standards that followed, the Greenwitch meridian prevailed, and the metric system prevailed.
France Telecom did claim to have the record a few days ago with a 1 Terabit demonstration in March. It seems that this kind of record is not easy to hold a long time. Note however that FT demonstrated 1 Tb over 1000 km, while Bell demonstrated 1.6 Tb over only 400 km
I am happy to live in a country that makes the seemingly bold assumption that the relations between individuals must be handled by rules common to the whole society rather than by the possession of devices made to kill.
The "State" is defined as an organization that has the monopoly of the usage of violence, which can be used to defend the society against domestic as well as foreign aggressions.
Why the hell should individuals be allowed to possess and carry objects whose only purpose is to kill other people ?
I really hope that you americans will soon understand how senseless this tradition is.
Slashdot Mirror
and BTW, not just HTTP, but all the TCP/IP protocols stem from government endorsed research and academia.
Minitel is what technology could give in 1978 for mass access to an early form of e-business.
Besides, there would be no internet if not for the HTTP protocol, which has been invented by a government paid American, working for a European institution. You would be reliant on proprietary protocols from AOL, MSN or I dont know what if he hadn't been there.
Note that there is no American CE industry anymore. All the CE, and particularly TV, industry is Japanese, Corean and European. So apart from M$ trying to put its stuff everywhere and Time Warner / AOL negociating their content (Sony already owns a substantial part of the catalog), what does the US has to offer to consortiums that define standarts ?
Er... is this guy serious ? If not, then consider using ;)
In France we have had DTV for a long time now, first by satellite, then on cable. I think that in all Europe now satellite TV is synonymous with digital and that only a few consider buying a dish for the purpose of getting analog broadcasts.
Well Americans should not worry. Their "do not involve the government" approach can also lead to standarts. Like Windows.
then it belongs to calcutta or something
these insults have obviously themselves a babelfish translation from american swearings.
You are just trying to proove that babelfish is definitely a reversible transformation
I dont really see your point. Do you mean that
the meridian origin should be located... where..
in Washington ? Los Angeles ?
First, let me say that I have not heard about this story outside slashdot. And I live in France.
Second, nobody ever "invented" the english weight and measurement system. Actually two hundred years ago every country had its own system, that was made arbitrarily by the local kings. French navigators were using Paris as the meridian origin, English navigators were using Greenwitch. The French were using pounds and inches that were slightly different from English pounds and inches (today there is still a English oz and an American oz, and a difference between nautical miles and miles). Actually the definition of these units was, for example in a business discussion, a matter of who had the power to impose its point of view. The French revolution wanted to introduce a weight and measures system that was independent of any localization or balance of power, that would be designed to do science and that would have a rational basis. Hence the metric system, which later evolved into the SI units system for physicists.
In the indispensable globalization of standards that followed, the Greenwitch meridian prevailed, and the metric system prevailed.
A college dropout's project gone astray
France Telecom did claim to have the record
a few days ago with a 1 Terabit demonstration
in March. It seems that this kind of record
is not easy to hold a long time. Note however
that FT demonstrated 1 Tb over 1000 km, while
Bell demonstrated 1.6 Tb over only 400 km
I am happy to live in a country that makes
the seemingly bold assumption that the relations
between individuals must be handled by rules
common to the whole society rather than by
the possession of devices made to kill.
The "State" is defined as an organization that
has the monopoly of the usage of violence,
which can be used to defend the society against
domestic as well as foreign aggressions.
Why the hell should individuals be allowed to
possess and carry objects whose only purpose
is to kill other people ?
I really hope that you americans will soon
understand how senseless this tradition is.