(Besides, I'm pretty sure she's a Beta anyway. Maybe even a Gamma.)
"Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green..." -Aldous Huxley
I don't think she's a Beta. Everybody knows the Alpha children are the most physically enodowed! But then there is the lack of intelligence to consider...(one might even go so far as to call her an Epsilon Semi-Moron if he were so inclined)
I don't know about that, I'm sure there's some way for Verizon to set up some kind of deal with the neighborhood to have like a fiber based LAN across several blocks that connects into the internet in one place. That's not a bad setup, and that's quite a bit of inexpensive bandwidth if you share it among a few dozen people.
By the way, I applaud you on having such a coherent first post. Bravo!
Microsoft has pulled another genius maneuver out of its proverbial ass! They do this, and since AOL is competing with MSN's service and browser, it isn't seen as attempting to use a monopoly to their advantage. They're hurting from this, right? Wrong! They do this, and everybody who uses AOL (granted, that's a crapload of people who otherwise wouldn't want XP) gets a computer with Windows XP on it. Not only that, but Microsoft has the upper hand for the future with this deal too. Since AOL converts to IE, absolutely EVERY SINGLE STANDARD WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR IE! Because now the critical mass uses it. Don't be too quick to say that AOL is using Microsoft and keeping them honest by funding Mozilla. Microsoft knows Mozilla is inadequate, and as long as they know, they can let AOL threaten them all they want. In fact, good ol' Billy might hope to force AOL's guard down long enough to stop the funding of Mozilla, and once that happens, IE is the only browser there is.
Not to mention the fact that AOL just got trapped behind a big old fence of their own contraption. If they try to continue their current business tactics (which, by the way, are much worse than Microsoft's), Microsoft can let them go ahead and do it, and then when the deal breaks down (and it will), Microsoft has the perfect scapegoat: AOL doesn't want to play nice (and they don't).
Congratulations Billy and Steve, you guys win again.
What does this mean for the iMac, now that the CRT is being forgone? Will the iMac line be dropped, or will the new versions of the iMac cost a few hundred extra bills and be a nice slim little mac that you can hang on a wall or something? Before you answer, bear in mind that if Jobs does this, it will be considerably more difficult for him to put idiotic designs on the case (woohoo), but if someone somehow manages to succeed (woop-dee-double-hoop!) it will look absolutely fantastic!
Can't you just imagine a flat-screen iMac hanging on the wall, with a disc coming out of each side, and a tuft of USB cables hanging from the bottom? With the right screen saver (better yet: desktop background), it could look like a person staring at you!
Are you kidding? Hell yes, they're going for the high-end user! Why do you think their high end computers have some of the fastest processors in the industry, and some of them even have TWO! Come on, these computers are for people who need to do graphics editing and need a more reliable screen that fits on their desk. LCD, anyone?
Oh yeah, and by the way, Apple's new LCDs will probably be able to scale down to 640x480 for their games, judging by the fact that the newest iBook (which in case you guys didn't know uses an LCD) smoothly scales down from 1024x768 to 640x480 without the black edges to which PC hardware is prone.
you do have to remember that this is a VERY early and VERY VERY pre-release version of the box, and also a pre-release version of the game! Not to mention the fact that the PS2 has crashing problems even in the release version. Although I don't think that's completely the PS2's fault. You see, the game TimeSplitters crashes rather frequently, and a cursory look at the splash screen on reboot says that Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds... etc. Now I don't want to get shot or anything (when in Rome, do as the Romans do::when in Slashdot, throw penguin shit on Microsoft's throne...), but that means that just about the ONLY console game running linux (or at least advertising that it does) is also the only one that has crashing problems.
The PS2 also has some problems playing DVDs, the display algorithm was written like shi-ite, and many discs play like crap: such as the sceens don't go in chronological order, while they do on a standard DVD player and a computer. Now I know your automatic explanation is that there must be a conspiracy of "incompetent" Microsoft programmers that hacked into Sony and infected their systems with the the Redmond strain of the horrible BG(stands-for-Bill-Gates)-virus, but I think if you give yourself a good hearty slap on the face you will discover that you're being a sagacious jackass, and that your mind, formerly considered to be too infinitessimal for the revelation of objectivity, is now open to the real wonder of the world.
I'd tell you what that is, but you have to slap yourself first...
Come on, people! Years on a tiny tin can with several other people wouldn't be bad at all. Especially if you got to hang out with astronauts! I guarantee I could do it, and I could do it better than any astronaut and with less training and complaining. Anyway, just give each astronaut a Powerbook and pop an Airport in there, and let them play Unreal Tournament against each other. And other games too. Networked video games would keep them focused and aware, and it would also help them get used to using controls so the pilot could land the rig more easily anyway.
In summary, send ME up on the rocket, I can handle 3 solitary years no problem!
I did this once! My story of the rocket:
on
To the Moon, Alice
·
· Score: 1
In my freshman year in high school, I did a little research on rocket science, and drew up some plans for a rocket that I figured could do just about what he was planning. Go 30 miles up and then fall back down. But I couldn't realistically go up in the rocket, so I planned on putting in 50 kilos of fireworks and a remote control detonator or something (it ended up being timed because that was easier). Also that way I didn't need parachutes or anything.
So anyway, a few more calculations said that this whole thing would cost me $120000, so I went to a local bank to take out the loan, and we finally made the agreement that I would put their name and phone number on the side of the rocket, and there would be a fairly high interest rate on the thing too. [Lucky for me, this was only a one-branch bank].
Now that I had my money, I set out to build the rocket. It only took me a few months, and I had the whole thing ready to go and everything. I was going to do it after school on a Friday, and the night before, I rented out an entire park with the money I had left, and set the launch up and hid the rocket under some branches.
Unfortunately, one of my friends found out where the rocket was set up to launch, and he skipped school that day and went to the launch site, with the intent to launch the thing without my permission, and to be the guy when the media showed up. Now, as I'm told, when he pulled the camoflage off the rocket, he misaligned the launch platform, and the rocket would now have to resetup for launch. But, being an idiot, he did not know that. So he pressed the launch button on my computer on the other side of the field, and launch it did. Apparently (I was not there to see it lift off, though I did see it in flight from class), the launch was spectacular, and looked much better than the NASA launches. Well, the small launch pad problem escalated to a huge problem during the flight. Instead of flying straight up and exploding, the rocket turned over on its side about 75 feet above the ground and whizzed past all the buildings in the city at speeds that should have been over 1000 mph, and judging by the blast created by breaking the sound barrier, it may have been nearly there.
The rocket barely cleared my school, and knocked most of us on out collective arses, so to speak, blast. Knowing that my friend wasn't in school, and fearing the worst, hoping it wasn't true, but knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was, I ran to the roof just in time to see the rocket's final seconds. I knew the explosives should be going off any second, and the fuel should expire just a moment before the detonation. The fire behind the rocket extinguished, and I instinctively covered my ears, waiting for the (hopefully) tremendous explosion. It was several seconds longer than I had expected, which disappointed me to no end. Until the end of my disappointment, just a few seconds later when the explosives lit off, and basically vaporized 6 city blocks. At the center of those 6 city blocks was the bank that I had gotten the loan from. Everything they had had been destroyed by the explosion. Along with a prison, a police station, and a few office buildings (most of which wasn't my fault, I swear! There was a gas station nearby that also exploded, and that was probably a completely unrelated coincidence).
The only person related to the bank was the owner/manager, who was on his way back from vacation in Montana. What a freakin' loony, on vacation in Montana?? Anyway, someone had managed to take a picture of the rocket in flight, and dead-center in the middle of it sat the name of the bank that blew up, and the phone number. The city blamed the owner of the bank, and sued him for something to do with the millions of dollars of damage that were caused (by him). Since all his records had been destroyed in the blast, he could not prove to them that he had granted a loan to someone else to build a rocket and put his number on it. Of course, nobody believed him, and he was persecuted to the full extent of the law. Either that, or they just gave him a friendly slap on the wrist and told him to run along now.
And that is the story of how I built a rocket destined for space, but instead of going to space, it blew up the financing bank. And the guy who owned the crater which used to be a bank got blamed, while I got off scot-free and laughed all the way to the bank. So to speak.
let's be completely honest. linux takes a lot more skill to use than windows. sure, it gives a lot more control to the systems administrator, but that control is useless to your parents, because the only thing they know about linux is that it's the computer that all those "horrible hacker people" have used when they were arrested, and that linux must be bad when compared to windows, because all their friends use windows, and they basically don't have to know anything about the computer to use it successfully. (granted, your definition of success is different than microsoft's, but that's ok for the elderly windows user, because no matter how much skill a person has, they can't get any more positive things from windows.) All in all, you guys really need to stop complaining about microsoft. Basically, they have figured out how to sell their "inferior" product, but since you cannot sell your "excellent" product, they have the industry by the throat. Fine, you've made a nice little operating system, but the time for hiding behind the penguin and throwing sticks and stones at Locutus of Billy Gates is over. None of you has any more right to complain about this until you take more action. If you really think your product can compete with Bill's, go head to head, and if you don't think you're ready, then stop glorifying your accomplishments and accomplish them!
You do of course realize that there are no penguins in the North Atlantic. They inhabit Antarctica and the surrounding seas.
Hopefully everyone here knows that Antarctica is on the South Pole (that's the bottom of the globe, guys).
Everyone is overlooking the most important aspect
on
Spidergoats
·
· Score: 2
The US Army is majorly funding this endeavor, because many years ago they recognized the possibilities of such a new technology. They wanted it for use in super-flexible, super-light, super-strong body armor that they could also rig up with electronics so they could be fully aware of their surroundings in possible upcoming urban combat situations. They could also use the silk to make ropes that they could use to tow things around in air. They just have to think of a way to keep the plane connected to the rope.
Beyond the options the army has already come up with, this goat silk could be used as the frame for subcompact cars, which would greatly reduce the weight.
Instead of thinking of why goat silk sounds funny, why don't we all try to think of something to do with these endless possibilites. Happy hunting. !
It seems to me that Sun did not come off very well in this response. They repeatedly insulted Microsoft for their business practices and the fact that they have a monopoly (which is becoming less and less true by the day). Sun conveniently fails to mention that they currently have an effective monopoly on 'web services' (although that is also becoming less true daily) through java, and that they are mad that Microsoft's.NET might infringe on the utter dominance of java on the net.
Not only that, but the Sun business model is very similar to Microsoft's despite claims to the contrary. Their StarOffice is almost as good as Microsoft's Office, although it still needs a lot of work, and a major problem with it is that to an actual end-user it might seem even more proprietary than Office.
Finally, the representative from Sun came off as a childish imbecile. He repeatedly released boorish jokes directed at Microsoft or Chuck himself. He did this while totally disregarding any similar problems that Sun may face, and the fact that it would be impossible for Microsoft to respond without seeming even more childish. The only thing this letter could possibly accomplish is to aggravate Microsoft, and make the more intelligent readers hate Sun even more.
Basically, Sun and Microsoft are about the same, and basically the only differences are that they have different acronyms for the same products, and Microsoft makes a lot more money.
The two companies should probably stop fighting and, frankly, just shut their proverbial cake-holes.
Instead of having the people play starcraft, which is kind of a hard game to learn, have them play a quick and easy game on console system, something that is really easy to learn, and has an extremely simple concept. Like NHL 2001, just score more goals than the other guy, and if the student does well, then there you go, because there is really nothing more to learn about that. Or, for another example, have them play Unreal Tournament or something like that, which basically just tests you sight and your reflexes and your motor skills.
I must say, I am pretty good at both of those games on my playstation 2, and I don't even like hockey or shootin people, but I think I'm pretty good at recognizing things on the screen and figuring out something to do about it in a split second.
I was, actually currently am, a child prodigy. I'm 15 years old, and I have an extraordinarily high IQ. At an early age, I learned to research on my own, and I became fluent in Spanish and Latin, and I learned BASIC like a lot of other people, but I was a little behind, and by the time I was 7 I also became quite familiar with c++, and I knew html almost immediately when it became available to me.
Not only that, I also got involved in many sports, and got pretty darn good at them as well, and I pride myself on being exceptional at football, baseball, basketball, and boxing, and being all right at hockey, soccer, volleyball, and swimming. I have always taken a huge interest in keeping my body as well as my mind in perfect condition.
Anyway, the point of all this is that it is harder than you guys are making out to get a child prodigy to be good socially. I have a lot of friends, geeks, jocks, girls, and the 'cool' crowd as well, but basically, they all seem to respect me on some level but resent me on another, because I am better than everyone at everything. Frankly, it is not fun. Tell your child prodigy that he/she should find a group of people that he likes and who respects him.
And tell the kid that having a great body works wonders all the time! Work out, for god's sake.
I simply cannot understand what you mean. Sega has always put innovation before profits... I suppose that is true, but don't you think that could be something of a problem? Look at what happened to them with the Sega Saturn! They came out with the 32-bit console first, people were like "Wow!" and then Nintendo one-upped them with a 64-bit system that was considerably better, and Sony came onto the scene with the Playstation which may or may not have been a more powerful system, but developers were simply able to create better games for the Playstation, so people bought the powerful N64 and the excellent PSX, and eschewed the too-early Saturn. The exact same thing is happening now. Sega released their system too soon, and it is nowhere near good enough to compete with the PS2 or the XBox or even the oft-exagerrated GAMECUBE from Nintendo. Sega may have squandered its second last-chance, and I can't see them succeeding with the under-powered Dreamcast.
Contrary to popular Slashdot-er belief, God probably doesn't have to many programmers at all, judging by His distinct lack of needing any. And if He did have any programmers, they would most likely be programmers from Microsoft than UNIX programmers because of the fact that there are probably more dead former-Microsofties than dead Linux people, for various reasons including the annual Microsoft in-house execution cycle of any employee who showed traitorous intentions over the past year, and the increased risk of random violence against Microsoft-people that are committed by people who were fed up with what they call monopolistic practices, but not all of the accusations are even true, and anyway, most people would do the exact same thing in Bill Gates' place. Except for the fact that most people would make a point of being better dressed than Bill Gates and the off-putting eyesores-of-what-he-calls-sweaters that he always wears when people see him.
He probably dons them to try to hide his pathetically deformed torso.
Or perhaps the hideous scar from where Satan removed his heart.
Slashdot Mirror
(Besides, I'm pretty sure she's a Beta anyway. Maybe even a Gamma.)
"Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green..."
-Aldous Huxley
I don't think she's a Beta. Everybody knows the Alpha children are the most physically enodowed! But then there is the lack of intelligence to consider...(one might even go so far as to call her an Epsilon Semi-Moron if he were so inclined)
I don't know about that, I'm sure there's some way for Verizon to set up some kind of deal with the neighborhood to have like a fiber based LAN across several blocks that connects into the internet in one place. That's not a bad setup, and that's quite a bit of inexpensive bandwidth if you share it among a few dozen people.
By the way, I applaud you on having such a coherent first post. Bravo!
Microsoft has pulled another genius maneuver out of its proverbial ass! They do this, and since AOL is competing with MSN's service and browser, it isn't seen as attempting to use a monopoly to their advantage. They're hurting from this, right? Wrong! They do this, and everybody who uses AOL (granted, that's a crapload of people who otherwise wouldn't want XP) gets a computer with Windows XP on it. Not only that, but Microsoft has the upper hand for the future with this deal too. Since AOL converts to IE, absolutely EVERY SINGLE STANDARD WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR IE! Because now the critical mass uses it. Don't be too quick to say that AOL is using Microsoft and keeping them honest by funding Mozilla. Microsoft knows Mozilla is inadequate, and as long as they know, they can let AOL threaten them all they want. In fact, good ol' Billy might hope to force AOL's guard down long enough to stop the funding of Mozilla, and once that happens, IE is the only browser there is.
Not to mention the fact that AOL just got trapped behind a big old fence of their own contraption. If they try to continue their current business tactics (which, by the way, are much worse than Microsoft's), Microsoft can let them go ahead and do it, and then when the deal breaks down (and it will), Microsoft has the perfect scapegoat: AOL doesn't want to play nice (and they don't).
Congratulations Billy and Steve, you guys win again.
What does this mean for the iMac, now that the CRT is being forgone? Will the iMac line be dropped, or will the new versions of the iMac cost a few hundred extra bills and be a nice slim little mac that you can hang on a wall or something? Before you answer, bear in mind that if Jobs does this, it will be considerably more difficult for him to put idiotic designs on the case (woohoo), but if someone somehow manages to succeed (woop-dee-double-hoop!) it will look absolutely fantastic!
Can't you just imagine a flat-screen iMac hanging on the wall, with a disc coming out of each side, and a tuft of USB cables hanging from the bottom? With the right screen saver (better yet: desktop background), it could look like a person staring at you!
Are they going for the high-end users or what?
Are you kidding? Hell yes, they're going for the high-end user! Why do you think their high end computers have some of the fastest processors in the industry, and some of them even have TWO! Come on, these computers are for people who need to do graphics editing and need a more reliable screen that fits on their desk. LCD, anyone?
Oh yeah, and by the way, Apple's new LCDs will probably be able to scale down to 640x480 for their games, judging by the fact that the newest iBook (which in case you guys didn't know uses an LCD) smoothly scales down from 1024x768 to 640x480 without the black edges to which PC hardware is prone.
you do have to remember that this is a VERY early and VERY VERY pre-release version of the box, and also a pre-release version of the game! Not to mention the fact that the PS2 has crashing problems even in the release version. Although I don't think that's completely the PS2's fault. You see, the game TimeSplitters crashes rather frequently, and a cursory look at the splash screen on reboot says that Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds... etc. Now I don't want to get shot or anything (when in Rome, do as the Romans do::when in Slashdot, throw penguin shit on Microsoft's throne...), but that means that just about the ONLY console game running linux (or at least advertising that it does) is also the only one that has crashing problems.
The PS2 also has some problems playing DVDs, the display algorithm was written like shi-ite, and many discs play like crap: such as the sceens don't go in chronological order, while they do on a standard DVD player and a computer. Now I know your automatic explanation is that there must be a conspiracy of "incompetent" Microsoft programmers that hacked into Sony and infected their systems with the the Redmond strain of the horrible BG(stands-for-Bill-Gates)-virus, but I think if you give yourself a good hearty slap on the face you will discover that you're being a sagacious jackass, and that your mind, formerly considered to be too infinitessimal for the revelation of objectivity, is now open to the real wonder of the world.
I'd tell you what that is, but you have to slap yourself first...
Come on, people! Years on a tiny tin can with several other people wouldn't be bad at all. Especially if you got to hang out with astronauts! I guarantee I could do it, and I could do it better than any astronaut and with less training and complaining.
Anyway, just give each astronaut a Powerbook and pop an Airport in there, and let them play Unreal Tournament against each other. And other games too. Networked video games would keep them focused and aware, and it would also help them get used to using controls so the pilot could land the rig more easily anyway.
In summary, send ME up on the rocket, I can handle 3 solitary years no problem!
In my freshman year in high school, I did a little research on rocket science, and drew up some plans for a rocket that I figured could do just about what he was planning. Go 30 miles up and then fall back down. But I couldn't realistically go up in the rocket, so I planned on putting in 50 kilos of fireworks and a remote control detonator or something (it ended up being timed because that was easier). Also that way I didn't need parachutes or anything.
So anyway, a few more calculations said that this whole thing would cost me $120000, so I went to a local bank to take out the loan, and we finally made the agreement that I would put their name and phone number on the side of the rocket, and there would be a fairly high interest rate on the thing too. [Lucky for me, this was only a one-branch bank].
Now that I had my money, I set out to build the rocket. It only took me a few months, and I had the whole thing ready to go and everything. I was going to do it after school on a Friday, and the night before, I rented out an entire park with the money I had left, and set the launch up and hid the rocket under some branches.
Unfortunately, one of my friends found out where the rocket was set up to launch, and he skipped school that day and went to the launch site, with the intent to launch the thing without my permission, and to be the guy when the media showed up. Now, as I'm told, when he pulled the camoflage off the rocket, he misaligned the launch platform, and the rocket would now have to resetup for launch. But, being an idiot, he did not know that. So he pressed the launch button on my computer on the other side of the field, and launch it did. Apparently (I was not there to see it lift off, though I did see it in flight from class), the launch was spectacular, and looked much better than the NASA launches. Well, the small launch pad problem escalated to a huge problem during the flight. Instead of flying straight up and exploding, the rocket turned over on its side about 75 feet above the ground and whizzed past all the buildings in the city at speeds that should have been over 1000 mph, and judging by the blast created by breaking the sound barrier, it may have been nearly there.
The rocket barely cleared my school, and knocked most of us on out collective arses, so to speak, blast. Knowing that my friend wasn't in school, and fearing the worst, hoping it wasn't true, but knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was, I ran to the roof just in time to see the rocket's final seconds. I knew the explosives should be going off any second, and the fuel should expire just a moment before the detonation. The fire behind the rocket extinguished, and I instinctively covered my ears, waiting for the (hopefully) tremendous explosion. It was several seconds longer than I had expected, which disappointed me to no end. Until the end of my disappointment, just a few seconds later when the explosives lit off, and basically vaporized 6 city blocks. At the center of those 6 city blocks was the bank that I had gotten the loan from. Everything they had had been destroyed by the explosion. Along with a prison, a police station, and a few office buildings (most of which wasn't my fault, I swear! There was a gas station nearby that also exploded, and that was probably a completely unrelated coincidence).
The only person related to the bank was the owner/manager, who was on his way back from vacation in Montana. What a freakin' loony, on vacation in Montana?? Anyway, someone had managed to take a picture of the rocket in flight, and dead-center in the middle of it sat the name of the bank that blew up, and the phone number. The city blamed the owner of the bank, and sued him for something to do with the millions of dollars of damage that were caused (by him). Since all his records had been destroyed in the blast, he could not prove to them that he had granted a loan to someone else to build a rocket and put his number on it. Of course, nobody believed him, and he was persecuted to the full extent of the law. Either that, or they just gave him a friendly slap on the wrist and told him to run along now.
And that is the story of how I built a rocket destined for space, but instead of going to space, it blew up the financing bank. And the guy who owned the crater which used to be a bank got blamed, while I got off scot-free and laughed all the way to the bank. So to speak.
And then I found fifty bucks.
let's be completely honest. linux takes a lot more skill to use than windows. sure, it gives a lot more control to the systems administrator, but that control is useless to your parents, because the only thing they know about linux is that it's the computer that all those "horrible hacker people" have used when they were arrested, and that linux must be bad when compared to windows, because all their friends use windows, and they basically don't have to know anything about the computer to use it successfully. (granted, your definition of success is different than microsoft's, but that's ok for the elderly windows user, because no matter how much skill a person has, they can't get any more positive things from windows.) All in all, you guys really need to stop complaining about microsoft. Basically, they have figured out how to sell their "inferior" product, but since you cannot sell your "excellent" product, they have the industry by the throat.
Fine, you've made a nice little operating system, but the time for hiding behind the penguin and throwing sticks and stones at Locutus of Billy Gates is over. None of you has any more right to complain about this until you take more action. If you really think your product can compete with Bill's, go head to head, and if you don't think you're ready, then stop glorifying your accomplishments and accomplish them!
You do of course realize that there are no penguins in the North Atlantic. They inhabit Antarctica and the surrounding seas.
Hopefully everyone here knows that Antarctica is on the South Pole (that's the bottom of the globe, guys).
The US Army is majorly funding this endeavor, because many years ago they recognized the possibilities of such a new technology. They wanted it for use in super-flexible, super-light, super-strong body armor that they could also rig up with electronics so they could be fully aware of their surroundings in possible upcoming urban combat situations. They could also use the silk to make ropes that they could use to tow things around in air. They just have to think of a way to keep the plane connected to the rope.
Beyond the options the army has already come up with, this goat silk could be used as the frame for subcompact cars, which would greatly reduce the weight.
Instead of thinking of why goat silk sounds funny, why don't we all try to think of something to do with these endless possibilites. Happy hunting. !
It seems to me that Sun did not come off very well in this response. They repeatedly insulted Microsoft for their business practices and the fact that they have a monopoly (which is becoming less and less true by the day). Sun conveniently fails to mention that they currently have an effective monopoly on 'web services' (although that is also becoming less true daily) through java, and that they are mad that Microsoft's .NET might infringe on the utter dominance of java on the net.
Not only that, but the Sun business model is very similar to Microsoft's despite claims to the contrary. Their StarOffice is almost as good as Microsoft's Office, although it still needs a lot of work, and a major problem with it is that to an actual end-user it might seem even more proprietary than Office.
Finally, the representative from Sun came off as a childish imbecile. He repeatedly released boorish jokes directed at Microsoft or Chuck himself. He did this while totally disregarding any similar problems that Sun may face, and the fact that it would be impossible for Microsoft to respond without seeming even more childish. The only thing this letter could possibly accomplish is to aggravate Microsoft, and make the more intelligent readers hate Sun even more.
Basically, Sun and Microsoft are about the same, and basically the only differences are that they have different acronyms for the same products, and Microsoft makes a lot more money.
The two companies should probably stop fighting and, frankly, just shut their proverbial cake-holes.
I must say, I am pretty good at both of those games on my playstation 2, and I don't even like hockey or shootin people, but I think I'm pretty good at recognizing things on the screen and figuring out something to do about it in a split second.
I was, actually currently am, a child prodigy. I'm 15 years old, and I have an extraordinarily high IQ. At an early age, I learned to research on my own, and I became fluent in Spanish and Latin, and I learned BASIC like a lot of other people, but I was a little behind, and by the time I was 7 I also became quite familiar with c++, and I knew html almost immediately when it became available to me.
Not only that, I also got involved in many sports, and got pretty darn good at them as well, and I pride myself on being exceptional at football, baseball, basketball, and boxing, and being all right at hockey, soccer, volleyball, and swimming. I have always taken a huge interest in keeping my body as well as my mind in perfect condition.
Anyway, the point of all this is that it is harder than you guys are making out to get a child prodigy to be good socially. I have a lot of friends, geeks, jocks, girls, and the 'cool' crowd as well, but basically, they all seem to respect me on some level but resent me on another, because I am better than everyone at everything. Frankly, it is not fun. Tell your child prodigy that he/she should find a group of people that he likes and who respects him.
And tell the kid that having a great body works wonders all the time! Work out, for god's sake.
Boo Sega!
Contrary to popular Slashdot-er belief, God probably doesn't have to many programmers at all, judging by His distinct lack of needing any. And if He did have any programmers, they would most likely be programmers from Microsoft than UNIX programmers because of the fact that there are probably more dead former-Microsofties than dead Linux people, for various reasons including the annual Microsoft in-house execution cycle of any employee who showed traitorous intentions over the past year, and the increased risk of random violence against Microsoft-people that are committed by people who were fed up with what they call monopolistic practices, but not all of the accusations are even true, and anyway, most people would do the exact same thing in Bill Gates' place. Except for the fact that most people would make a point of being better dressed than Bill Gates and the off-putting eyesores-of-what-he-calls-sweaters that he always wears when people see him. He probably dons them to try to hide his pathetically deformed torso. Or perhaps the hideous scar from where Satan removed his heart.