"Behind the scenes" engineering presentation
on
Google Tidbits
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Of related interest, UW Seattle had Jeff Dean of Google give a talk recently about Google's engineering setup, including the GFS and MapReduce: WMA and RM videos here.
Back in the 60's, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said of segregation, "The biggest enemy we have today in America is the public secular news media." They would report the two sides for or against segregation, which was really an argument for the status quo.
Tepper stated that he will continue to "create situations that cause some discomfort."
If you're just playing the game to have some fun, and don't care about historical "accuracy" or at least realism, this would be annoying and possibly offensive.
If you're playing it to experience a world, I think it's completely in line. Slavery, racism, and sexual discrimination are all part of history (and our world today), and being confronted with them in a online gaming experience could be much more powerful than, for example, reading in your textbook that Denmark abolished the African slave trade in 1803.
Lots of public libraries use PCs set up as kiosks running a web interface to their catalogs, and they all seem to use IE -- so, no tabbed browsing.
Having just been looking into setting up one of those library kiosks, I can tell you that's it's because all the easy-install products are built with IE. There are lots of websites about how to set Mozilla up in a kiosk mode, but they invariably involve hacking JavaScript and messing with lots of configs. That takes too much time for anyone but the largest library systems. It's much easier to buy a $30 product like Fortres or Cybrary.
We need an easy download and install kiosk Mozilla, preferably also with an OS lock-down tool to make the catalog PCs as maintainence-free as possible.
This is an argument that Steven Weber makes in The Success of Open Source, which I reviewed recently. For more info, check out the list of reviews I've put together. While it's possible that the Economist thought of the idea on its own, I'm disappointed they didn't at least mention his previous work.
I love Fedora Core 2. The new spacial Nautilus is great for managing with my substantial digital picture collection, I find it more intuitive than the Windows-style browser. The latest OpenOffice.org is faster and has nice GNOME integration.
I was not effected by the dual boot bug (it's apparently only older systems).
The sound card problem is a generic bug in ALSA that is very visible since FC2 switched to ALSA as the default sound system. It apparently effects lots of low-end sound cards that ALSA hasn't had to deal with.
Um.. Mozilla already groups messages with the same topics together into threads. So does Eudora. In fact, so did the old Netscape as far back as I can remember. Like..even in 3x, I think.
I guess I need to be more clear. The point isn't that it groups them together, it's that it displays them together. Like, I click on the one subject line and it displays the whole "conversation" (yet, like USENET readers), with options to collapse.
A friend referred me for an account and I love it. He didn't even mention how useful it is with mailing lists. Tired of your email box being filled with 25 messages with the same subject? Gmail puts them all together like
Linda, Bob, Fred (25) GPL the best?
Where the first name of the latest reply is in bold. Very cool and very useful for management. I know mutt can already do this with threading, but AFAIK can't open all the messages in the thread together like gmail's conversations. This is a feature that needs to be added to every email client.
I am sure this will trigger another round of lawsuits, hopefully with the net effect of more education of the public and legal community as to the nature of source code as speech (that is, a method of communication).
This code shows with more simplicity than ever before how the FairPlay DRM scheme works. This can be used by programmers to add support for applications (i.e., GStreamer) to play encrypted files with a key produced from an iTunes username/password. It can be used by researchers to see any weaknesses in FairPlay and develop better methods. Unfortunately it can also be used by those who want to destroy the iTunes Music Service.
Interestingly, I believe the ideas could also be used to create files encrypted with a particular iTunes login, though perhaps I'm misunderstanding the scheme.
Academic people don't bypass restrictions on content redistribution because they need to "maximize learning". They do it because they can.
While I'm sure that in many cases non-Free copyrighted material is redistributed beyond fair use in educational settings, the actual "content" is ideas, which are not subject to copyright. Therefore when a schoolteacher or professor talks about, for example, "social capital" they may or may not require their students to buy or even read Robert Putnam's books.
That said, the state of textbooks, indeed almost all academic publishing, is deplorable today. I am glad to see a ray of hope in the Open Access movement.
What we have here is a collision of the educational realm, where "content" needs to be "distributed" to students with maximum learning, and the entertainment realm, where content needs to be distributed to consumers with maximum profit.
What they need is a presentation on how to create content that can be legally shared (history of GNU, Creative Commons, and so on).
Guess what? I did and I even emailed the Provost to explain what is going on. If UW doesn't want it on their servers (my reading of the guidelines and the DMCA is that it is permissable), they just need to email me back and I will remove it. It's their server and I will abide by their decision. Personally I think the free speech issues are much bigger than the iTunes DRM. UW has the resources to fight this if they agree with me.
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Of related interest, UW Seattle had Jeff Dean of Google give a talk recently about Google's engineering setup, including the GFS and MapReduce: WMA and RM videos here.
RMS clearly explains why "Free Software" is his term of choice, and it has everything to do with changing behavior: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-fr eedom.html
Thanks for the opportunity for a flamewar, though.
Got a link for that policy?
Ever tried a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request? Strange as it may seem, that apparently works in the State of Washington.
And tell me... where is this address where users let Microsoft know what features they really want?
Back in the 60's, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said of segregation, "The biggest enemy we have today in America is the public secular news media." They would report the two sides for or against segregation, which was really an argument for the status quo.
If you're just playing the game to have some fun, and don't care about historical "accuracy" or at least realism, this would be annoying and possibly offensive.
If you're playing it to experience a world, I think it's completely in line. Slavery, racism, and sexual discrimination are all part of history (and our world today), and being confronted with them in a online gaming experience could be much more powerful than, for example, reading in your textbook that Denmark abolished the African slave trade in 1803.
Perhaps you meant Baby Bells... or maybe there was some sort of polygamy.
I bet that's a cheaper way to go than simulating real places, too.
Having just been looking into setting up one of those library kiosks, I can tell you that's it's because all the easy-install products are built with IE. There are lots of websites about how to set Mozilla up in a kiosk mode, but they invariably involve hacking JavaScript and messing with lots of configs. That takes too much time for anyone but the largest library systems. It's much easier to buy a $30 product like Fortres or Cybrary.
We need an easy download and install kiosk Mozilla, preferably also with an OS lock-down tool to make the catalog PCs as maintainence-free as possible.
I just happened across Sun's FAQ about the -client and -server settings .
The Java is Faster than C++ and C++ Sucks Unbiased Benchmark
Are you sure you don't mean 200Mbps with a capital 'M'?
This is an argument that Steven Weber makes in The Success of Open Source, which I reviewed recently. For more info, check out the list of reviews I've put together. While it's possible that the Economist thought of the idea on its own, I'm disappointed they didn't at least mention his previous work.
Basically, I didn't want to pay for an OS to the computer that I built recently.
But I also didn't feel right about using a pirated copy of Windows.
So I'm happily using Fedora Core.
(Of course, I've already got a laptop with Windows XP too, so the "but what if nothing works" argument is lost on me.)
I was not effected by the dual boot bug (it's apparently only older systems).
The sound card problem is a generic bug in ALSA that is very visible since FC2 switched to ALSA as the default sound system. It apparently effects lots of low-end sound cards that ALSA hasn't had to deal with.
AFAIK the referrals are random. I've started a FIFO list for when I get some--you're now on it, as will be anyone else who asks me.
I guess I need to be more clear. The point isn't that it groups them together, it's that it displays them together. Like, I click on the one subject line and it displays the whole "conversation" (yet, like USENET readers), with options to collapse.
Linda, Bob, Fred (25) GPL the best?
Where the first name of the latest reply is in bold. Very cool and very useful for management. I know mutt can already do this with threading, but AFAIK can't open all the messages in the thread together like gmail's conversations. This is a feature that needs to be added to every email client.
This code shows with more simplicity than ever before how the FairPlay DRM scheme works. This can be used by programmers to add support for applications (i.e., GStreamer) to play encrypted files with a key produced from an iTunes username/password. It can be used by researchers to see any weaknesses in FairPlay and develop better methods. Unfortunately it can also be used by those who want to destroy the iTunes Music Service.
Interestingly, I believe the ideas could also be used to create files encrypted with a particular iTunes login, though perhaps I'm misunderstanding the scheme.
While I'm sure that in many cases non-Free copyrighted material is redistributed beyond fair use in educational settings, the actual "content" is ideas, which are not subject to copyright. Therefore when a schoolteacher or professor talks about, for example, "social capital" they may or may not require their students to buy or even read Robert Putnam's books.
That said, the state of textbooks, indeed almost all academic publishing, is deplorable today. I am glad to see a ray of hope in the Open Access movement.
What they need is a presentation on how to create content that can be legally shared (history of GNU, Creative Commons, and so on).
The National Institute of Standards and Technology also has an extensive guide, Care and Handling Guide for the Preservation of CDs and DVDs, including a one-page Do-and-Don't Quick Reference.
Guess what? I did and I even emailed the Provost to explain what is going on. If UW doesn't want it on their servers (my reading of the guidelines and the DMCA is that it is permissable), they just need to email me back and I will remove it. It's their server and I will abide by their decision. Personally I think the free speech issues are much bigger than the iTunes DRM. UW has the resources to fight this if they agree with me.
http://students.washington.edu/joshuadf/decss/
Use responsibly.
No, I don't. Sorry.