So we shouldn't do any robotics research, because current alternatives are almost all better in some way? Or do you expect things like this to spring fully-formed from the minds of their inventors, rendering all that came before them redundant overnight?
I don't think this has much of a market either, but I do see it as a necessary precursor to something that will have in a few years or decades.
Steepness is measured as the ratio of how far you go up (or down) for each unit you go forwards. Thus, if the slope is such that for every metre forwards you go, you go up half a metre, that's a "one in two" slope (you go forwards two metres, you go up one), or 50%.
As for units, just do a little dimensional analysis*. You have a length [L] divided by a length [L], giving dimensions of [L]/[L] = 1, ie dimensionless. Thus, steepness has no unit.
Calling the guy a fucktard was a little over the top, but his complaint was completely unwarranted; there's nothing UK-specific about the way slopes are measured, and a quick google would have revealed that there is no unit.
This is supposed to be a site of techies and other nerds; I appreciate that not everyone has had formal scientific training, but is it too much to ask that they do even the most basic research before mouthing off?
* very basic physics, used for sanity-checking equations - if you do it to both sides of an equation and get different answers, the equation is definitely wrong
No, those days ended long before that. If you cast your mind back, you'll remember lots of gleeful speculation right here on slashdot as to what the punishment would be, with a lot of people advocating nothing less than being broken up into smaller companies.
Slashdot has always been anti-MS, often regardless of actual merit.
It was so good, that a lot of the time you could get away with hitting the "I'm feeling lucky" button. If Altavista had an "I'm feeling lucky" button, it would have taken you to total crap most of the time.
Google is becoming something of a victim of its own success, though. Just try searching for any sort of product, trying to get reviews of it. Almost all the sites you get will be price comparison or e-commerce websites (and yes, I have tried adding "review" to the search terms - all the sites have "user review" features, and most of them are unused).
Now I'm not saying that google isn't still one hell of a search engine, but there's definitely room for improvement. As for whether or not MS can provide that improvement, only time will tell.
I thought we'd done this to death in the 80s and 90s, and before that for TV, rock and roll, erotic literature, porn, sugary foods, soft drugs, etc etc, ad nauseum.
Yes, I dare say that some people, if exposed to violent games (or films, or books, etc) will go off and do stupid, stupid things. Chances are, though, that these people would have done stupid things even without the exposure. Plenty of people who have never played a game exhibit agressive behaviour.
What I don't understand is why each generation seems to be so afraid of what the younger generation is into. All we're seeing is the same arguments that were made about rock and roll in the fifties, or violent films in the late 70s and early 80s.
I'm not exactly old, but I'm not really young any more either (I'm 31), but I hope to God I'm not so fucking stupid and scared when I do become "old". (Although given I have a house, mortgage, car, daughter, etc, I think by most reasonable definitions I already am)
If you didn't want people to poke at the machine, you shouldn't have installed it on a public network?
And if you didn't want people to poke at your house, you shouldn't have built it on a public road?
Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with the occasional port scan either, but that doesn't mean that I don't recognise that other people might disagree with me and might not appreciate having their networks scanned.
Besides which, there's a good chance that it falls foul of the university's acceptable use policy.
Interesting. I can't say that I necessarily agree with it - it gives me an uncomfortable feeling that I could be considered to be merely part of my company, rather than an individual in my own right no matter the context, but fair enough.
Incidentally, congratulations on being the first person to actually answer this point, which I've made a couple of times before...
Ofcourse, commercial software is just as vulnerable to patent/copyright infringements as well, and so are it's users since most commercial software includes disclaimers.
The GPL also contains such disclaimers; it's extremely rare that a software licence doesn't.
And someone has to reread the GPL again -- no one says the gov agency in question has to distribute any source of things they use internally.
Well, as I read the GPL, if said government agency creates a GPLed tool and distributes it internally, then they must also make the source available internally; I see no exceptions allowing you to not provide source to employees on demand. I also see no exceptions allowing you to require that said receiving employees do not distribute the code outside of the agency.
So no, I don't think the GPL says that any code you right you have to give to the whole world - but equally, I don't think you can prevent internally-developed code from leaking if an employee decides to leak it. That's true of all code, of course, but at least with proprietary code you can sue.
Now I'm not saying that I'm right (IANAL, etc) or that it's a reason to not use the GPL. Just pointing out a potential risk of using the GPL internally within an organisation.
He's not used video game technology to work the theory out, he's used it to crunch numbers and produce pretty pictures. It's a tool for visualising the results that come out of general relativity, nothing more (and nothing less).
I'm currently getting around 100KB/s downloading the image.
Two things to remember:
1) this isn't on the front page, little summary link notwithstanding 2) if slashdot can survive the slashdot effect, so can other sites; this is apparently one of them
I can almost accept people commenting before reading the article, but not even reading the summary?
Besides, having the user knock on the door manually would have a much bigger problem than forgetting your knock - someone else listening to it and reproducing it when you're out.
This is hardware, you want to know how it works, take it apart and look!
Now, if you're wondering whether or not they'll take out any patents on it, that's an entirely different question - and in fact, in order to patent something, you have to "open source" it; how it works is *in* the patent.
Way to completely overreact... This isn't about everyone knowing your innermost thougts and feelings, this is about a political party and the people you know knowing how you stand on certain important issues.
This is nothing to do with your boss knowing you think she's a nutter, and everything to do with her knowing that you think that abortion is an acceptable option.
Of course people have thoughts that they want to keep secret, but that's not the sort of thing that this article is about.
If you want it, you must upgrade... everything. Unless, of course, you're currently running the latest blood-still-flowing-from-the-wounds-edge game machine, in which case you'll just need more memory and a better video card.
Don't be ridiculous, the machine I just upgraded away from would've handled Vista without batting an eyelid, and that was a couple of years old.
The only intensive part of Vista is Aero, and that's a configurable option.
Well, that's all fine and good, and you're right, if I want to phone someone in China I just dial the international code for China first.
However, what if I want to email someone at one of these new domains? How do I type the characters in on my UK keyboard? Unless they have an Anglicised domain name too, I'm out of luck.
Dell is supposed to support Windows - if you try to get support for an OEM copy of Windows from Microsoft, they'll invite you to either pay for it or go to your vendor.
Microsoft supports Windows in that it releases patches and updates for it. If you want support as in help working out how to do stuff, or fixing problems you have, then you have to either pay for it or go via your PC's manufacturer. Microsoft offer free support for retail copies of Windows only (and then there's a limit on the number of support calls you can make, etc).
Why do you want to upgrade the machines? What purpose would it serve, what problem would it solve?
Also, you say yourself that you're not there often enough to properly support the PCs alone, and that there are concerns about availability of required software. Those two things right there indicate pretty heavily against a switch to Linux.
Your language (eg use of the word "abhorrent") and lack of stated requirement for the change makes it sound very much like your main (or even sole) reason for wanting to switch away from Windows is to switch away from Windows. That's all well and good for your own machines, but not for ones that other people need to use.
Now for some advice. Work out what the machines need to do, who needs to maintain them, what skills and time they have, and what sorts of software is required. Make a list of pros and cons for Linux, for upgrading to XP Pro, and for leaving things as they are. Pick the one with the most sensible balance of pros and cons.
But whatever you do, don't just install your personal favourite OS on them - that goes whatever it is, be it Linux, Windows, one of the BSDs, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Or like Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003 Server do (and Vista will)?
Looks like you need a new keyboard - your shift key appears to be broken...
So we shouldn't do any robotics research, because current alternatives are almost all better in some way? Or do you expect things like this to spring fully-formed from the minds of their inventors, rendering all that came before them redundant overnight?
I don't think this has much of a market either, but I do see it as a necessary precursor to something that will have in a few years or decades.
In the UK, we have (or have had) "Janet and John" and "Peter and Jane".
Steepness is measured as the ratio of how far you go up (or down) for each unit you go forwards. Thus, if the slope is such that for every metre forwards you go, you go up half a metre, that's a "one in two" slope (you go forwards two metres, you go up one), or 50%.
As for units, just do a little dimensional analysis*. You have a length [L] divided by a length [L], giving dimensions of [L]/[L] = 1, ie dimensionless. Thus, steepness has no unit.
Calling the guy a fucktard was a little over the top, but his complaint was completely unwarranted; there's nothing UK-specific about the way slopes are measured, and a quick google would have revealed that there is no unit.
This is supposed to be a site of techies and other nerds; I appreciate that not everyone has had formal scientific training, but is it too much to ask that they do even the most basic research before mouthing off?
* very basic physics, used for sanity-checking equations - if you do it to both sides of an equation and get different answers, the equation is definitely wrong
No, those days ended long before that. If you cast your mind back, you'll remember lots of gleeful speculation right here on slashdot as to what the punishment would be, with a lot of people advocating nothing less than being broken up into smaller companies.
Slashdot has always been anti-MS, often regardless of actual merit.
It was so good, that a lot of the time you could get away with hitting the "I'm feeling lucky" button. If Altavista had an "I'm feeling lucky" button, it would have taken you to total crap most of the time.
Google is becoming something of a victim of its own success, though. Just try searching for any sort of product, trying to get reviews of it. Almost all the sites you get will be price comparison or e-commerce websites (and yes, I have tried adding "review" to the search terms - all the sites have "user review" features, and most of them are unused).
Now I'm not saying that google isn't still one hell of a search engine, but there's definitely room for improvement. As for whether or not MS can provide that improvement, only time will tell.
I thought we'd done this to death in the 80s and 90s, and before that for TV, rock and roll, erotic literature, porn, sugary foods, soft drugs, etc etc, ad nauseum.
Yes, I dare say that some people, if exposed to violent games (or films, or books, etc) will go off and do stupid, stupid things. Chances are, though, that these people would have done stupid things even without the exposure. Plenty of people who have never played a game exhibit agressive behaviour.
What I don't understand is why each generation seems to be so afraid of what the younger generation is into. All we're seeing is the same arguments that were made about rock and roll in the fifties, or violent films in the late 70s and early 80s.
I'm not exactly old, but I'm not really young any more either (I'm 31), but I hope to God I'm not so fucking stupid and scared when I do become "old". (Although given I have a house, mortgage, car, daughter, etc, I think by most reasonable definitions I already am)
And all of the "it's" should be "its" - "it's" is "it is", "its" is the possessive.
The corporation is a person, remember?
In the US, sure - but elsewhere? The GPL has to be valid globally, remember.
Surely that should be "AKA Methicillin-resistant staph"?
Otherwise, the implication is that all staph is MRSA...
If you didn't want people to poke at the machine, you shouldn't have installed it on a public network?
And if you didn't want people to poke at your house, you shouldn't have built it on a public road?
Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with the occasional port scan either, but that doesn't mean that I don't recognise that other people might disagree with me and might not appreciate having their networks scanned.
Besides which, there's a good chance that it falls foul of the university's acceptable use policy.
Interesting. I can't say that I necessarily agree with it - it gives me an uncomfortable feeling that I could be considered to be merely part of my company, rather than an individual in my own right no matter the context, but fair enough.
Incidentally, congratulations on being the first person to actually answer this point, which I've made a couple of times before...
Ofcourse, commercial software is just as vulnerable to patent/copyright infringements as well, and so are it's users since most commercial software includes disclaimers.
The GPL also contains such disclaimers; it's extremely rare that a software licence doesn't.
And someone has to reread the GPL again -- no one says the gov agency in question has to distribute any source of things they use internally.
Well, as I read the GPL, if said government agency creates a GPLed tool and distributes it internally, then they must also make the source available internally; I see no exceptions allowing you to not provide source to employees on demand. I also see no exceptions allowing you to require that said receiving employees do not distribute the code outside of the agency.
So no, I don't think the GPL says that any code you right you have to give to the whole world - but equally, I don't think you can prevent internally-developed code from leaking if an employee decides to leak it. That's true of all code, of course, but at least with proprietary code you can sue.
Now I'm not saying that I'm right (IANAL, etc) or that it's a reason to not use the GPL. Just pointing out a potential risk of using the GPL internally within an organisation.
He's not used video game technology to work the theory out, he's used it to crunch numbers and produce pretty pictures. It's a tool for visualising the results that come out of general relativity, nothing more (and nothing less).
I'm currently getting around 100KB/s downloading the image.
Two things to remember:
1) this isn't on the front page, little summary link notwithstanding
2) if slashdot can survive the slashdot effect, so can other sites; this is apparently one of them
I can almost accept people commenting before reading the article, but not even reading the summary?
Besides, having the user knock on the door manually would have a much bigger problem than forgetting your knock - someone else listening to it and reproducing it when you're out.
This is hardware, you want to know how it works, take it apart and look!
Now, if you're wondering whether or not they'll take out any patents on it, that's an entirely different question - and in fact, in order to patent something, you have to "open source" it; how it works is *in* the patent.
Way to completely overreact... This isn't about everyone knowing your innermost thougts and feelings, this is about a political party and the people you know knowing how you stand on certain important issues.
This is nothing to do with your boss knowing you think she's a nutter, and everything to do with her knowing that you think that abortion is an acceptable option.
Of course people have thoughts that they want to keep secret, but that's not the sort of thing that this article is about.
If you want it, you must upgrade... everything. Unless, of course, you're currently running the latest blood-still-flowing-from-the-wounds-edge game machine, in which case you'll just need more memory and a better video card.
Don't be ridiculous, the machine I just upgraded away from would've handled Vista without batting an eyelid, and that was a couple of years old.
The only intensive part of Vista is Aero, and that's a configurable option.
Well, that's all fine and good, and you're right, if I want to phone someone in China I just dial the international code for China first.
However, what if I want to email someone at one of these new domains? How do I type the characters in on my UK keyboard? Unless they have an Anglicised domain name too, I'm out of luck.
Dell is supposed to support Windows - if you try to get support for an OEM copy of Windows from Microsoft, they'll invite you to either pay for it or go to your vendor.
Microsoft supports Windows in that it releases patches and updates for it. If you want support as in help working out how to do stuff, or fixing problems you have, then you have to either pay for it or go via your PC's manufacturer. Microsoft offer free support for retail copies of Windows only (and then there's a limit on the number of support calls you can make, etc).
Why do you want to upgrade the machines? What purpose would it serve, what problem would it solve?
Also, you say yourself that you're not there often enough to properly support the PCs alone, and that there are concerns about availability of required software. Those two things right there indicate pretty heavily against a switch to Linux.
Your language (eg use of the word "abhorrent") and lack of stated requirement for the change makes it sound very much like your main (or even sole) reason for wanting to switch away from Windows is to switch away from Windows. That's all well and good for your own machines, but not for ones that other people need to use.
Now for some advice. Work out what the machines need to do, who needs to maintain them, what skills and time they have, and what sorts of software is required. Make a list of pros and cons for Linux, for upgrading to XP Pro, and for leaving things as they are. Pick the one with the most sensible balance of pros and cons.
But whatever you do, don't just install your personal favourite OS on them - that goes whatever it is, be it Linux, Windows, one of the BSDs, etc.