And it seems the good ol' PS2 sold best this holiday season
I've also read quite a few articles stating that the Xbox and dreamcast have sold out. If that's true, then perhaps some people are buying a PS2 instead of dreamcast or Xbox because they're AVAILABLE. Also, since stocks may be exhausted, it makes demand seem larger, but sales seem smaller.
I run a small Linux professional services company, and I'd be happy to fill the technical support niche. The problem I've experienced is that it isn't enough to offer Linux support, simply because there aren't enough trained Linux IT professionals to run a company's servers on a daily basis. Despite the fact that Google can usually provide an answer quicker than many tech support companies, businesses are willing to shell out big bucks to know that a Senior Microsoft Technician diagnosed their problem, and gave you the "best" answer. Besides, would you trust your IT staff blindly following orders someone on IRC gives them? Many people on IRC channels are trustworthy, but it only takes one who isn't to cause a LOT of problems for your company.
<shameless plug>
If your company wants 9x5 or 24x7 Linux technical support, on-site support, systems implementations, NT->Linux migrations, etc you can check out my company's web site at http://uslinux.net/ or send e-mail to sales@uslinux.net. We're not the size of Red Hat, but we also don't run our business in the red, and all our customers get special attention.
</shameless plug>
Having worked at a college radio station, ran a small recording studio, and been in a band I'm going to add my $0.02.
Artists don't need the megaexpensive recording studios. These days, most anyone can set up a decent studio for a relatively small investment.
Well, only partially. Decent studio equipment will still set you back $50,000 (we're talking good mics, 32 digital tracks, digital console, mixdown equipment, D/A converters, etc). Musicians who've already had a successful album could probably afford this, but nobody starting out can. That doesn't include the space, soundproofing, etc. But, it does leave a glut of studios to record at. However, that doesn't help the artists necessarily, since the RIAA doesn't have a stronghold on studios (basically, different producers have different studios they prefer, but they could go anywhere to record). Peter Gabriel, for instance, built his own 96 track studio for "Shaking the Tree".
However, just because you have tons of expensive equipment doesn't mean your recording will be worth a shit. It takes years of recording and mixing to learn how to get certain sounds from a guitar amp or drum kit, prevent bleed, and make things sounds good. Don't believe me, go to your local University that has a recording class and talk to the professor. Anyone can get a "decent" sound with practice, but you really need a lot of practice to get a professional sound.
I could go on about mastering, etc, but you get the point. It's true that new equipment makes recording easier and puts indie music in the hands of independant musicians, but it won't necessarily break the stranglehold of the RIAA.
Artists don't need the megaexpensive advertising. These days, anyone can gain popularity via web media. Fansites, mailing lists, word of mouth: it's worked before, it's working now, and it's hella cheaper than MTV.
Yeah, but if you want to make money playing music (not necessarily eight figure mansion rich, but just six-figure comfortable rich), you need labels who can get you big shows, MTV videos, spots on SNL and Letterman, and the like. My cousin is in a band (shameless plug [www.therecipe.com]) - they're good, and they tour the US, but the money they make is just enough to get by. I'd hate to see them "sell out", but without a MAJOR label and MAJOR backing, they're proof that even talent alone won't usually do it.
Artists don't need the distribution chain. They can post to the web. As soon as a good payment system comes along, where the artist can be paid directly and receives most of that payment, the distribution chain is toast.
Maybe in five or ten years, but right now, the only profitable distribution chain seems to be retail outlets. They Might Be Giants is about the only band I can think of that even tries to release music via the web, but selling music that way just isn't as profitable, and too many people like me want the original, with liner notes, CD booklets, etc. There's no good micropayment system, and (let's be honest here), how many people will actually donate a dollar a song to a band if they're not forced to do so? Maybe a few, but there's a lot of freeloaders in this world. And, if a band actually manages to make some money on a web-based system, a major label will grab them up and push them out the standard distribution channels quickly - not to stop web distributed music, but to make a profit on a band which has suddenly proven itself!
I agree that once an alternative distribution chain is found, the current system will be toast, but I also think it's years away, and I'm not sure micropayments and MP3s are the answer.
And artists have recently begun to discover that they can sell out concerts via the net. There's no need to for the megapop media orgy that the old-style companies provided. Word of mouth is doing it.
Only if they have marketing and a big following to being with. Sure, Britney Spears, Dave Matthews, or Smashmouth can sell out concerts on the web - because they're BIG. But then, most venues sell tickets via the web and at the door, and the smaller bands almost never sell out. Go find a local club which fits
I for one hope that an alternative distribution chain comes along, independant bands make a big comeback, and recycled pop music goes the way of platform shoes. But, with things like satellite radio taking over and CD copy protection being implemented, I'm not holding my breath.
``They've been testing this in Europe and they're experiencing less than a 1 percent return rate from consumers. It really has turned out to be nothing,'' said Jerry Kamiler, TransWorld Entertainment's division merchandise manger. ``If we get the same results here, as I imagine we would, I don't think it's going to manifest itself into a consumer problem.''
I don't know about the rest of the/. crowd, but I own about 150 CDs and roughly 160 records (vinyl). If 1% of my music was defective, I'd STILL be irate. Of course, I'm the type of person who will stop shopping at a store, will dispute a credit card transaction, or call the BBB if a company pisses me off, so I suppose I'm in the minority.
Let's be realistic: all copy protection can be circumvented. There are BASIC programs like vsound for Linux which snarfs/dev/dsp to a.wav file as sound is written to it. If someone wants to get around the protection, they can. Line out -> Line in and you're done. It's not rocket science. You can buy boxes to circumvent VHS copy protection - does anyone actually believe this will stop people?
Frankly, if I can't rip tracks and make my own CDs, you can damn well bet those CDs WILL be returned.
Does it? Has IBM started supporting a Linux Notes client in the last 9 months? Domino is supported (though 9 months ago, most, but not all features we there). Notes is the client, Domino is the server.
As an aside: I did an evaluation a year ago of Domino 5, Exchange 2000, HP Openmail, Sendmail, iPlanet, and Communigate Pro. Basically, Communigate was a great Sendmail replacement because it had a good interface, came with IMAP, POP, SSL support, etc. But, if users wanted group calendaring and all that jazz, you needed Domino, Exchange, or Openmail. I liked Openmail best, but some HP reps told me in January 2000 at LinuxWorld in NYC that Openmail 6 was the last release.
Sigh. I really wish HP would OpenSource Openmail (hey, it's already got a great open source name). HP can strip out all the proprietary code (fine with me), and leave the OpenSource community to add the functionality back in. Maybe development would continue, maybe not. In any case, there would at leats be a *chance* it would continue.
Hey, maybe someone can pick up openopenmail.org:-)
They may be close to profitable in those markets, but not close enough. Consider as a rather simple example: In 40 of their remaining markets, they end up profitable by $1 per market. In the remaining 10 markets, they lose money by $5 per market. All told, they lose $10, and 80% of their markets are profitable, but the rest may be close. A simple example, but it makes the point. Despite being in the red, those markets will probably be profitable soon - people still want broadband, especially now that cable ISPs and other DSL companies like Northpoint at going belly-up. They've abandoned the unprofitable markets, so anything left at this point WILL be profitable, or it WILL be sold.
What made you decide to migrate? What problems have you run into, and what features have you found beneficial?
So far we've had three executives upgrade for the Microsoft Personal Flight(tm) feature. Unforunately, all three have plummeted to their death when leaping from the building. Microsoft claims that will be fixed in SP2. In the mean time, we're hiring to fill their positions.
I used to run a college radio station a few years ago, just outside Baltimore, MD. We tried for years to get an AM or FM license so we could broadcast off campus. Nothing big - 5 watts would've been more than enough. All we really wanted was to broadcast a few miles to cover the campus and surrounding apartments. Long story short - we couldn't get a station because the FCC won't license micro stations (stations under 100 watts).
The FCC a few years back decided to allow micropower stations. Congress, backed by the NAB (National Association of Broadcaster), passed legislation overriding the FCC. Essentially, Congress decided that the FCC - the US government entity in charge of communications - was not actually in charge. That legislation just about killed any chance of any real competition.
The truth is that the NAB is a cartel, just like OPEC. Unless you buy an existing station, in any suburban or metro area, you CANNOT get a frequency. The NAB has spectrum, and won't let anyone else get spectrum. They employ any means they can. They fought low power FM and won because they didn't want to lose listeners, didn't want advertisers getting cheaper advertising on small, low budget stations, and wanted to maintain their monopoly.
Why am I irritated, and why should you be too? Well, there are only a few major companies which own most of the radio stations you hear. That classic rock station you like? Owned by Infinity Broadcasting - CBS. That hip hop station? ABC. They playlists you hear are put together by the corporations. The 1996 Telecom act allows a company to own up to 33% of the stations in a market (up from 25% prior). That means, theoretically, 3 companies can own all the AM/FM spectrum in the US. It also means that if those 3 companies don't like something, you may never hear it. XM/Sirius radio means there are only 2 players. If only one survives, there will be only 1 company deciding the music and playlists you listen to. Do you like "Noise in the Basement" - those late night local music shows on your local rock station? You'll never experience anything like that again.
Commercial radio has become just that - commercial. Generic, regurgitated, formulaic "music". Rock was great in the 50's and 60's. The Beatles were pop music. POP MUSIC! Think about today's pop music and you fully understand what I'm saying. Incidentally, my music colletion spans 1920 to the present, 150 CDs, 160 albums, and about 20 gigs of MP3s.
I personally wouldn't use satellite radio if the equipment and service was FREE and there weren't any commercials, simply because I hate knowing one company decides the musical tastes of the entire country. Think about it in different terms if you prefer - Don't like Microsoft, but use their software at home or work because you don't have a choice (incompatibility/available applications/etc)? Think this will be any different with only one company controlling the spectrum on your equipment?
If you don't mind Unix, you might consider picking up a used SGI Octane. They're very fast, have multiple (4?) crossbars (instead of a bus), and very nice ones can be had for under $1500. For smooth animation, $1500 is very reasonable (and personally, I find SGI's and IRIX to be great machines).
There are a few ongoing Linux MIPS ports (though nothing solid and fully supported yet), but IRIX is very nice, and has been the defacto standard for studio graphics and animation until recently.
Useless comparison. Utterly useless. Comparing Windows XP Embedded to Red Hat Linux 7.1. Um, RH 7.1 is NOT an embedded OS, sorry Microsoft lackies. If your're going to compare the two, your need to pick an embedded version of Linux. Go talk to Lineo. You can prove anything with incorrect information. I can prove Embedded Linux is a thousand times faster and more stable than Windows, if I use Windows 3.0 as a baseline.
And one of my favorite quotes:
Note: Windows XP Embedded was not tested directly. Internal Microsoft testing indicates that Windows XP Embedded exhibited similar or better reliability and performance characteristics than Windows XP Professional.
Now, if you were, say, flying an aircraft, knowing Microsoft's track record, would you trust Windows XP Embedded to keep you in the air?
And frankly, they're trying to compare Windows XP to Linux. Window managers? Who the hell uses Window managers in *most* embedded devices? I'm not talking Palm pilots here - I'm talking refrigerators, toasters, watches, automobiles, TVs, stereos, etc. And no drivers for embedded architectures besides x86? How about StrongARM, PPC, and every other supported CPU?
Really, this is just sad. And the worst part is that many of the people who make decisions will believe this because they don't know any better. Anyone care to write up and post a VALID comparison? Lineo? Perhaps another embedded linux vendor? Embedded Linux Journal?
Try telling that to my (now sold) '90 Celica. The neutral safety switch went bad, so I spliced the wire to get around it. The car worked fine, except cruise control would NOT function, because the safety though the car was in neutral (and didn't want to over-rev the engine). Maybe YOUR manufacturer doesn't add satefy mechanisms like that, but SOME do (Toyota in particular). Note that in my statement I said "can cause problems", not "will cause problems". Older Toyota's (parents had an 85 Tercel) didn't have a neutral safety switch (I could start their car in first gear and lurch forward).
Also to note, I've *heard* of some vehicles having problems with the fuel injection system and engine timing working improperly - older late 80's and early 90's vehicles, though I have not experienced any others myself. It stands to reason that manufacturers (particularly Toyota, in this case), built that in as a safety mechanism to keep people from screwing up their engines, though it could just be an undocumented "feature".
This isn't even a case of lazniess, you *have* to sit in the car in order to do anything useful with it.
Sometimes, I wish people who didn't understand something would be quiet, rather than pretend to understand it. Remote starters bypass the ignition switch to start the vehicle. As others have mentioned, starting a vehicle remotely is nice if, say, your car is parked outside on a cold morning, and you want to warm it up before getting in it. However, they ONLY work on vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions and fuel injection. Manual transmissions have a neutral safety switch, which requires the clutch pedal to be depressed in order to start. Bypassing that switch on some vehicles can cause problems with the computer, cruise control, etc. Fuel injection is required because carbureators require you to depress the gas pedal once or twice before starting.
And you say you feel uncomfortable about leaving a key in your unit in order to make it functional, but if they are already in your car and that far anyway, what would they need your *key* for?
If a key is required for the remote starter, and someone breaks in to the vehicle, they find the hidden key, remove it, and start the engine with it like a normal person. Or, they could hotwire it, bypassing the "key required" part of the anti-theft system.
Besdies, a remote control car starter just sounds like a *really* bad idea. No benefit, all kinds of possible security breaches.
I would *assume* these have some sort of built-in security code, just like a keyless entry system, garage door opener, etc. The security issue is leaving a key in the vehicle. Even hidden, THAT is just a BAD idea.
As the once proud owner of a 1966 Mustang, I remember what it was like to mod the hell out of my car. Now my wife has a Civic and I have a 4Runner (hey, we live in the mountains, so 4WD is a MUST on at least one vehicle). Modern cars are a LOT quiter, ride better, get better fuel economy, and are better for the environment. Equivalent sized (outside dimentions) vehicles actually have MORE room inside them now, more luxuries (all but the cheapest cars now have power windows/locks/disc brakes/etc, are much safer, etc, etc.
All of this comes at a price. You now nearly need to be a rocket scientist (or at least an automotive engineer) to work on them, but IMO, the price is worthwhile. Meanwhile, my 5.0L V8 '66 Mustang used to get about 16 MPG and had about 220HP, yet you can buy a 4-cylinder Subaru WRX with 225HP (Turbo) which gets ~27MPG, and will let you walk away in a crash.
Yes, cars have gotten harder to work on, but they've also gotten safer, lighter, less polluting, and more luxurious. If you want to tinker with your vehicle, buy a 2-door Civic and mod it up, or buy a classic to restore like I did. Or get a kit, and build it from scratch.
Since Microsoft, as with most console companies, are selling the console at a loss, and making up for it with game sales, this can't be a good thing for them. Their choice of almost-standard components might cost them in the long run.
And the craftiest loophole is that they get to deduct the loss, and then make money on games and licensing for the system. They lose money, but make it up when filing taxes.
Assuming strictly console and ethernet access is not an option, have you considered 90 degree riser cards? Most 1U rack servers use them. As a matter of fact, the nicest one I've seen is a PCI riser for a 1U rack unit with PCI slots on either side, so you can get two PCI cards in one slot (but since they're horizontal, you lose all your other slots). I've seen them on the web before, and if you do a little searching, you might get lucky. Perhaps try someplace like http://allelectronics.com. Of course, you still need a case for this equipment...
According to the lecturer, there are over 50 million handicapped people in the United States alone, and obviously even more worldwide.
Huh? 5 million maybe. If there are 50 million, that means that one in every six, or about 17% of the population is handicapped. If that's true, we need a LOT more handicap parking EVERYWHERE. 5 million seems more likely - that would put it at about 2%. Still significant, but not nearly so.
Unless, of course, the lecturer is counting MCSE's in that tally...
For those of you who just want the Evolution 1.0 binaries, and not the whole Ximian desktop, go to ftp://ftp.ximian.com/pub/ximian-gnome/ and get the following packages:
* evolution
* libgnome-pilot0
* libgtkhtml20
* libnss3
Note, I installed under Debian, so other systems may be slightly different, however, this should be a very good place to start
I'd like to see one more license added to those two. A good commercial one which allows you to modify the hell out of the source code, but when doesn't allow you to distribute the changes outside your organization. I really think THAT is what is keeping a number of companies from writing open source code (free as in speech, not beer). Of course, that wouldn't be an OSI-approved license, but it would encourage companies to open their code, which is the first step towards building truly Open products.
I personally don't have a problem with companies restricting redistribution of code (eg. forcing others to purchase it), so long as once you've purchased it, you get the source and can modify it (or distribute the patches to others who have purchased it). My *guess*, however, is that many companies are afraid they'll be forced to support software others modify if they give out the code.
First of all, RAM on a router is not the issue anymore. The issue is bandwidth. If your router has to maintain 100,000,000 routers instead of 100,000, you have a 1,000 fold increase in routing table updates in network bandwidth.
Second, IPv6 will solve this, at least for a while. Despite IPv6 having enough addresses for all the particles in the universe, I'm sure we'll run out again in a few years:-)
Finally, how many companies actually need their own IPs? Small ISPs just get their IP range from a larger player, who is providing them with bandwidth. Under normal circumstances, a mom & pop ISP doesn't need an OC-192 - they're probably happy with a T-3. It's cheaper for them to sublet a fraction of a big player's bandwidth then to go at it alone.
I'm sure this will result in a flame war and several Troll mods, but here it goes...
As someone who likes Sci-Fi and Star Trek, but is NOT a trekkie, I'd like to note that the even numbered Trek movies are good, and the odd ones are not that good (I won't say "bad", but they could be better).
1: Long, too detailed
2: Khan was sooo evil. Coolness
3: A lame excuse to bring Spock back
4: Whales. Time Travel. Spock using colorful metaphors. Cool
5: Great Barrier? Lame
6: Klingons and Federation make peace. Cool
7: Generations. 10 minutes of the Enterprise crashing. Twice. Need I say more.
8: Star Trek "history". Nifty plot, cool movie
9: Insurrection was just bad. 'Nuff Said.
Slashdot Mirror
I've also read quite a few articles stating that the Xbox and dreamcast have sold out. If that's true, then perhaps some people are buying a PS2 instead of dreamcast or Xbox because they're AVAILABLE. Also, since stocks may be exhausted, it makes demand seem larger, but sales seem smaller.
I've got Karma to burn, so here it goes...
I run a small Linux professional services company, and I'd be happy to fill the technical support niche. The problem I've experienced is that it isn't enough to offer Linux support, simply because there aren't enough trained Linux IT professionals to run a company's servers on a daily basis. Despite the fact that Google can usually provide an answer quicker than many tech support companies, businesses are willing to shell out big bucks to know that a Senior Microsoft Technician diagnosed their problem, and gave you the "best" answer. Besides, would you trust your IT staff blindly following orders someone on IRC gives them? Many people on IRC channels are trustworthy, but it only takes one who isn't to cause a LOT of problems for your company.
<shameless plug>
If your company wants 9x5 or 24x7 Linux technical support, on-site support, systems implementations, NT->Linux migrations, etc you can check out my company's web site at http://uslinux.net/ or send e-mail to sales@uslinux.net. We're not the size of Red Hat, but we also don't run our business in the red, and all our customers get special attention.
</shameless plug>
http://65.119.30.151/productimage/22-147-001-01.JP G
Artists don't need the megaexpensive recording studios. These days, most anyone can set up a decent studio for a relatively small investment.
Well, only partially. Decent studio equipment will still set you back $50,000 (we're talking good mics, 32 digital tracks, digital console, mixdown equipment, D/A converters, etc). Musicians who've already had a successful album could probably afford this, but nobody starting out can. That doesn't include the space, soundproofing, etc. But, it does leave a glut of studios to record at. However, that doesn't help the artists necessarily, since the RIAA doesn't have a stronghold on studios (basically, different producers have different studios they prefer, but they could go anywhere to record). Peter Gabriel, for instance, built his own 96 track studio for "Shaking the Tree".
However, just because you have tons of expensive equipment doesn't mean your recording will be worth a shit. It takes years of recording and mixing to learn how to get certain sounds from a guitar amp or drum kit, prevent bleed, and make things sounds good. Don't believe me, go to your local University that has a recording class and talk to the professor. Anyone can get a "decent" sound with practice, but you really need a lot of practice to get a professional sound.
I could go on about mastering, etc, but you get the point. It's true that new equipment makes recording easier and puts indie music in the hands of independant musicians, but it won't necessarily break the stranglehold of the RIAA.
Artists don't need the megaexpensive advertising. These days, anyone can gain popularity via web media. Fansites, mailing lists, word of mouth: it's worked before, it's working now, and it's hella cheaper than MTV.
Yeah, but if you want to make money playing music (not necessarily eight figure mansion rich, but just six-figure comfortable rich), you need labels who can get you big shows, MTV videos, spots on SNL and Letterman, and the like. My cousin is in a band (shameless plug [www.therecipe.com]) - they're good, and they tour the US, but the money they make is just enough to get by. I'd hate to see them "sell out", but without a MAJOR label and MAJOR backing, they're proof that even talent alone won't usually do it.
Artists don't need the distribution chain. They can post to the web. As soon as a good payment system comes along, where the artist can be paid directly and receives most of that payment, the distribution chain is toast.
Maybe in five or ten years, but right now, the only profitable distribution chain seems to be retail outlets. They Might Be Giants is about the only band I can think of that even tries to release music via the web, but selling music that way just isn't as profitable, and too many people like me want the original, with liner notes, CD booklets, etc. There's no good micropayment system, and (let's be honest here), how many people will actually donate a dollar a song to a band if they're not forced to do so? Maybe a few, but there's a lot of freeloaders in this world. And, if a band actually manages to make some money on a web-based system, a major label will grab them up and push them out the standard distribution channels quickly - not to stop web distributed music, but to make a profit on a band which has suddenly proven itself!
I agree that once an alternative distribution chain is found, the current system will be toast, but I also think it's years away, and I'm not sure micropayments and MP3s are the answer.
And artists have recently begun to discover that they can sell out concerts via the net. There's no need to for the megapop media orgy that the old-style companies provided. Word of mouth is doing it.
Only if they have marketing and a big following to being with. Sure, Britney Spears, Dave Matthews, or Smashmouth can sell out concerts on the web - because they're BIG. But then, most venues sell tickets via the web and at the door, and the smaller bands almost never sell out. Go find a local club which fits I for one hope that an alternative distribution chain comes along, independant bands make a big comeback, and recycled pop music goes the way of platform shoes. But, with things like satellite radio taking over and CD copy protection being implemented, I'm not holding my breath.
I don't know about the rest of the /. crowd, but I own about 150 CDs and roughly 160 records (vinyl). If 1% of my music was defective, I'd STILL be irate. Of course, I'm the type of person who will stop shopping at a store, will dispute a credit card transaction, or call the BBB if a company pisses me off, so I suppose I'm in the minority.
Let's be realistic: all copy protection can be circumvented. There are BASIC programs like vsound for Linux which snarfs /dev/dsp to a .wav file as sound is written to it. If someone wants to get around the protection, they can. Line out -> Line in and you're done. It's not rocket science. You can buy boxes to circumvent VHS copy protection - does anyone actually believe this will stop people?
Frankly, if I can't rip tracks and make my own CDs, you can damn well bet those CDs WILL be returned.
Does it? Has IBM started supporting a Linux Notes client in the last 9 months? Domino is supported (though 9 months ago, most, but not all features we there). Notes is the client, Domino is the server.
As an aside: I did an evaluation a year ago of Domino 5, Exchange 2000, HP Openmail, Sendmail, iPlanet, and Communigate Pro. Basically, Communigate was a great Sendmail replacement because it had a good interface, came with IMAP, POP, SSL support, etc. But, if users wanted group calendaring and all that jazz, you needed Domino, Exchange, or Openmail. I liked Openmail best, but some HP reps told me in January 2000 at LinuxWorld in NYC that Openmail 6 was the last release.
Sigh. I really wish HP would OpenSource Openmail (hey, it's already got a great open source name). HP can strip out all the proprietary code (fine with me), and leave the OpenSource community to add the functionality back in. Maybe development would continue, maybe not. In any case, there would at leats be a *chance* it would continue.
Hey, maybe someone can pick up openopenmail.org
They may be close to profitable in those markets, but not close enough. Consider as a rather simple example: In 40 of their remaining markets, they end up profitable by $1 per market. In the remaining 10 markets, they lose money by $5 per market. All told, they lose $10, and 80% of their markets are profitable, but the rest may be close. A simple example, but it makes the point. Despite being in the red, those markets will probably be profitable soon - people still want broadband, especially now that cable ISPs and other DSL companies like Northpoint at going belly-up. They've abandoned the unprofitable markets, so anything left at this point WILL be profitable, or it WILL be sold.
So far we've had three executives upgrade for the Microsoft Personal Flight(tm) feature. Unforunately, all three have plummeted to their death when leaping from the building. Microsoft claims that will be fixed in SP2. In the mean time, we're hiring to fill their positions.
The FCC a few years back decided to allow micropower stations. Congress, backed by the NAB (National Association of Broadcaster), passed legislation overriding the FCC. Essentially, Congress decided that the FCC - the US government entity in charge of communications - was not actually in charge. That legislation just about killed any chance of any real competition.
The truth is that the NAB is a cartel, just like OPEC. Unless you buy an existing station, in any suburban or metro area, you CANNOT get a frequency. The NAB has spectrum, and won't let anyone else get spectrum. They employ any means they can. They fought low power FM and won because they didn't want to lose listeners, didn't want advertisers getting cheaper advertising on small, low budget stations, and wanted to maintain their monopoly.
Why am I irritated, and why should you be too? Well, there are only a few major companies which own most of the radio stations you hear. That classic rock station you like? Owned by Infinity Broadcasting - CBS. That hip hop station? ABC. They playlists you hear are put together by the corporations. The 1996 Telecom act allows a company to own up to 33% of the stations in a market (up from 25% prior). That means, theoretically, 3 companies can own all the AM/FM spectrum in the US. It also means that if those 3 companies don't like something, you may never hear it. XM/Sirius radio means there are only 2 players. If only one survives, there will be only 1 company deciding the music and playlists you listen to. Do you like "Noise in the Basement" - those late night local music shows on your local rock station? You'll never experience anything like that again.
Commercial radio has become just that - commercial. Generic, regurgitated, formulaic "music". Rock was great in the 50's and 60's. The Beatles were pop music. POP MUSIC! Think about today's pop music and you fully understand what I'm saying. Incidentally, my music colletion spans 1920 to the present, 150 CDs, 160 albums, and about 20 gigs of MP3s.
I personally wouldn't use satellite radio if the equipment and service was FREE and there weren't any commercials, simply because I hate knowing one company decides the musical tastes of the entire country. Think about it in different terms if you prefer - Don't like Microsoft, but use their software at home or work because you don't have a choice (incompatibility/available applications/etc)? Think this will be any different with only one company controlling the spectrum on your equipment?
If you don't mind Unix, you might consider picking up a used SGI Octane. They're very fast, have multiple (4?) crossbars (instead of a bus), and very nice ones can be had for under $1500. For smooth animation, $1500 is very reasonable (and personally, I find SGI's and IRIX to be great machines).
There are a few ongoing Linux MIPS ports (though nothing solid and fully supported yet), but IRIX is very nice, and has been the defacto standard for studio graphics and animation until recently.
Just my $0.02
And one of my favorite quotes:
Now, if you were, say, flying an aircraft, knowing Microsoft's track record, would you trust Windows XP Embedded to keep you in the air?
And frankly, they're trying to compare Windows XP to Linux. Window managers? Who the hell uses Window managers in *most* embedded devices? I'm not talking Palm pilots here - I'm talking refrigerators, toasters, watches, automobiles, TVs, stereos, etc. And no drivers for embedded architectures besides x86? How about StrongARM, PPC, and every other supported CPU?
Really, this is just sad. And the worst part is that many of the people who make decisions will believe this because they don't know any better. Anyone care to write up and post a VALID comparison? Lineo? Perhaps another embedded linux vendor? Embedded Linux Journal?
Try telling that to my (now sold) '90 Celica. The neutral safety switch went bad, so I spliced the wire to get around it. The car worked fine, except cruise control would NOT function, because the safety though the car was in neutral (and didn't want to over-rev the engine). Maybe YOUR manufacturer doesn't add satefy mechanisms like that, but SOME do (Toyota in particular). Note that in my statement I said "can cause problems", not "will cause problems". Older Toyota's (parents had an 85 Tercel) didn't have a neutral safety switch (I could start their car in first gear and lurch forward).
Also to note, I've *heard* of some vehicles having problems with the fuel injection system and engine timing working improperly - older late 80's and early 90's vehicles, though I have not experienced any others myself. It stands to reason that manufacturers (particularly Toyota, in this case), built that in as a safety mechanism to keep people from screwing up their engines, though it could just be an undocumented "feature".
Sometimes, I wish people who didn't understand something would be quiet, rather than pretend to understand it. Remote starters bypass the ignition switch to start the vehicle. As others have mentioned, starting a vehicle remotely is nice if, say, your car is parked outside on a cold morning, and you want to warm it up before getting in it. However, they ONLY work on vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions and fuel injection. Manual transmissions have a neutral safety switch, which requires the clutch pedal to be depressed in order to start. Bypassing that switch on some vehicles can cause problems with the computer, cruise control, etc. Fuel injection is required because carbureators require you to depress the gas pedal once or twice before starting.
And you say you feel uncomfortable about leaving a key in your unit in order to make it functional, but if they are already in your car and that far anyway, what would they need your *key* for?
If a key is required for the remote starter, and someone breaks in to the vehicle, they find the hidden key, remove it, and start the engine with it like a normal person. Or, they could hotwire it, bypassing the "key required" part of the anti-theft system.
Besdies, a remote control car starter just sounds like a *really* bad idea. No benefit, all kinds of possible security breaches.
I would *assume* these have some sort of built-in security code, just like a keyless entry system, garage door opener, etc. The security issue is leaving a key in the vehicle. Even hidden, THAT is just a BAD idea.
As the once proud owner of a 1966 Mustang, I remember what it was like to mod the hell out of my car. Now my wife has a Civic and I have a 4Runner (hey, we live in the mountains, so 4WD is a MUST on at least one vehicle). Modern cars are a LOT quiter, ride better, get better fuel economy, and are better for the environment. Equivalent sized (outside dimentions) vehicles actually have MORE room inside them now, more luxuries (all but the cheapest cars now have power windows/locks/disc brakes/etc, are much safer, etc, etc.
All of this comes at a price. You now nearly need to be a rocket scientist (or at least an automotive engineer) to work on them, but IMO, the price is worthwhile. Meanwhile, my 5.0L V8 '66 Mustang used to get about 16 MPG and had about 220HP, yet you can buy a 4-cylinder Subaru WRX with 225HP (Turbo) which gets ~27MPG, and will let you walk away in a crash.
Yes, cars have gotten harder to work on, but they've also gotten safer, lighter, less polluting, and more luxurious. If you want to tinker with your vehicle, buy a 2-door Civic and mod it up, or buy a classic to restore like I did. Or get a kit, and build it from scratch.
And the craftiest loophole is that they get to deduct the loss, and then make money on games and licensing for the system. They lose money, but make it up when filing taxes.
Assuming strictly console and ethernet access is not an option, have you considered 90 degree riser cards? Most 1U rack servers use them. As a matter of fact, the nicest one I've seen is a PCI riser for a 1U rack unit with PCI slots on either side, so you can get two PCI cards in one slot (but since they're horizontal, you lose all your other slots). I've seen them on the web before, and if you do a little searching, you might get lucky. Perhaps try someplace like http://allelectronics.com. Of course, you still need a case for this equipment...
Maybe instead of an X-mas party you need to have an XXX-mas party
Huh? 5 million maybe. If there are 50 million, that means that one in every six, or about 17% of the population is handicapped. If that's true, we need a LOT more handicap parking EVERYWHERE. 5 million seems more likely - that would put it at about 2%. Still significant, but not nearly so.
Unless, of course, the lecturer is counting MCSE's in that tally...
For those of you who just want the Evolution 1.0 binaries, and not the whole Ximian desktop, go to ftp://ftp.ximian.com/pub/ximian-gnome/ and get the following packages:
* evolution
* libgnome-pilot0
* libgtkhtml20
* libnss3
Note, I installed under Debian, so other systems may be slightly different, however, this should be a very good place to start
If they'd put him in charge of the IRS network security, maybe we could avoid paying any more taxes
Since this IS the /. crowd, anyone pick one up today and got Linux running on it yet? :-) linuxonit.com/net/org seems to be available
I personally don't have a problem with companies restricting redistribution of code (eg. forcing others to purchase it), so long as once you've purchased it, you get the source and can modify it (or distribute the patches to others who have purchased it). My *guess*, however, is that many companies are afraid they'll be forced to support software others modify if they give out the code.
Anyone besides me see the humor in the only FSF item which does *not* fall under the GPL is the GPL license itself :-)
First of all, RAM on a router is not the issue anymore. The issue is bandwidth. If your router has to maintain 100,000,000 routers instead of 100,000, you have a 1,000 fold increase in routing table updates in network bandwidth.
:-)
Second, IPv6 will solve this, at least for a while. Despite IPv6 having enough addresses for all the particles in the universe, I'm sure we'll run out again in a few years
Finally, how many companies actually need their own IPs? Small ISPs just get their IP range from a larger player, who is providing them with bandwidth. Under normal circumstances, a mom & pop ISP doesn't need an OC-192 - they're probably happy with a T-3. It's cheaper for them to sublet a fraction of a big player's bandwidth then to go at it alone.
I'm sure this will result in a flame war and several Troll mods, but here it goes...
As someone who likes Sci-Fi and Star Trek, but is NOT a trekkie, I'd like to note that the even numbered Trek movies are good, and the odd ones are not that good (I won't say "bad", but they could be better).
1: Long, too detailed
2: Khan was sooo evil. Coolness
3: A lame excuse to bring Spock back
4: Whales. Time Travel. Spock using colorful metaphors. Cool
5: Great Barrier? Lame
6: Klingons and Federation make peace. Cool
7: Generations. 10 minutes of the Enterprise crashing. Twice. Need I say more.
8: Star Trek "history". Nifty plot, cool movie
9: Insurrection was just bad. 'Nuff Said.
That said, Star Trek X will rock. Flame away.