At least you don't go to WPI - the net ports in the res halls there are keyed to NIC addresses (no joke!) and die if they ever receive connections from the wrong NIC. When they kill your port, you're SOL - you can only use your port!
(And don't both posting ways around this - I know, I know, change your NIC and steal someone else's port (bad idea), IP masqing (requires someone with two adapters), and other ways that are against the acceptable usage policy anyway.)
This is just me, but (this becomes on topic at the end)...
I personally like Coke better than Pepsi and RC Cola. Why? It's not as sweet, I guess. I dunno, but I honestly like Coke better than Pepsi even if Pepsi does win taste tests. Keep in mind that Coca Cola Classic is unique to America - the Coke you get almost everywhere else in the world tastes similar to Pepsi. I think that suggests that there are enough people in America who like Coke the way it is to support them.
If I really cared, I suppose I could try and look up information about why people usually choose the sweeter product in taste tests. But I know that I, personally, like Coca Cola better than Pepsi. It's not just a matter of brand - I like Coke better than all other cola products I've tried (actually, that's not true - I like some small "natural" company's cola better - but it's more expensive and can't be gotten as easily - and I can't remember the name).
The only point to this is that there are people who do like the product because they feel it is better. Don't just assume it's winning because of the brand - there are people who find the product simply better. To move this ontopic to the article, this also applys to software. Just because it's made by MS doesn't mean the brand is the only thing carrying it - there may be people who really do find the product better for their tastes. Just because you like something better doesn't mean everyone will agree.
Maybe... but that's still not a good soltion, simply because:
Few sites run SSL. Try this link - does it work? No - because Slashdot doesn't have SSL capabilities (at least, yet).
As someone else pointed out, just the fact you are trying to connect to www.hotnastyporn.com can set off the filter and stop you.
Someone else suggested SafeWeb - the question then becomes "do they block SafeWeb IPs?" Given US laws like the DCMA, if enough people decide that getting around "access controls" is wrong, it's not entirely implausible for the gov't to block.
Basically, the only really plausible way to get around the filters isn't SSL from the sites, it's using services like SafeWeb. And then you block those services...
Re:I have to question the point of this exercise.
on
GeekCorps v2.0
·
· Score: 3
I was really, really, hoping that you were wrong about what they were trying to accomplish - so I checked the article, and, no, that's it.
What's funny, though, is that my Social Implications of Information Processing class recently went over just this type of idea. As it turns out, computers in third world countries often make the situation worse. Why? Because it helps those in power, with the ability to run computers, stay in power. It helps the rich get richer and has no end effect on helping the poor at all. In the class discussion, every single person in the room concluded that trying to get computers and the Internet into third world countries is not only stupid it's counter-productive. There are better things to do for $2000!
The people in developing nations need a much better infrastructure - this is one of the reasons the US is able to produce and consume so much food - it can get the food grown in California over to Maine and vice-versa. That requires an infrastructure. That requires roads, one of the first things that needs to be developed. Then running water and a sewer system would help a lot - not just wells. (In other words, water to every house, not just water to the select few, or a central well.)
Medicine would help - creating hospitols would greatly help. Any sort of local, comprehensive, medical care would really help the nations.
What we decided in the class discussion is that there are many, many, more important things to do in regard to third world nations than simply giving them computers and internet access. Giving them the things we take for granted would be a huge help. Giving them computers is showing a large lack of understanding for any of the real problems.
Actually, it may not be as rediculous as everyone thought, but I can't be sure about it. The player they linked to actually streams the file off the network! Would have been nice for them to tell everyone that before they posted the link, but now that I know... Besides, the file crashes my (Windows98SE) DVD player! If I can ever get the thing to play back, I'll encode it to DivX:-) and post it somewhere...
Apparently, someone actually did this in Las Vegas! The story about it is available here - it details two separate cases where people with access to the source code were able to match the generated numbers and determine when the jackpot would be paid out. (The first is in Atlantic City, the second one occurs in Las Vegas.)
Slashdot does not sell meat products, and therefore Hormel has no justification in complaining.
(Waited quite a bit to post this, huh?)
Anyway, yes, they do have reason to complain - they sell SPAM, and own the trademark on SPAM. As you point out, they cannot enforce this trademark onto other areas. They can still graciously request that people don't muck around with it. Since the canned SPAM meat has really nothing to do with UCE, there's no reason to use a SPAM can as the logo.
Say somehow your name became slang for something that most people consider undesirable (ignoring the fact that this also applys to SPAM the lunchmeat) - would you like everyone using it? Well, Hormel is accepting it. However, if everytime something that has nothing to do with you is mentioned, people use your face or your product to describe it, wouldn't you be upset? In fact, there probably is some legal recourse if it can be proven that via association the term is degrading someone else's image (ignoring, again, that we're talking about SPAM).
Bottom line, the SPAM can really has nothing to do with the topic and there really is no reason to use the can for this topic. Since Hormel is being cool about the slang term (don't forget, there are other non-lawsuit based options out there, like launching a compaign to change the term to something else), it seems like it would be nice to repay them by not associating their product with junk e-mail.
I know, I know, we've all heard this before, except CmdrTaco or the other people who might be able to do anything about it, it would seem.
Using the SPAM can as the topic icon goes against Hormel Foods', the makers of SPAM, requests that their product not be used in conjunction with unsolicited commerical email. (Full statement on their webpage along with the story of why UCE is called "spam.")
Anyway, I'd like to suggest a new icon for this topic, since the current icon really should be changed. My suggestion is to create an image of three Vikings with the words "spam spam spam" over their heads. It would invoke the original "spam" meaning, which is what the spam topic is truly about, without violating Hormel Foods' quite reasonable request that their product image not be used in conjunction with UCE.
The original poster picked a stupid example of something that's easier through the command line than in Finder-like GUIs. I've got two examples for you that aren't quite as easy but should be.
Example 1
You have a directory that contains two types of files, for this example, I'll say HTML files with a.html extension and GIF files with a.GIF extension. You want to select all the.GIF files and move them into a folder called "pictures". How do you do that on all the Finder-clones I've seen? Select each file individually holding down CTRL (I think, maybe it's shift) to select multiple files and then drag the selected group into the pictures folder. If the folder contains hundreds of files, that's no small task!
Finder-like apps should have a way to select files based on patterns AND based on MIME types. Current ones really don't. The closest I've ever seen are various "Find File" utilities, which do the job, but are often logically separate from the App. I should probably mention the last version of MacOS I've ever used was somewhere around 6 or 7, so that feature may have been added. (Depending on the cost of G4 Cubes when MacOS X comes out though, I may pick up a Mac...)
Example 2
This one is a much better example, since I know for a fact that it cannot be done easily under Windows Explorer. (The above is weak since "Find File" is an option under Windows and probably MacOS. It's just not quite as obvious a choice to make as "Filter Files" might be...)
You have a directory of files with a ".mpa" extension. The extension should be ".mp3". You want to change all the files in one operation. As far as I know, impossible under not only Windows Explorer, but ALSO under UNIX shells! (Scripting as always does not count, only basic shell commands.)
This is downright trivial in DOS, though: ren *.mpa *.mp3. This type of task should be easily accomplished though - but it's not - in most cases, it invovles individually changing each of the file names!
Those are just two examples that I've thought of (or encountered... Example 2 is something I've actually encountered, luckily on a DOS machine...) that demonstrate lack of functionality in all the Finder-clones I've seen. (Not sure about Nautilus, it STILL won't run on my machine.)
Yeah, I was trying to decide whether or not that counted. Similar to whether or not South America and North America are still the same land mass, and whether or not Cape Cod is still a cape or is now an island.
The adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," applies here...
Actually, the adage "If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is" works better here. When fixing it to make it do what you want breaks it, you need to redesign it. If you can fix it without breaking it, keep it.
It seems to me that your management wants you to keep fixing the system until it breaks, at which point you're allowed to replace it. If you honestly cannot fix it to work, rewrite it.
Some things to remember when rewriting, though:
The rewrite should keep in mind what things went wrong with the old version and be more flexible so that those following you won't need to rewrite your rewrite.
The rewrite shouldn't throw out the entire original system if it doesn't need to - keep the old system as reference.
Continents are geographic sections of the earth. An island is a body of land completely surrounded by water. Eurasia is an island. Europe is a continent. They are geographical regions, nothing physical.
When does a town become a city?
Generally speaking, when it becomes large enough that it replaces a democratic system of government with a republic. In other words, if it's got a mayor, it's a city. If it's got a board of selectmen, it's a town. Makes for some interesting juxtipostions around Massachusetts. (Some cities are smaller than neighboring towns.)
Actually, it's losing more than 5 karma points kills your account for a day. (At least, according to Slashdot documentation. Never managed to do it before.) You have to lose all five points in one day, I think it may also be "net loss" on that day (in other words, down by 5, up by 5, your account stays active).
It's been a while since I've gone through Slash, after I determined it wouldn't work on a website I was working on, I deleted it (small server) and haven't bothered playing around with it since.
And I quoted your sig so you could change it - at least, that was my theory.
(For anyone whos wondering, to lose 6 karma on a post, first get moderated up to +5, all those mod points will be lost in karma-cap limbo; then have someone point you out as a troll, and get moderated down to -1. Presto, net loss of 6 karma points. Which is really stupid, since posting at Score: 2 should only allow 3 points of karma to be lost.)
No, it means it's time to abuse the +2 bonus until you fall back to around 40, and then post normally. (A good post can lose you six karma if you're really luck! If you manage to lose six karma on one post, you get a special prize - your account will be deactivated for a period of time!)
Yeah, me too... but being a college student in a tech school that he seems to be berating because I seem to think that there are more important things than getting computers for poor kids, I actually feel like he insulted me.
Really, Jon, you want to know about the type of issues that occur in a tech school (where most of the people are either EE, CE, or CS majors)? I can tell you that getting computers to the poor is not on anyone's mind. If there was a group trying to get computers to poor people, the media would probably talk about how it's a waste of resources when the resources used could be put to so much better use - like, say, improving education. Or providing a food to food banks. Or helping train poor people with skills for better jobs.
I just feel like Katz flamed all the activists in various colleges that are working to actually improve the situation instead of trying to increase page hits. College students may be idealistic - but we aren't stupid. There's a reason that providing poor kids with computers doesn't top anyone (but Katz's, apparently) "Things to Improve the World" list. It's because maybe most people see things that provide a better effect on improving the status quo then giving poor people access to the worlds largest collection of pornography and inaccurate sensationalistic material. But maybe Katz is right - let those Latin Americans suffer in those sweatshops, and let's teach those poor people how to score some frags in Quake.
so maybe here in North America the 'do not photocopy' signs do not exist
They do. And most musicians (as in, people in community bands, choruses, and the like) ignore them when it's an inconvience (mainly, when the group is trying out a song to see if it's something they want to do). For most public performances, you've got to get all the permission and pay royalties and all that - even if the performance is free. (At least, as far as I know. I've never been directly involved with obtaining performing rights - I do know they have to be obtained even for free concerts.)
I wonder how much revenue is lost to those evil pirates who photocopy their music and don't pay royalties on the donations received on their weekly Sunday performances? Most church choirs I know would be in a lot of trouble if anyone ever checked up on how well they abided to copyright law.
Pathetically enough, the Windows Sun JVM is still the best Sun JVM... At least, based on my (limited) experience with Sparc Stations. (I don't have the opertunity to use Solaris too much...) Linux and Windows JVMs I can actually testify to using and can compare them.
The real thing is that Sun needs to stop playing around with the AWT and actually start optimizing it for various platforms - the AWT is rather slow. And Swing doesn't help it in the least...
It should probably be noted that as it turns out, Sun concentrates on the Windows JVM for their JDK first, then on Solaris, and then on Linux. The Windows version of JDK1.3 was out before the Solaris version. The Windows JDKs from Sun are already very good.
As long as developers can bundle the Java Runtime Environment installer for Windows, Windows Java Apps won't suffer at all.
Basically anything that interupts via hardware - system calls, file IO, device ready signals, etc.
Anything that results in a move to kernel space execution and then back to user space execution is a call for a reschedule in a pre-emptive system. In the example, data coming from the ethernet device would cause an interrupt, the ethernet module would handle the data input, and then a reschedule would occur.
(And yes, Linux is round-robin - it chooses the order and length of timeslices based on some fancy stuff, but once you're through that, it's just round-robin. To those from WPI, I have only two words: "Fossil Lab.")
I'd really, really like to know when Linus and the other kernel developers are going to buckle down and rewrite Linux so that it uses a pre-emptive scheduler. Round-robin really doesn't cut it for servers or desktops. I'd love to see Linux 3.0 be based just on this direction - altering the kernel so that it uses a preemptive scheduler.
To answer the almost inevitable "do it yourself" comments, yes, I have the source - but playing with the scheduler in this way is a major overhall. It will probably break just about every other portion of the kernel, since the kernel is designed around a round-robin scheduler. The scheduler is really the heart of any kernel anyway - changing the scheduler would require Linux developers to sit down and redesign everything so that every portion of the kernel is based around the new scheduler. Syncronization issues become the main problem. To do this "right" Linux developement on new technology basically has to stop until the scheduler is fully implemented and designed.
To turn to a trollish tack, Microsoft has had a pre-emptive scheduler ever since NT was released. OS/2 beat them to it, and VAX beats OS/2. Almost all modern operating systems, minus Linux (I dunno about the BSDs), use a pre-emptive scheduler. A pre-emptive scheduler is ideal for both server and desktop environments. It's really sad that Linux still uses a round-robin scheduler.
The main reason to use a pre-emptive is that everything actually moves faster - to use a web server as an example, say the web server has an HTTP daemon running and some other CPU intensive process running. For the time being, nobody is using the web server - it's sleeping, waiting for a connect. The CPU intensive process is given a 200ms time slice to crunch on numbers - half way through that, a connection comes in to the web server. On pre-emptive schedulers, the web server is then scheduled in preference of the CPU intensive process. On Linux, the CPU intensive process regains it's timeslice, and after its through, the webserver can handle the process. What's wrong with that? It takes longer for the webserver to handle requests. Some ASCII art to demonstrate:
[other process]<Data comes in>[other process][http served] - Linux's scheduler [other process]<Data comes in>[http served][other process] - Pre-emptive scheduler
What's the difference? The HTTP gets served more quickly on the pre-emptive scheduler, while the other process really loses no time (assuming it would take another timeslice after the HTTP is served to complete it's task). This time can really add up on various systems - especially with more than two processes.
Slashdot Mirror
Although I've heard about it...
(And don't both posting ways around this - I know, I know, change your NIC and steal someone else's port (bad idea), IP masqing (requires someone with two adapters), and other ways that are against the acceptable usage policy anyway.)
I personally like Coke better than Pepsi and RC Cola. Why? It's not as sweet, I guess. I dunno, but I honestly like Coke better than Pepsi even if Pepsi does win taste tests. Keep in mind that Coca Cola Classic is unique to America - the Coke you get almost everywhere else in the world tastes similar to Pepsi. I think that suggests that there are enough people in America who like Coke the way it is to support them.
If I really cared, I suppose I could try and look up information about why people usually choose the sweeter product in taste tests. But I know that I, personally, like Coca Cola better than Pepsi. It's not just a matter of brand - I like Coke better than all other cola products I've tried (actually, that's not true - I like some small "natural" company's cola better - but it's more expensive and can't be gotten as easily - and I can't remember the name).
The only point to this is that there are people who do like the product because they feel it is better. Don't just assume it's winning because of the brand - there are people who find the product simply better. To move this ontopic to the article, this also applys to software. Just because it's made by MS doesn't mean the brand is the only thing carrying it - there may be people who really do find the product better for their tastes. Just because you like something better doesn't mean everyone will agree.
Basically, the only really plausible way to get around the filters isn't SSL from the sites, it's using services like SafeWeb. And then you block those services...
What's funny, though, is that my Social Implications of Information Processing class recently went over just this type of idea. As it turns out, computers in third world countries often make the situation worse. Why? Because it helps those in power, with the ability to run computers, stay in power. It helps the rich get richer and has no end effect on helping the poor at all. In the class discussion, every single person in the room concluded that trying to get computers and the Internet into third world countries is not only stupid it's counter-productive. There are better things to do for $2000!
The people in developing nations need a much better infrastructure - this is one of the reasons the US is able to produce and consume so much food - it can get the food grown in California over to Maine and vice-versa. That requires an infrastructure. That requires roads, one of the first things that needs to be developed. Then running water and a sewer system would help a lot - not just wells. (In other words, water to every house, not just water to the select few, or a central well.) Medicine would help - creating hospitols would greatly help. Any sort of local, comprehensive, medical care would really help the nations.
What we decided in the class discussion is that there are many, many, more important things to do in regard to third world nations than simply giving them computers and internet access. Giving them the things we take for granted would be a huge help. Giving them computers is showing a large lack of understanding for any of the real problems.
Actually, it may not be as rediculous as everyone thought, but I can't be sure about it. The player they linked to actually streams the file off the network! Would have been nice for them to tell everyone that before they posted the link, but now that I know... Besides, the file crashes my (Windows98SE) DVD player! If I can ever get the thing to play back, I'll encode it to DivX:-) and post it somewhere...
Apparently, someone actually did this in Las Vegas! The story about it is available here - it details two separate cases where people with access to the source code were able to match the generated numbers and determine when the jackpot would be paid out. (The first is in Atlantic City, the second one occurs in Las Vegas.)
(Waited quite a bit to post this, huh?)
Anyway, yes, they do have reason to complain - they sell SPAM, and own the trademark on SPAM. As you point out, they cannot enforce this trademark onto other areas. They can still graciously request that people don't muck around with it. Since the canned SPAM meat has really nothing to do with UCE, there's no reason to use a SPAM can as the logo.
Say somehow your name became slang for something that most people consider undesirable (ignoring the fact that this also applys to SPAM the lunchmeat) - would you like everyone using it? Well, Hormel is accepting it. However, if everytime something that has nothing to do with you is mentioned, people use your face or your product to describe it, wouldn't you be upset? In fact, there probably is some legal recourse if it can be proven that via association the term is degrading someone else's image (ignoring, again, that we're talking about SPAM).
Bottom line, the SPAM can really has nothing to do with the topic and there really is no reason to use the can for this topic. Since Hormel is being cool about the slang term (don't forget, there are other non-lawsuit based options out there, like launching a compaign to change the term to something else), it seems like it would be nice to repay them by not associating their product with junk e-mail.
Using the SPAM can as the topic icon goes against Hormel Foods', the makers of SPAM, requests that their product not be used in conjunction with unsolicited commerical email. (Full statement on their webpage along with the story of why UCE is called "spam.")
Anyway, I'd like to suggest a new icon for this topic, since the current icon really should be changed. My suggestion is to create an image of three Vikings with the words "spam spam spam" over their heads. It would invoke the original "spam" meaning, which is what the spam topic is truly about, without violating Hormel Foods' quite reasonable request that their product image not be used in conjunction with UCE.
Refuted. A pretty basic RedHat 7.0 install.
Example 1 .html extension and GIF files with a .GIF extension. You want to select all the .GIF files and move them into a folder called "pictures". How do you do that on all the Finder-clones I've seen? Select each file individually holding down CTRL (I think, maybe it's shift) to select multiple files and then drag the selected group into the pictures folder. If the folder contains hundreds of files, that's no small task!
You have a directory that contains two types of files, for this example, I'll say HTML files with a
Finder-like apps should have a way to select files based on patterns AND based on MIME types. Current ones really don't. The closest I've ever seen are various "Find File" utilities, which do the job, but are often logically separate from the App. I should probably mention the last version of MacOS I've ever used was somewhere around 6 or 7, so that feature may have been added. (Depending on the cost of G4 Cubes when MacOS X comes out though, I may pick up a Mac...)
Example 2
This one is a much better example, since I know for a fact that it cannot be done easily under Windows Explorer. (The above is weak since "Find File" is an option under Windows and probably MacOS. It's just not quite as obvious a choice to make as "Filter Files" might be...)
You have a directory of files with a ".mpa" extension. The extension should be ".mp3". You want to change all the files in one operation. As far as I know, impossible under not only Windows Explorer, but ALSO under UNIX shells! (Scripting as always does not count, only basic shell commands.)
This is downright trivial in DOS, though: ren *.mpa *.mp3. This type of task should be easily accomplished though - but it's not - in most cases, it invovles individually changing each of the file names!
Those are just two examples that I've thought of (or encountered... Example 2 is something I've actually encountered, luckily on a DOS machine...) that demonstrate lack of functionality in all the Finder-clones I've seen. (Not sure about Nautilus, it STILL won't run on my machine.)
Yeah, I was trying to decide whether or not that counted. Similar to whether or not South America and North America are still the same land mass, and whether or not Cape Cod is still a cape or is now an island.
Actually, the adage "If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is" works better here. When fixing it to make it do what you want breaks it, you need to redesign it. If you can fix it without breaking it, keep it.
It seems to me that your management wants you to keep fixing the system until it breaks, at which point you're allowed to replace it. If you honestly cannot fix it to work, rewrite it.
Some things to remember when rewriting, though:
Continents are geographic sections of the earth. An island is a body of land completely surrounded by water. Eurasia is an island. Europe is a continent. They are geographical regions, nothing physical.
When does a town become a city?
Generally speaking, when it becomes large enough that it replaces a democratic system of government with a republic. In other words, if it's got a mayor, it's a city. If it's got a board of selectmen, it's a town. Makes for some interesting juxtipostions around Massachusetts. (Some cities are smaller than neighboring towns.)
When does winter become spring?
At the vernal equinox.
It's been a while since I've gone through Slash, after I determined it wouldn't work on a website I was working on, I deleted it (small server) and haven't bothered playing around with it since.
And I quoted your sig so you could change it - at least, that was my theory.
(For anyone whos wondering, to lose 6 karma on a post, first get moderated up to +5, all those mod points will be lost in karma-cap limbo; then have someone point you out as a troll, and get moderated down to -1. Presto, net loss of 6 karma points. Which is really stupid, since posting at Score: 2 should only allow 3 points of karma to be lost.)
No, it means it's time to abuse the +2 bonus until you fall back to around 40, and then post normally. (A good post can lose you six karma if you're really luck! If you manage to lose six karma on one post, you get a special prize - your account will be deactivated for a period of time!)
Really, Jon, you want to know about the type of issues that occur in a tech school (where most of the people are either EE, CE, or CS majors)? I can tell you that getting computers to the poor is not on anyone's mind. If there was a group trying to get computers to poor people, the media would probably talk about how it's a waste of resources when the resources used could be put to so much better use - like, say, improving education. Or providing a food to food banks. Or helping train poor people with skills for better jobs.
I just feel like Katz flamed all the activists in various colleges that are working to actually improve the situation instead of trying to increase page hits. College students may be idealistic - but we aren't stupid. There's a reason that providing poor kids with computers doesn't top anyone (but Katz's, apparently) "Things to Improve the World" list. It's because maybe most people see things that provide a better effect on improving the status quo then giving poor people access to the worlds largest collection of pornography and inaccurate sensationalistic material. But maybe Katz is right - let those Latin Americans suffer in those sweatshops, and let's teach those poor people how to score some frags in Quake.
They do. And most musicians (as in, people in community bands, choruses, and the like) ignore them when it's an inconvience (mainly, when the group is trying out a song to see if it's something they want to do). For most public performances, you've got to get all the permission and pay royalties and all that - even if the performance is free. (At least, as far as I know. I've never been directly involved with obtaining performing rights - I do know they have to be obtained even for free concerts.)
I wonder how much revenue is lost to those evil pirates who photocopy their music and don't pay royalties on the donations received on their weekly Sunday performances? Most church choirs I know would be in a lot of trouble if anyone ever checked up on how well they abided to copyright law.
The real thing is that Sun needs to stop playing around with the AWT and actually start optimizing it for various platforms - the AWT is rather slow. And Swing doesn't help it in the least...
As long as developers can bundle the Java Runtime Environment installer for Windows, Windows Java Apps won't suffer at all.
Since you only linked to the site and not the actual article, I have to ask: is this article the one you were referring to?
Darwin's theory is alive and well... :-)
Of course, most of the Slashdot audience could care less, since IE doesn't run to the best of my knowledge under Linux...
Anything that results in a move to kernel space execution and then back to user space execution is a call for a reschedule in a pre-emptive system. In the example, data coming from the ethernet device would cause an interrupt, the ethernet module would handle the data input, and then a reschedule would occur.
(And yes, Linux is round-robin - it chooses the order and length of timeslices based on some fancy stuff, but once you're through that, it's just round-robin. To those from WPI, I have only two words: "Fossil Lab.")
To answer the almost inevitable "do it yourself" comments, yes, I have the source - but playing with the scheduler in this way is a major overhall. It will probably break just about every other portion of the kernel, since the kernel is designed around a round-robin scheduler. The scheduler is really the heart of any kernel anyway - changing the scheduler would require Linux developers to sit down and redesign everything so that every portion of the kernel is based around the new scheduler. Syncronization issues become the main problem. To do this "right" Linux developement on new technology basically has to stop until the scheduler is fully implemented and designed.
To turn to a trollish tack, Microsoft has had a pre-emptive scheduler ever since NT was released. OS/2 beat them to it, and VAX beats OS/2. Almost all modern operating systems, minus Linux (I dunno about the BSDs), use a pre-emptive scheduler. A pre-emptive scheduler is ideal for both server and desktop environments. It's really sad that Linux still uses a round-robin scheduler.
The main reason to use a pre-emptive is that everything actually moves faster - to use a web server as an example, say the web server has an HTTP daemon running and some other CPU intensive process running. For the time being, nobody is using the web server - it's sleeping, waiting for a connect. The CPU intensive process is given a 200ms time slice to crunch on numbers - half way through that, a connection comes in to the web server. On pre-emptive schedulers, the web server is then scheduled in preference of the CPU intensive process. On Linux, the CPU intensive process regains it's timeslice, and after its through, the webserver can handle the process. What's wrong with that? It takes longer for the webserver to handle requests. Some ASCII art to demonstrate:
[other process]<Data comes in>[other process][http served] - Linux's scheduler
[other process]<Data comes in>[http served][other process] - Pre-emptive scheduler
What's the difference? The HTTP gets served more quickly on the pre-emptive scheduler, while the other process really loses no time (assuming it would take another timeslice after the HTTP is served to complete it's task). This time can really add up on various systems - especially with more than two processes.