Sure, but the advantage of the old PC route is that its already paid for. There is also the security of booting from a CD-ROM, you know the installed OS hasn't been altered.
I don't think its a question of difficulty. It would be a total pain in the rear if I had to reboot every time I wanted to get on my bank's website. Or do I keep a dedicated bank terminal ready to got at any instant?
Actually, yes, you could have a "dedicated bank terminal". Take the old PC that is getting replaced, boot from the Linux cd-rom, use it for banking, and let the family screw up the new computer with trojans and malware while you enjoy relative peace of mind. I know a few families that have gone this route. They could care less about FOSS and its philosophies or politics, they just like the practicality of the solution. This is how FOSS can make inroads to the public, through practicality, not through ideological conversion.
What has this, or half the articles on the front page lately, have to do with "News for Nerds"? Has the tech world suddenly gotten so boring that Slashdot is reduced to publishing stories about "Service Monkeys"?
The "Planet of the Apes" book and movies are pretty popular among nerds. The concept of a "service monkey" would naturally seem to have a certain level of interest among the slashdot community.;-)
This is awesome, kudos to the guy who pulled it off.
Its also pretty sad that the engineers at NASA never thought of it...
Actually the "NASA" types were doing that sort of thing many decades ago, pre maned space flight. If you gave this guy hundreds of millions for a budget he would have probably built a fancy rocket too.
OK, found a reference in the MICROSOFT WINDOWS EMBEDDED license.
"d. High Risk Activities. The software is not fault-tolerant and is not designed, manufactured or intended for any use requiring fail-safe performance in which the failure of the software could lead to death, serious personal injury or severe physical and environmental damage (High Risk Activities), such as the operation of aircraft or nuclear facilities. You agree not to use, or license the use of, the software in connection with any High Risk Activities, and shall inform its end users in writing of the foregoing restriction."
This is not quite what I recall, I may be going all the way back to WinNT or Win2K, but today it seems like Sun requires a disclaimer due to Java. It also looks likes the gov't doesn't want people making nuclear, chemical or biological weapons using Windows either.
isnt there some clause in the windows EULA that specificly prohibites using it in nuclear installation?
and damn, the MS-shills are out in force today, not a single post with a BSOD joke above the -1 level...
Note on Java Support. The OS Components may contain support for programs
written in Java. Java technology is not fault tolerant and is not designed,
manufactured, or intended for use or resale as on-line control equipment in
hazardous environments requiring fail-safe performance, such as in the
operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems,
air traffic control, direct life support machines, or weapons systems, in
which the failure of Java technology could lead directly to death, personal
injury, or severe physical or environmental damage. Sun Microsystems, Inc. has
contractually obligated Microsoft to make this disclaimer.
Naaa, Bill G. is a closet OpenBSD fan for all his personal use. He would never trust something as slipshod as windows to support anything he is personally involved in.
It has been a while but last time I read a Windows licensing agreement it actually contained a clause prohibiting its use in nuclear reactor control. Your joke is really not that far from reality.
Open source is utterly a democracy. Each of us may have our own source tree. If we can convince others to come join us in it
That is a description of anarchy, not democracy. In a democracy the minority members submit to the will of the majority. They limit voicing their disagreement to persuasive dialog, they don't storm off in a hissy fit.
As a geek who loves history I can't help but think about the organizational strategy of american (as in region not nationality) colonial era pirates. In general they were not democratic in their decision making, they understood the inefficiency and impracticality of that path, but they were democratic in choosing a captain. Once a captain was chosen he had command. A wise captain did exercise his authority justly though. It seems to have been a quite reasonable self organizational strategy and it may also work for open source organizations. There are some parallels: the populations are mobile and independent minded, share a meritocracy based organizational philosophy,...
Little Jeff-reyy is probably too young to remember when Walton was still alive and Wal-Mart sold domestically produced products almost exclusively.
Wal-mart under Sam Walton was also a technology pioneer. They computerized all their stores, hooked them up to headquarters via satellite, computerized sales and inventory and had near real time snapshots back in the 1970s. They incentivized suppliers to computerize so they could plug into Wal-mart's near real-time sales data. Sales data could be viewed from national to regional to store levels. They pioneered automatic digital purchase orders for inventory restocking, computerized logistics and rebalancing,...
The data mining Wal-mart pioneered discovered many interesting behaviors. For example when big storms are heading towards Florida and the Gulf Coast pop tart sales skyrocket. I think Wal-mart tied in weather reports to their system and automatically move pop tarts from the heart land to the coast when major storm alerts are issued.
IIRC Sam Walton believed in buying locally, or at least domestically. Corporations do not always continue with the policies and practices preferred by their founders.
If a Chinese company makes a Nexus One knock-off with Android software, modified to strip out Google's name, advertising, and applications... there's nothing left to keep Google in the Chinese market.
On the other hand, if they make the hardware and keep the software intact, it's a good thing for Google. But which do you think the government will encourage, if Google sticks to its guns?
I believe there is a third option. If Google is uncooperative a gov't may mandate the use of their revised version of Android. Branding may remain intact but search and advertising may be modified to comply with local laws and regulations.
Except products have a way of getting duplicated in China. Knock-off hardware will appear very quickly, and at a much cheaper price. Even the software will be the same or very close.
Even good products have a hard time competing in China.
Since Android is open source isn't duplication and derivation expected and perfectly fine?
I am actually worrying what could happen to Android. If Chinese government charges a special fee for any phone with Android OS made in China, Android will loose its juice soon.
More likely the gov't will require the use of its modified version of Android.
Could a lawsuit have merit when Google's motto is do no evil?
Google's motto may be "do no evil" but Google also gets to decide what constitutes "evil". Its really just a marketing / public relations tag line. One should not expect the ethics and sensibilities of company founders to endure in a corporation. Anyone think HP is run as Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard envisioned?
So a programmable high end video card can probably be written off on one's taxes as a numerical accelerator?:-)
Releasing info on minors is probably prohibited
on
MySpace To Sell User Data
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Releasing personally identifiable information (names or contact info for example) on minors is probably legally prohibited. They can probably only release aggregate non-identifiable information. Also minors can not legally enter into a contract (in the US) so terms of use agreements that allow the release of personally identifiable information may not be valid. Perhaps an EFF lawyer can send a letter.
Actually Google has far more information about individuals. The common perception that Google is a "search" company is mistaken. In truth they are a "targeted advertising" company. Search, GMail, Android, etc are ways to collect information on you and ways to deliver targeted ads. Google also delivers targeted ads to participating 3rd party web sites. Currently they do not sell profile information but if you want to list companies that are hypothetically in a position to do so in the future they certainly should be on the list.
How many books have colour in them anywhere other than the cover?... Textbooks are unlikely to factor into the mainstream readers, which are optimized for reading novels.
E readers are in their infancy, we can't draw many conclusions from such a small market primarily populated with early adopters. The public at large has not "voted" yet. A reader that offers textbooks (elementary, high school and university) would probably become the mainstream reader. Color is used quite heavily in textbooks and a mono device essentially forsakes this market.
-- Perpenso Calc for iPhone and iPod touch, scientific and bill/tip calculator, fractions, complex numbers, RPN
Perpenso Calc for iPhone and iPod touch, scientific and bill/tip calculator, fractions, complex numbers, RPN
Oh the irony, oh the irony. E-ink display would kill your app. Nice app, gotta love a RPN calculator, but using your "20 digit precision" I don't want to go click / one second while the screen flashes a couple times / click / delay / click / delay on an eink display.
Heck, I could probably add and subtract in my head faster than your calculator could update a slow eink display.
It wouldn't really kill the app, every app would face the same limitation on such a device. Sure some redesign may be necessary, the animation as you flip between the main view with the calculator and the flipside view with the tape and manual would be a bad idea. That said millions of students managed to use calculators in the 1970s with some pretty slow screen updates. If its a limitation of the hardware people adapt, or they buy different hardware. The app is cross platform at its core so I'll just follow the customers.
Slashdot Mirror
Sure, but the advantage of the old PC route is that its already paid for. There is also the security of booting from a CD-ROM, you know the installed OS hasn't been altered.
I don't think its a question of difficulty. It would be a total pain in the rear if I had to reboot every time I wanted to get on my bank's website. Or do I keep a dedicated bank terminal ready to got at any instant?
Actually, yes, you could have a "dedicated bank terminal". Take the old PC that is getting replaced, boot from the Linux cd-rom, use it for banking, and let the family screw up the new computer with trojans and malware while you enjoy relative peace of mind. I know a few families that have gone this route. They could care less about FOSS and its philosophies or politics, they just like the practicality of the solution. This is how FOSS can make inroads to the public, through practicality, not through ideological conversion.
What has this, or half the articles on the front page lately, have to do with "News for Nerds"? Has the tech world suddenly gotten so boring that Slashdot is reduced to publishing stories about "Service Monkeys"?
The "Planet of the Apes" book and movies are pretty popular among nerds. The concept of a "service monkey" would naturally seem to have a certain level of interest among the slashdot community. ;-)
This is awesome, kudos to the guy who pulled it off.
Its also pretty sad that the engineers at NASA never thought of it...
Actually the "NASA" types were doing that sort of thing many decades ago, pre maned space flight. If you gave this guy hundreds of millions for a budget he would have probably built a fancy rocket too.
Shows how much thinking "out of the box" goes on in top engineering circles today...
Actually the government agencies that were the predecessors to NASA were doing that sort of thing in the 1940s/50s, maybe earlier.
OK, found a reference in the MICROSOFT WINDOWS EMBEDDED license.
"d. High Risk Activities. The software is not fault-tolerant and is not designed, manufactured or intended for any use requiring fail-safe performance in which the failure of the software could lead to death, serious personal injury or severe physical and environmental damage (High Risk Activities), such as the operation of aircraft or nuclear facilities. You agree not to use, or license the use of, the software in connection with any High Risk Activities, and shall inform its end users in writing of the foregoing restriction."
http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/c/4/3c46d5a4-b10a-4f09-8594-700cc44a2860/CE%20Spark%20EULA.pdf
This is not quite what I recall, I may be going all the way back to WinNT or Win2K, but today it seems like Sun requires a disclaimer due to Java. It also looks likes the gov't doesn't want people making nuclear, chemical or biological weapons using Windows either.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc976720.aspx
isnt there some clause in the windows EULA that specificly prohibites using it in nuclear installation?
and damn, the MS-shills are out in force today, not a single post with a BSOD joke above the -1 level...
Note on Java Support. The OS Components may contain support for programs written in Java. Java technology is not fault tolerant and is not designed, manufactured, or intended for use or resale as on-line control equipment in hazardous environments requiring fail-safe performance, such as in the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control, direct life support machines, or weapons systems, in which the failure of Java technology could lead directly to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage. Sun Microsystems, Inc. has contractually obligated Microsoft to make this disclaimer.
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/ieplatform/ie/license.txt
Naaa, Bill G. is a closet OpenBSD fan for all his personal use. He would never trust something as slipshod as windows to support anything he is personally involved in.
It has been a while but last time I read a Windows licensing agreement it actually contained a clause prohibiting its use in nuclear reactor control. Your joke is really not that far from reality.
Well, yeah, but what happens when some open source project comes along that's organized along the lines of ninjas?
It goes unnoticed and is largely ignored.
Open source is utterly a democracy. Each of us may have our own source tree. If we can convince others to come join us in it
That is a description of anarchy, not democracy. In a democracy the minority members submit to the will of the majority. They limit voicing their disagreement to persuasive dialog, they don't storm off in a hissy fit.
As a geek who loves history I can't help but think about the organizational strategy of american (as in region not nationality) colonial era pirates. In general they were not democratic in their decision making, they understood the inefficiency and impracticality of that path, but they were democratic in choosing a captain. Once a captain was chosen he had command. A wise captain did exercise his authority justly though. It seems to have been a quite reasonable self organizational strategy and it may also work for open source organizations. There are some parallels: the populations are mobile and independent minded, share a meritocracy based organizational philosophy, ...
Little Jeff-reyy is probably too young to remember when Walton was still alive and Wal-Mart sold domestically produced products almost exclusively.
Wal-mart under Sam Walton was also a technology pioneer. They computerized all their stores, hooked them up to headquarters via satellite, computerized sales and inventory and had near real time snapshots back in the 1970s. They incentivized suppliers to computerize so they could plug into Wal-mart's near real-time sales data. Sales data could be viewed from national to regional to store levels. They pioneered automatic digital purchase orders for inventory restocking, computerized logistics and rebalancing, ...
The data mining Wal-mart pioneered discovered many interesting behaviors. For example when big storms are heading towards Florida and the Gulf Coast pop tart sales skyrocket. I think Wal-mart tied in weather reports to their system and automatically move pop tarts from the heart land to the coast when major storm alerts are issued.
Thanks for the advice, Sam Walton
IIRC Sam Walton believed in buying locally, or at least domestically. Corporations do not always continue with the policies and practices preferred by their founders.
If a Chinese company makes a Nexus One knock-off with Android software, modified to strip out Google's name, advertising, and applications ... there's nothing left to keep Google in the Chinese market.
On the other hand, if they make the hardware and keep the software intact, it's a good thing for Google. But which do you think the government will encourage, if Google sticks to its guns?
I believe there is a third option. If Google is uncooperative a gov't may mandate the use of their revised version of Android. Branding may remain intact but search and advertising may be modified to comply with local laws and regulations.
Since Android is open source isn't duplication and derivation expected and perfectly fine?
Sure, but then does Google really have a big financial stake in what's happening with its knock-offs?
Yes, if the knockoff leaves the targeted advertising component of Android in tact.
Except products have a way of getting duplicated in China. Knock-off hardware will appear very quickly, and at a much cheaper price. Even the software will be the same or very close. Even good products have a hard time competing in China.
Since Android is open source isn't duplication and derivation expected and perfectly fine?
I am actually worrying what could happen to Android. If Chinese government charges a special fee for any phone with Android OS made in China, Android will loose its juice soon.
More likely the gov't will require the use of its modified version of Android.
Could a lawsuit have merit when Google's motto is do no evil?
Google's motto may be "do no evil" but Google also gets to decide what constitutes "evil". Its really just a marketing / public relations tag line. One should not expect the ethics and sensibilities of company founders to endure in a corporation. Anyone think HP is run as Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard envisioned?
While China isn't a huge profit machine right now for them, access to 1.3B Internet users will be a big deal down the road.
Android will probably keep Google in the Chinese market and generate targeted advertising revenue in some manner.
So a programmable high end video card can probably be written off on one's taxes as a numerical accelerator? :-)
Releasing personally identifiable information (names or contact info for example) on minors is probably legally prohibited. They can probably only release aggregate non-identifiable information. Also minors can not legally enter into a contract (in the US) so terms of use agreements that allow the release of personally identifiable information may not be valid. Perhaps an EFF lawyer can send a letter.
Actually Google has far more information about individuals. The common perception that Google is a "search" company is mistaken. In truth they are a "targeted advertising" company. Search, GMail, Android, etc are ways to collect information on you and ways to deliver targeted ads. Google also delivers targeted ads to participating 3rd party web sites. Currently they do not sell profile information but if you want to list companies that are hypothetically in a position to do so in the future they certainly should be on the list.
How many books have colour in them anywhere other than the cover? ... Textbooks are unlikely to factor into the mainstream readers, which are optimized for reading novels.
E readers are in their infancy, we can't draw many conclusions from such a small market primarily populated with early adopters. The public at large has not "voted" yet. A reader that offers textbooks (elementary, high school and university) would probably become the mainstream reader. Color is used quite heavily in textbooks and a mono device essentially forsakes this market.
--
Perpenso Calc for iPhone and iPod touch, scientific and bill/tip calculator, fractions, complex numbers, RPN
Perpenso Calc for iPhone and iPod touch, scientific and bill/tip calculator, fractions, complex numbers, RPN
Oh the irony, oh the irony. E-ink display would kill your app. Nice app, gotta love a RPN calculator, but using your "20 digit precision" I don't want to go click / one second while the screen flashes a couple times / click / delay / click / delay on an eink display. Heck, I could probably add and subtract in my head faster than your calculator could update a slow eink display.
It wouldn't really kill the app, every app would face the same limitation on such a device. Sure some redesign may be necessary, the animation as you flip between the main view with the calculator and the flipside view with the tape and manual would be a bad idea. That said millions of students managed to use calculators in the 1970s with some pretty slow screen updates. If its a limitation of the hardware people adapt, or they buy different hardware. The app is cross platform at its core so I'll just follow the customers.