a rough calculation suggests that 100,000 computers running 24hrs/day for one year at a power consumption of 50W will contribute approximately 0.0001% of the total amount of CO2 generated in one year. This is not an insignificant amount, but seems (to us) a worthwhile investment to better understand the climate system.
My humble opinion is that Folding@Home is not the only worthwhile distributed project out there. As long as your computer is doing something useful with its spare cycles, I'm happy. Besides, what good is protein folding when our brains are coagulated due to global warming?-)
But back to flow, nothing bothers me more than something taking away attention when you are working, pop up boxes, something that takes focus away from your work. I think this is why so many people like ratpoison, windowmaker, icewm, you can do your work without the distractions.
I agree. I find it hilarious when industry experts do a usability study, and they conclude that people's workflow is being interrupted by "You've got mail" and similar annoyances. But it's more or less the same experts who designed the 'features' in the first place.
According to the english language WINE is technically an emulator of the Windows APIs despite the acronym. The programs that WINE runs were designed for Windows not Linux therefore making it an OS emulator.
Agreed, it's probably just a fun name, like LAME (Lame Ain't MP3 Encoder) which is an MP3 encoder.
Could I sell my binaries for X dollars, sell my source for Y dollars (under the GPL of course)
No. You can sell the binaries, but everyone who gets binaries must have access to the source upon request.
Technically, it is possible to charge for the source, but only to cover media and shipping expenses. It would be more sensible to provide online access to source for registered users. Or include the source on the same media with the binary.
This is the main requirement of GPL, and you could sell upgrades as well, provided source access is similarly granted.
It's not just software (pun intended). If you think of the original meaning of a Trojan horse, it's still not a very inspiring name for a condom. Good thing we don't have those here in Finland. A typical Finnish condom is called Sultan, btw, which I think makes a lot more sense. Of course being a true Slashdotter I can only speak from a theoretical viewpoint.
2. Company Y is based in a country which has laws permitting sw patents. They see product Q and think that some concept in it is pretty cool and so they patent such a concept. Brain dead examiner rubber-stamps patent.
"Braindead" is the key point here. Patents cannot be granted if there's any known prior art anywhere. I believe it also means that such braindead patents are not enforceable.
By the way, does anyone here remember the original intent of patents? It was to encourage the disclosure of inventions -- otherwise companies would just have kept their secrets to themselves.
This means that features visible in the end product are not suitable for patenting; they are disclosed anyway. It is usually some 'hidden' method involved in the making of the product, that is patented.
Therefore, to breach the patent would basically require seeing the source code, which means either
copyright infringement, so patents are not relevant, or
open source, which is the opposite of patents in spirit.
Are you a victim perhaps of your own success? Being the biggest, you are always going to be under attack.
Bill Gates:
And we're always able to do the best R&D, the best innovation, get the best partnerships.
Certainly our position is one that people envy.
First of all, the interviewer asked about the problems of being the biggest, whereas Gates went on to ramble on their being the best. What the heck was the point in that?
Secondly, if they truly were the best, they wouldn't have all those security problems, now would they?
This is my ongoing number one gripe about Microsoft: they cannot admit their mistakes. Though every OS has security issues, MS is practically the only one that keeps lying about it. Technical quality aside, I'll rather deal with honest people and honest businesses.
Most of the explanations in your link refer to "words". That means they have to be pronounceable, like RADAR or NATO.
Simply taking initials of words is an abbreviation. RADAR and NATO are abbreviations too. Acronyms are a subset of abbreviations, the kind that can be pronounced like words.
There is a reason for two different words, abbreviation and acronym, because they mean different things. If you think they mean the same thing, then let's just ditch one of them to avoid any redundant redundancy.
POTS reserves a fixed capacity for each call. For example, a 100 kbps line can support a maximum of 5 POTS calls at a time, if each of them requires 20 kbps.
On the other hand, VOIP only uses up the capacity it really needs (i.e. when somebody speaks and packets are being sent). With the same data rates, a 100 kbps line could support a few more calls, provided not everyone speaks at the same time.
The effect is a lot more important when you have a complex global system of interconnected networks.
Slashdot Mirror
The probability of finding life on a random planet in this universe is greater than zero. Think about it for a moment.
Reading your comment, though, I'm not sure about intelligent life.
Please come join Folding@home, we're actually doing something worth all that waste heat. :)
Oh yeah? How about using that waste heat to help fight more waste heat?
From the Climateprediction.net FAQ:
My humble opinion is that Folding@Home is not the only worthwhile distributed project out there. As long as your computer is doing something useful with its spare cycles, I'm happy. Besides, what good is protein folding when our brains are coagulated due to global warming?-)
died.
I agree. I find it hilarious when industry experts do a usability study, and they conclude that people's workflow is being interrupted by "You've got mail" and similar annoyances. But it's more or less the same experts who designed the 'features' in the first place.
Agreed, it's probably just a fun name, like LAME (Lame Ain't MP3 Encoder) which is an MP3 encoder.
No. You can sell the binaries, but everyone who gets binaries must have access to the source upon request.
Technically, it is possible to charge for the source, but only to cover media and shipping expenses. It would be more sensible to provide online access to source for registered users. Or include the source on the same media with the binary.
This is the main requirement of GPL, and you could sell upgrades as well, provided source access is similarly granted.
Are you an African or European par... oh crap, nevermind.
I think it's Microsoft Nose Wipe.
The grammar called, it want's it's apostrophe's back.
Excellent point! What are electrons and photons if not physical?
Me too.. I was just practising the Galaxy song with my guitar.. I think your RNG had just predicted my future ;)
It's not just software (pun intended). If you think of the original meaning of a Trojan horse, it's still not a very inspiring name for a condom. Good thing we don't have those here in Finland. A typical Finnish condom is called Sultan, btw, which I think makes a lot more sense. Of course being a true Slashdotter I can only speak from a theoretical viewpoint.
Also, in the end of the Futurama episode The Farnsworth Parabox there is a box that contains the universe where the box itself is.
CELL is an antebellum flagellum fella.
I've always wondered why we need special drivers, when OpenGL is supposed to be a standard API. Can't we just talk OpenGL to the graphics card?
Sometimes the opposite is true.
With software in particular :)
"Braindead" is the key point here. Patents cannot be granted if there's any known prior art anywhere. I believe it also means that such braindead patents are not enforceable.
By the way, does anyone here remember the original intent of patents? It was to encourage the disclosure of inventions -- otherwise companies would just have kept their secrets to themselves.
This means that features visible in the end product are not suitable for patenting; they are disclosed anyway. It is usually some 'hidden' method involved in the making of the product, that is patented.
Therefore, to breach the patent would basically require seeing the source code, which means either
So, again, why do we need software patents?
Though if you're a neutron, it's free of charge.
Bill Gates Handwriting
Dont you mean "Whos editing today?"
Secondly, if they truly were the best, they wouldn't have all those security problems, now would they?
This is my ongoing number one gripe about Microsoft: they cannot admit their mistakes. Though every OS has security issues, MS is practically the only one that keeps lying about it. Technical quality aside, I'll rather deal with honest people and honest businesses.
Which begs the question, does a PC need a keyboard at all? I mean everything is supposed to be so easy to do with the mouse anyway.
Simply taking initials of words is an abbreviation. RADAR and NATO are abbreviations too. Acronyms are a subset of abbreviations, the kind that can be pronounced like words.
There is a reason for two different words, abbreviation and acronym, because they mean different things. If you think they mean the same thing, then let's just ditch one of them to avoid any redundant redundancy.
Maybe what we should do is require scientists and engineers to pair-program with recent CS graduates. Both sides would learn a lot from that.
I actually learned Perl by pair-programming with a CS guy, though nothing good came of that ;)
On the other hand, VOIP only uses up the capacity it really needs (i.e. when somebody speaks and packets are being sent). With the same data rates, a 100 kbps line could support a few more calls, provided not everyone speaks at the same time.
The effect is a lot more important when you have a complex global system of interconnected networks.
</tinfoil>