I know you own a lot of stuff, so it may be simply lost in the pile somewhere... but, you already own a search engine! It's called MSN, and its search functionality is already incorporated in Internet Explorer, your widely used web browser, remember?
If you can't pull decent marketshare with that setup, I doubt you'll be able to do it with another service!
Agreed.. I was basically going to post the same thing in reply to the parent... it's not illegal to convert your own tunes to mp3 for your own use. I'm sure the RIAA would like you to believe that it's illegal, but its not. Converting these songs to MP3 doesn't even fall under the DMCA in this case because you're allowed to copy the music to a CD which is an unprotected device.
The illegal part happens if you decide to distribute the mp3. Don't do that and you should be fine.
The last couple of days have produced a flood of LongHorn related FUD being propigated around the media... it hasn't been covered here at Slashdot yet, but I read a few interesting items yesterday...
-- Microsoft research has yielded a new feature which will be included in LongHorn... a special key stroke on the keyboard will cause your computer to dispense ice cream from the floppy drive.
-- Microsoft research has also found a way to incorporate a george foreman grill directly into the operating system. Users will no longer need to purchase a separate piece of hardware... with LongHorn, the cd-tray will be able to accept and grill hamburger patties.
-- In another Microsoft research innovation, LongHorn will be able to determine the users emotions and can react accordingly. For example, if the user is feeling sad, LongHorn will emit cute furry kittens, to the user's delight, from various fan ports in the case. Some newer model PC's will support puppies as well.
I'm sure there's more... these are just a few of the major points I've seen going around.
After reading the article, I'm left scratching my head about what this really means and how it might be useful in every day life.
The obvious answer is that the worms are psychodelic. Those are some "trippy ass worms", as can be concluded from the illustrations in the article. Those worms are on acid.
Walter Rines. Walter Rines... associate of "Spamford"... sounds familiar... oh yeah... the schmuck from whom I stole his girlfriend and married her... and then promptly divorced. A year later. Yeah, that's right... it's all coming back to me now.
Worst day of my life (up to that point - I've had worse since) was when an issue of a popular computer magazine showed up in my mailbox (subscription) and the cover had a big honkin smilin' picture of my wife's ex. That was awesome. She wouldn't shut up about "walter" and his "internet company". Yadda yadda yadda... walter walter walter. Jeez the 90's were gay.
Or a recent PHB of mine who declared "Can't be bad data... it's Btrieve!", which is kinda like saying "My cat's breath smells like cat food"
Yes, Btrieve. No, it wasn't a long time ago... it was 2 months ago. Yes, I am no longer employed there, chosing to leave under my own power.
Same PHB about a year ago told a client, 100% seriously, to put a piece of tape over her internal PC speaker when the client called to complain that the $100,000 software application she bought from the company made excessive beeping noises.
This is another reason why people should have to take a test in order to obtain a "computer license"... base 10, base 2, who cares. The big difference in drive space descrepencies can be attributed to the filesystem. Yes, the filesystem uses disk capacity. So, 120gb drive might only have 115gb free when formatted, but that doesn't mean you aren't getting that "storage"... it's overhead, and you're using for your filesystem. Its not hard to grasp.
We're taxed WAAAY beyond reasonable proportions already... it seems like every week now, governments are inventing new ways to steal our heard earned money. In this case, I say "let 'em do it". Go ahead states, and tax internet sales. Do it. Why? Because there will be at least a few states (NH) that choose not to rape and pillage their people and guess where the business will go? If businesses are smart, as they usually are in a "free market", they'll move to the states that offer them the best advantages. More business in a state = more jobs. More jobs = more income. More income = more tax revenue. See... it's not a secret that lower taxes will bring in more revenue than higher taxes. AT least this time, it'll be going to states that support individual fiscal freedom. I'll take freedom over tax tyranny any day.
As a commercial entity, its purpose is to make money for its stockholders. If regular blackouts increase your profits, we will see more of them. If firing half your service people, reducing maintainance costs and saving the R&D money for future developments rises the stock prices, that is what we will see to happen.
Oh, sorry, have seen happening.
How do you propose that blackouts increase power company profits? When the power goes out, the meters stop running. When the power goes out, work crews are dispatched at the company's expense.
... duh.... probably the *worst* way to "fight spam". Want to dramatically reduce spam for yourself? Try a spam filter. They actually work without government intervention. yay.
You wouldn't mind paying more taxes, as if the near 50% you already pay in taxes and government fees isn't enough? OK, fine! Lets have a *voluntary* email tax, that way you can pay it and I don't have to. Chances are pretty good that if the tax was *voluntary*, you probably wouldn't pay.
I bet you're the same type of socialist that justifies all other "small" tax increases by meaningly sentiments... "I'd pay a tax if I knew it were going to fight spam", "I'd pay cigarette taxes because it's to fight bad health", "I'd pay blah blah to help the environment", "I'd pay yadda yadda to help the starving children", "I'd pay... I'd pay... I'd pay!!!"... You're the type of person that has allowed us to get into the state of borderline socialism we're in today, because by welcoming a seemingly harmless "small tax" going for a supposed "good cause", you've allowed the government to nickel-and-dime us into oblivion. 5 cents here, 10 cents there... it fucking adds up you know.
All hope is not lost however... I recommend that you read a good book. It's titled "The Ballad of Carl Drega". Look it up on Amazon and be ready to read the truth. Feel free to pay Amazon a little extra "voluntary" tax to fight book pirates. It's a good cause.
IMHO, it is possible to make money with open source software. The secret is coming to the realization that you aren't going to make any money by packaging the software and selling it in boxes. OSS software is available for FREE, so why would a customer pay for it in box when he/she can get it for free elsewhere? Obvious point, I know.
So, how does one make money with OSS? Services. Granted, incorporating and building paid services around your open source software may not be simple in all cases, it can be applied very well to certain types of open source software.
For example, lets look at the CMS arena... lets say that I have a OSS CMS called "Cow". I make Cow available for FREE to anyone that wants it. BUT... Cow, being the sophisticated piece of software that it is, requires a web server with certain dependencies. Some people will be able to setup Cow and run it on their own web servers and some won't. There's the opportunity for service #1... specialized hosting for the Cow CMS. You can charge $$ for specialized hosting of Cow CMS based websites.
Since our fictional CMS (Cow) would be modular, you as the developer could make highly advanced and highly functional modules available to end users for $$. Perhaps they need a eCommerce module with some advanced capabilities. Perhaps they need a specialized payment gateway. There's opportunity #2.
Lets say that Cow CMS has grabbed the attention of a few big web sites. Now, you have some real commercial entities showing interest in the CMS. Opportunity #3... consulting. offer consulting services (for $$) to guide customers through custom module development, implementation, design, etc. Perhaps you could even offer high level technical support for $$ -- opportunity #4. Web design services for the Cow CMS -- opportunity #5.
See, I think it is possible to make $$ with open source software by adding services of real value around the software.
A few random thoughts for the "services approach": 1. The software has to be good and have at least the majority of functionality of commercial competitors.
2. The software should be able to run on the windows platform.
3. The UI should be of commercial quality.
4. Not every type of OSS software will lend itself well to the "paid services" approach. CMSs are a good example, as would be any type of specialized vertical market software, such as Medical Practice Management systems.
5. You need to understand your market! Understanding your market means you'll understand which services would be of real value.
blah blah blah... the only thing I'm interested in knowing is *WHAT* causes the recognition failures? It's not mentioned in the article. People aren't discussing it. BUT it's a very important question... especially for those concerned with retaining private identity.
So, can it be assumed that wearing sunglasses will defeat the system? What about keeping your face downward to the floor? What else? How about walking through the airport terminal with a cup of coffee held up to your mouth? If that's all it takes, I'm wearing sunglasses to the airport from now on. It's that simple. In fact, I'll wear sunglasses at any venue where facial recognition "technology" has a chance of being used.
"It's about using the mouse as a kind of surrogate pen," said Dr McOwan.
Wow doctor! What a fucking revelation! This just in... I've discovered a way to draw perfect circles using a mouse. Holy shit... it'll change the world.
Sometimes, I get the feeling that I'm surrounded by idiots. Oh wait a minute... I AM!
"John Smith, 45, received minor burns to his hands Thursday evening when his computer suddenly burst into flames. Operating system vendor Microsoft provided a statement, indicating that the cause of the small fire was due to the use of Star Office, a 'non-microsoft brand' product."
Most people won't need image resolution that high... HOWEVER, it is good if you want to do anything with professional or production quality.
3264 x 2448 resolution will allow you to print a 21" x 16" print @ 150DPI. Thats enough for production quality posters, calendars, etc. It'll allow you to print an 8x10 at 300DPI, which is arguably better than 8x10 quality with regular 35mm film.
This camera is also good if you're a decent shot and want to sell your photos through stock shops like gettyimages, corbis, etc. You *NEED* to have resolution like this before production houses will even look at your stock images... because guess what they do with them?.?.?.?... that's right... posters, calendars, and other production which requires 150-300 DPI at reasonable visual sizes.
The term "deregulation" is a bit of a misnomer. When a state goes through "deregulation", its not actually removing regulation from the power company. It's simply changing the existing regulation. A better term would probably be "different regulation", because after "deregulation", there are probably more regulations on the books governing power companies than before the deregulation process.
Here's an interesting thing to note... ever try removing Outlook Express after installing Outlook?
"Hey, I've got Outlook... why do I need Outlook Express installed?" --uninstall
Here's the catch... when you launch Outlook after removing Outlook Express, you'll get a message indicating that Outlook NEEDS Outlook Express in order to view email. Go ahead and scratch your head for a few minutes on that one, but its true.
SO... how is it then, that Microsoft can continue to offer Outlook while stopping development of Outlook Express? (Perhaps some merging of the development resources going on there.)
Slashdot Mirror
Memo to Microsoft ...
I know you own a lot of stuff, so it may be simply lost in the pile somewhere... but, you already own a search engine! It's called MSN, and its search functionality is already incorporated in Internet Explorer, your widely used web browser, remember?
If you can't pull decent marketshare with that setup, I doubt you'll be able to do it with another service!
Agreed .. I was basically going to post the same thing in reply to the parent ... it's not illegal to convert your own tunes to mp3 for your own use. I'm sure the RIAA would like you to believe that it's illegal, but its not. Converting these songs to MP3 doesn't even fall under the DMCA in this case because you're allowed to copy the music to a CD which is an unprotected device.
The illegal part happens if you decide to distribute the mp3. Don't do that and you should be fine.
The last couple of days have produced a flood of LongHorn related FUD being propigated around the media ... it hasn't been covered here at Slashdot yet, but I read a few interesting items yesterday ...
... a special key stroke on the keyboard will cause your computer to dispense ice cream from the floppy drive.
... with LongHorn, the cd-tray will be able to accept and grill hamburger patties.
... these are just a few of the major points I've seen going around.
-- Microsoft research has yielded a new feature which will be included in LongHorn
-- Microsoft research has also found a way to incorporate a george foreman grill directly into the operating system. Users will no longer need to purchase a separate piece of hardware
-- In another Microsoft research innovation, LongHorn will be able to determine the users emotions and can react accordingly. For example, if the user is feeling sad, LongHorn will emit cute furry kittens, to the user's delight, from various fan ports in the case. Some newer model PC's will support puppies as well.
I'm sure there's more
After reading the article, I'm left scratching my head about what this really means and how it might be useful in every day life.
The obvious answer is that the worms are psychodelic. Those are some "trippy ass worms", as can be concluded from the illustrations in the article. Those worms are on acid.
Walter Rines. Walter Rines ... associate of "Spamford"... sounds familiar... oh yeah... the schmuck from whom I stole his girlfriend and married her... and then promptly divorced. A year later. Yeah, that's right... it's all coming back to me now.
Worst day of my life (up to that point - I've had worse since) was when an issue of a popular computer magazine showed up in my mailbox (subscription) and the cover had a big honkin smilin' picture of my wife's ex. That was awesome. She wouldn't shut up about "walter" and his "internet company". Yadda yadda yadda... walter walter walter. Jeez the 90's were gay.
Up next, "How to build a server (with no budget and things like anti-DOS capabilities)".
I hope to god that you're joking. If you are at all serious, does your cat's breath smell like cat food?
Or a recent PHB of mine who declared "Can't be bad data... it's Btrieve!", which is kinda like saying "My cat's breath smells like cat food"
Yes, Btrieve. No, it wasn't a long time ago... it was 2 months ago. Yes, I am no longer employed there, chosing to leave under my own power.
Same PHB about a year ago told a client, 100% seriously, to put a piece of tape over her internal PC speaker when the client called to complain that the $100,000 software application she bought from the company made excessive beeping noises.
This is another reason why people should have to take a test in order to obtain a "computer license" ... base 10, base 2, who cares. The big difference in drive space descrepencies can be attributed to the filesystem. Yes, the filesystem uses disk capacity. So, 120gb drive might only have 115gb free when formatted, but that doesn't mean you aren't getting that "storage"... it's overhead, and you're using for your filesystem. Its not hard to grasp.
We're taxed WAAAY beyond reasonable proportions already... it seems like every week now, governments are inventing new ways to steal our heard earned money. In this case, I say "let 'em do it". Go ahead states, and tax internet sales. Do it. Why? Because there will be at least a few states (NH) that choose not to rape and pillage their people and guess where the business will go? If businesses are smart, as they usually are in a "free market", they'll move to the states that offer them the best advantages. More business in a state = more jobs. More jobs = more income. More income = more tax revenue. See... it's not a secret that lower taxes will bring in more revenue than higher taxes. AT least this time, it'll be going to states that support individual fiscal freedom. I'll take freedom over tax tyranny any day.
As a commercial entity, its purpose is to make money for its stockholders. If regular blackouts increase your profits, we will see more of them. If firing half your service people, reducing maintainance costs and saving the R&D money for future developments rises the stock prices, that is what we will see to happen.
Oh, sorry, have seen happening.
How do you propose that blackouts increase power company profits? When the power goes out, the meters stop running. When the power goes out, work crews are dispatched at the company's expense.
Blackout = no income + expense = reduced profit.
must... resist... urge... to ... post.... cliches!
resisting.... what goes... around... comes around... aaaah... pot... kettle... black... force is stronger... glass houses... AAAAH.
heh
... duh.... probably the *worst* way to "fight spam". Want to dramatically reduce spam for yourself? Try a spam filter. They actually work without government intervention. yay.
You wouldn't mind paying more taxes, as if the near 50% you already pay in taxes and government fees isn't enough? OK, fine! Lets have a *voluntary* email tax, that way you can pay it and I don't have to. Chances are pretty good that if the tax was *voluntary*, you probably wouldn't pay.
... You're the type of person that has allowed us to get into the state of borderline socialism we're in today, because by welcoming a seemingly harmless "small tax" going for a supposed "good cause", you've allowed the government to nickel-and-dime us into oblivion. 5 cents here, 10 cents there... it fucking adds up you know.
I bet you're the same type of socialist that justifies all other "small" tax increases by meaningly sentiments... "I'd pay a tax if I knew it were going to fight spam", "I'd pay cigarette taxes because it's to fight bad health", "I'd pay blah blah to help the environment", "I'd pay yadda yadda to help the starving children", "I'd pay... I'd pay... I'd pay!!!"
All hope is not lost however... I recommend that you read a good book. It's titled "The Ballad of Carl Drega". Look it up on Amazon and be ready to read the truth. Feel free to pay Amazon a little extra "voluntary" tax to fight book pirates. It's a good cause.
I'd like to use this opportunity to simply express the following:
I don't get it.
IMHO, it is possible to make money with open source software. The secret is coming to the realization that you aren't going to make any money by packaging the software and selling it in boxes. OSS software is available for FREE, so why would a customer pay for it in box when he/she can get it for free elsewhere? Obvious point, I know.
... consulting. offer consulting services (for $$) to guide customers through custom module development, implementation, design, etc. Perhaps you could even offer high level technical support for $$ -- opportunity #4. Web design services for the Cow CMS -- opportunity #5.
So, how does one make money with OSS? Services. Granted, incorporating and building paid services around your open source software may not be simple in all cases, it can be applied very well to certain types of open source software.
For example, lets look at the CMS arena... lets say that I have a OSS CMS called "Cow". I make Cow available for FREE to anyone that wants it. BUT... Cow, being the sophisticated piece of software that it is, requires a web server with certain dependencies. Some people will be able to setup Cow and run it on their own web servers and some won't. There's the opportunity for service #1... specialized hosting for the Cow CMS. You can charge $$ for specialized hosting of Cow CMS based websites.
Since our fictional CMS (Cow) would be modular, you as the developer could make highly advanced and highly functional modules available to end users for $$. Perhaps they need a eCommerce module with some advanced capabilities. Perhaps they need a specialized payment gateway. There's opportunity #2.
Lets say that Cow CMS has grabbed the attention of a few big web sites. Now, you have some real commercial entities showing interest in the CMS. Opportunity #3
See, I think it is possible to make $$ with open source software by adding services of real value around the software.
A few random thoughts for the "services approach":
1. The software has to be good and have at least the majority of functionality of commercial competitors.
2. The software should be able to run on the windows platform.
3. The UI should be of commercial quality.
4. Not every type of OSS software will lend itself well to the "paid services" approach. CMSs are a good example, as would be any type of specialized vertical market software, such as Medical Practice Management systems.
5. You need to understand your market! Understanding your market means you'll understand which services would be of real value.
blah blah blah... the only thing I'm interested in knowing is *WHAT* causes the recognition failures? It's not mentioned in the article. People aren't discussing it. BUT it's a very important question... especially for those concerned with retaining private identity.
So, can it be assumed that wearing sunglasses will defeat the system? What about keeping your face downward to the floor? What else? How about walking through the airport terminal with a cup of coffee held up to your mouth? If that's all it takes, I'm wearing sunglasses to the airport from now on. It's that simple. In fact, I'll wear sunglasses at any venue where facial recognition "technology" has a chance of being used.
"It's about using the mouse as a kind of surrogate pen," said Dr McOwan.
... I've discovered a way to draw perfect circles using a mouse. Holy shit... it'll change the world.
Wow doctor! What a fucking revelation! This just in
Sometimes, I get the feeling that I'm surrounded by idiots. Oh wait a minute... I AM!
Excerpt from a related story ...
"John Smith, 45, received minor burns to his hands Thursday evening when his computer suddenly burst into flames. Operating system vendor Microsoft provided a statement, indicating that the cause of the small fire was due to the use of Star Office, a 'non-microsoft brand' product."
Visualize a verizon wireless guy standing on the bottom of the ocean ... "Can you hear me now?"
If you're a flight sim nut and want to build your own home cockpit, start at www.projectmagenta.com
Something strange is happening at Microsoft ...
IE development ended (sort of)
Outlook express development ended
Service packs under long delay
Just an observation.
Most people won't need image resolution that high ... HOWEVER, it is good if you want to do anything with professional or production quality.
3264 x 2448 resolution will allow you to print a 21" x 16" print @ 150DPI. Thats enough for production quality posters, calendars, etc. It'll allow you to print an 8x10 at 300DPI, which is arguably better than 8x10 quality with regular 35mm film.
This camera is also good if you're a decent shot and want to sell your photos through stock shops like gettyimages, corbis, etc. You *NEED* to have resolution like this before production houses will even look at your stock images... because guess what they do with them?.?.?.?... that's right... posters, calendars, and other production which requires 150-300 DPI at reasonable visual sizes.
The term "deregulation" is a bit of a misnomer. When a state goes through "deregulation", its not actually removing regulation from the power company. It's simply changing the existing regulation. A better term would probably be "different regulation", because after "deregulation", there are probably more regulations on the books governing power companies than before the deregulation process.
Here's an interesting thing to note ... ever try removing Outlook Express after installing Outlook?
... why do I need Outlook Express installed?" --uninstall
... when you launch Outlook after removing Outlook Express, you'll get a message indicating that Outlook NEEDS Outlook Express in order to view email. Go ahead and scratch your head for a few minutes on that one, but its true.
... how is it then, that Microsoft can continue to offer Outlook while stopping development of Outlook Express? (Perhaps some merging of the development resources going on there.)
"Hey, I've got Outlook
Here's the catch
SO