Well, for all the FUD that Microsoft is spreading about open-source tools, they should take a look at their own people. The MS Research Group has papers on their web site that were authored in TeX and stored in PS format. One of the researcher told me personally that Word sucks for writing technical papers.
It's the hypocrisy that's funny - in a sick kind of way...
From your house is the local-loop, the only dedicated line you have. From the first phone switch, your calls are routed onto a limited number of lines to central switches. Suppose there's a few hundred customers on the switch, they have maybe a couple o' dozen lines out the back. It's called circuit-switching.
The average length of a voice call is about 6min, so the many->few reduction worked until ISP calls went up to many hours long. In some parts of the country, you can't make a local call at peak net surfing times.
The technology to alleviate the problem exists. You simply use the SS7 (inter-switch) protocol to recognize a call to a modem and terminate the call in a virtual modem in the local switch. Then, the IP traffic can be packet-switched to whomever it's directed.
Your phone company is not interested in a solution, they just want more money and are using this as an excuse.
It's like smart-cards - no reason for the banks to issue them, they just jack-up interest rates on everyone else to pay for fraud. In Europe, where people use debit cards and don't run up bills, they issue smart cards. Smart, huh?
... if you or I behaved like this in front of a judge, we'd be in prison by now. Think about it! The only thing that this case will prove is that might makes right, money buys justice.
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Well, for all the FUD that Microsoft is spreading about open-source tools, they should take a look at their own people. The MS Research Group has papers on their web site that were authored in TeX and stored in PS format. One of the researcher told me personally that Word sucks for writing technical papers.
It's the hypocrisy that's funny - in a sick kind of way...
From your house is the local-loop, the only dedicated line you have. From the first phone switch, your calls are routed onto a limited number of lines to central switches. Suppose there's a few hundred customers on the switch, they have maybe a couple o' dozen lines out the back. It's called circuit-switching.
The average length of a voice call is about 6min, so the many->few reduction worked until ISP calls went up to many hours long. In some parts of the country, you can't make a local call at peak net surfing times.
The technology to alleviate the problem exists. You simply use the SS7 (inter-switch) protocol to recognize a call to a modem and terminate the call in a virtual modem in the local switch. Then, the IP traffic can be packet-switched to whomever it's directed.
Your phone company is not interested in a solution, they just want more money and are using this as an excuse.
It's like smart-cards - no reason for the banks to issue them, they just jack-up interest rates on everyone else to pay for fraud. In Europe, where people use debit cards and don't run up bills, they issue smart cards. Smart, huh?
... if you or I behaved like this in front of a judge, we'd be in prison by now. Think about it! The only thing that this case will prove is that might makes right, money buys justice.