Well, the CPU scheduler could be at fault. They might want to make sure that your audio does not skip. Therefore the sound-using application might get a higher priority, or other I/O bound applications may be throttled to leave room for the audio and make sure there are not too many network interrupts to service that may block the sound.
Well actually, I was thinking that the Slashdot admins must be interested in what is said here. After all, it's a way to evaluate how people feel about ads, what they do about them and maybe figure out ways to convince most people to just let the ads display when they browse the web. I have never used ad blockers because I was mostly accessing sites where they are not a pain in the ass.
Recently I have installed Noscript to (hopefully) enjoy safer browsing. A side effect is that I am no longer seeing most ads. Even the least intrusive ones. The Slashdot page I type this on as NO AD at all because of that and I feel slightly guilty about that.
But I really don't like the idea of allow GoogleAnalytics and Doubleclick's Javascript to run on my computer... So I am blocking ads without even trying to...
The whole idea is that most people don't want to bother with XHTML that is XML based. So the W3C decided that it was worth updating the old SGML based HTML. The revolution of XHTML failed to change the world, so we are back to evolution from the current standard.
The memory bandwidth is one improvement in Conroe but there is also "Advanced Digital Media Boost" which Theregister.co.uk reported to bring single cycle SIMD instructions (whereas many SSE2 instructions on P4 have a throughput of 1 instruction every 2 cycles).
This means that the Conroe machine tested had : 1) >50% more memory bandwidth 2) 2x faster FPU/SSE2 at a given frequency.
This all makes the Conroe look good and promising. AM2 will bring an answer to point 1 (with DDR2 up to 800MHz). As for point 2, AMD has yet to announce any improvement on the FPU/SSE2 part of their processors.
The facts currently available seem to indicate that Conroe might be better than AMD's offering when it is available.
No. I believe that they are worried about a class action suit adding two facts: a) they are a convicted monopoly in the US b) they would be charging a lower price for the same software on foreign markets. This would be an example of "dumping" and also a clear proof that the US stree price is an abuse of their monopoly.
Since they cannot change a) they avoid b) by crippling the low-cost version for foreign markets. This way they can say that they are not overcharging of the product in their home country. Indeed, the only Windows version that retails for less than the standard US edition is vastly inferior.
This is a very true statement. When I bought my first PC I spent 150$ on OS/2 and then 150$ on Borland C++. That was a lot of money and then I would have needed to pay for the IP stack which was optional at that time etc.
Now, with Linux I get all of this and much more (python, apache, mozilla, perl etc.) so that I can learn about new techniques and tools without going broke. Then, as an additional bonus, I can use the same tools at my workplace since they are really free as in free speech.
Note : I paid for Redhat Network and then for Mandrake Club membership since they are a good bargain.
actually, if you read the datasheet, the XD1 runs Linux 2.4.21 with some modifications (see xd1_datasheet.pdf
So does the SGI Itanium machine. What sets these computers apart is that they offer better interconnections between the processors than clusters do. The Bigmac has 1.2GB/s between two nodes through Infiniband whereas an SGI machine has 6.4GB/s.
As a summary, in a cluster you use slower links with higher latency and your processors communicate through messages. In a SGI or Cray machine, you use fast and expensive links (think more wires, more expensive controllers) and your processors can work as though they all shared the same memory.
SGI sells systems with 128 processors where there is only ONE Linux kernel (as opposed to 128 in a Linux cluster).
I think that foreigners can get the tax back at the airport and then pay their country's tax at their own customs. With French VAT (20.6% ouch !) which is probably worst than in the UK, you end up paying 2400$ for your laptop (+50$ of credit card charges).
This means that you get a 500$ rebate on your weekend in New York. Of course, this solution is silly if you don't want to tour New York but if you do, it seems pretty nice.
One of my friends has an Archos that can play videos and I can tell you that we never watch videos on the handheld itself. We watch them on a TV set. This is very convenient since you can find TVs almost anywhere;-)
So, the video feature can be a nice plus, but the Archos does it almost perfectly for 450$. Therefore the Microsoft gizmo is irrelevant.
Of course the Ipod is sleeker and cheaper, so if you don't care about carrying tens of movies around, you should get the Ipod. This is a matter of choice and the Microsoft gizmo does not add any choice.
Having the source is nice but people should keep in mind that binary programs are fairly easy to understand too.
If you want to find holes in say Windows NT, you can simply buy a copy, install it (or not) and run SoftIce debugger and various decompilation or emulation tools.
When I was a teen I would take a disassembler and disassemble demos to find out how they made their special effects. It was really easy and it makes me believe that people less lazy than me can really go far with simple access to the binaries...
Finally, it is also fairly common to make binary patches to software that is only available in binary form (e.g. infinite lives in games). You really don't need the source to make and release modified binaries of a program.
So, I really think that source availability does not help the bad guys. Binaries are really OK when you have strong motivation and a few good tools. And I guess that we can expect bad guys to have both...
Along the same lines. The sources to the Linux operating system have been widely exposed for the last ten years or so. I do not wish to be sensationalist but the number of industries and critical systems that are based around these Linux Technologies and could be damages by new exploits found int this Linux source code is something that doesn't bear thinking about.
P.S. This is my first attempt at writing a funny comment on Slashdot, so please don't be too harsh;-)
>Maybe it is a flaw that the open source community can collectively fix.
That is a flaw that you can fix for yourself. Just use software that you can maintain yourself or that is very well supported (e.g. gcc, openssl, openssh, Apache etc.)
As you see, going with high-profile projects is "safer" just as it is "safer" to go with high-profile vendors like IBM or Microsoft.
But of course, none of these solutions is perfectly safe;-)
There are a few things that reduce the trolling. First, trolling on Wikipedia is no fun since the system allows it. There is no sport, no hacking. It just seems stupid. Second, many people can see the troll and all of them are allowed to correct it by restoring a former version of the post. So anybody can fight the troll. Finally, the administrators of wikipedia can lock some pages and forbid edition by trolls (by blocking their IP address).
I find it strange hat everybody seems to be talking without considering sourceforge.
This site is doing more than offering development means to developer. It is an incentive to have a serious development process :
- configuration management/ bug tracking
- control of releases
- auditing (throught statistics and votes)
- planning (not mandatory but pretty)
- compile farms to test portability and run tests
Currently they do not offer a way to show off the regression testing developers do. But when they find a way to show them in their pretty interface, developers who did not want to make formal regression tests on their code will have big incentive to do it.
That's what I find great with sourceforge, it works through incentive and brings a uniform way to describe software projects.
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Well, the CPU scheduler could be at fault. They might want to make sure that your audio does not skip. Therefore the sound-using application might get a higher priority, or other I/O bound applications may be throttled to leave room for the audio and make sure there are not too many network interrupts to service that may block the sound.
;-)
So, you see, it's a feature, not a bug
Well actually, I was thinking that the Slashdot admins must be interested in what is said here. After all, it's a way to evaluate how people feel about ads, what they do about them and maybe figure out ways to convince most people to just let the ads display when they browse the web.
I have never used ad blockers because I was mostly accessing sites where they are not a pain in the ass.
Recently I have installed Noscript to (hopefully) enjoy safer browsing. A side effect is that I am no longer seeing most ads. Even the least intrusive ones. The Slashdot page I type this on as NO AD at all because of that and I feel slightly guilty about that.
But I really don't like the idea of allow GoogleAnalytics and Doubleclick's Javascript to run on my computer... So I am blocking ads without even trying to...
You can already pay with PicasaWeb. That allows you to have more that 1GB. The 1GB option will likely stay free as a way to attract customers.
The whole idea is that most people don't want to bother with XHTML that is XML based.
So the W3C decided that it was worth updating the old SGML based HTML. The revolution of XHTML failed to change the world, so we are back to evolution from the current standard.
The memory bandwidth is one improvement in Conroe but there is also "Advanced Digital Media Boost" which Theregister.co.uk reported to bring single cycle SIMD instructions (whereas many SSE2 instructions on P4 have a throughput of 1 instruction every 2 cycles).
This means that the Conroe machine tested had :
1) >50% more memory bandwidth
2) 2x faster FPU/SSE2 at a given frequency.
This all makes the Conroe look good and promising. AM2 will bring an answer to point 1 (with DDR2 up to 800MHz).
As for point 2, AMD has yet to announce any improvement on the FPU/SSE2 part of their processors.
The facts currently available seem to indicate that Conroe might be better than AMD's offering when it is available.
No. I believe that they are worried about a class action suit adding two facts :
a) they are a convicted monopoly in the US
b) they would be charging a lower price for the same software on foreign markets. This would be an example of "dumping" and also a clear proof that the US stree price is an abuse of their monopoly.
Since they cannot change a) they avoid b) by crippling the low-cost version for foreign markets. This way they can say that they are not overcharging of the product in their home country. Indeed, the only Windows version that retails for less than the standard US edition is vastly inferior.
This is a very true statement. When I bought my first PC I spent 150$ on OS/2 and then 150$ on Borland C++.
That was a lot of money and then I would have needed to pay for the IP stack which was optional at that time etc.
Now, with Linux I get all of this and much more (python, apache, mozilla, perl etc.) so that I can learn about new techniques and tools without going broke. Then, as an additional bonus, I can use the same tools at my workplace since they are really free as in free speech.
Note : I paid for Redhat Network and then for Mandrake Club membership since they are a good bargain.
Hello,
actually, if you read the datasheet, the XD1 runs Linux 2.4.21 with some modifications (see xd1_datasheet.pdf
So does the SGI Itanium machine. What sets these computers apart is that they offer better interconnections between the processors than clusters do.
The Bigmac has 1.2GB/s between two nodes through Infiniband whereas an SGI machine has 6.4GB/s.
As a summary, in a cluster you use slower links with higher latency and your processors communicate through messages.
In a SGI or Cray machine, you use fast and expensive links (think more wires, more expensive controllers) and your processors can work as though they all shared the same memory.
SGI sells systems with 128 processors where there is only ONE Linux kernel (as opposed to 128 in a Linux cluster).
Also, if you do not care for support you can take RHEL and install it on several computers with as many CPUs as you wish.
As far as I understand it the restrictives terms are only about SUPPORT and not redistribution.
I think that foreigners can get the tax back at the airport and then pay their country's tax at their own customs.
With French VAT (20.6% ouch !) which is probably worst than in the UK, you end up paying 2400$ for your laptop (+50$ of credit card charges).
This means that you get a 500$ rebate on your weekend in New York. Of course, this solution is silly if you don't want to tour New York but if you do, it seems pretty nice.
One of my friends has an Archos that can play videos and I can tell you that we never watch videos on the handheld itself. We watch them on a TV set. This is very convenient since you can find TVs almost anywhere ;-)
So, the video feature can be a nice plus, but the Archos does it almost perfectly for 450$. Therefore the Microsoft gizmo is irrelevant.
Of course the Ipod is sleeker and cheaper, so if you don't care about carrying tens of movies around, you should get the Ipod. This is a matter of choice and the Microsoft gizmo does not add any choice.
Having the source is nice but people should keep in mind that binary programs are fairly easy to understand too.
If you want to find holes in say Windows NT, you can simply buy a copy, install it (or not) and run SoftIce debugger and various decompilation or emulation tools.
When I was a teen I would take a disassembler and disassemble demos to find out how they made their special effects. It was really easy and it makes me believe that people less lazy than me can really go far with simple access to the binaries...
Finally, it is also fairly common to make binary patches to software that is only available in binary form (e.g. infinite lives in games). You really don't need the source to make and release modified binaries of a program.
So, I really think that source availability does not help the bad guys. Binaries are really OK when you have strong motivation and a few good tools. And I guess that we can expect bad guys to have both...
Along the same lines. The sources to the Linux operating system have been widely exposed for the last ten years or so. I do not wish to be sensationalist but the number of industries and critical systems that are based around these Linux Technologies and could be damages by new exploits found int this Linux source code is something that doesn't bear thinking about.
;-)
P.S. This is my first attempt at writing a funny comment on Slashdot, so please don't be too harsh
>Maybe it is a flaw that the open source community can collectively fix.
;-)
That is a flaw that you can fix for yourself. Just use software that you can maintain yourself or that is very well supported (e.g. gcc, openssl, openssh, Apache etc.)
As you see, going with high-profile projects is "safer" just as it is "safer" to go with high-profile vendors like IBM or Microsoft.
But of course, none of these solutions is perfectly safe
There are a few things that reduce the trolling.
First, trolling on Wikipedia is no fun since the system allows it. There is no sport, no hacking. It just seems stupid.
Second, many people can see the troll and all of them are allowed to correct it by restoring a former version of the post. So anybody can fight the troll.
Finally, the administrators of wikipedia can lock some pages and forbid edition by trolls (by blocking their IP address).
As you can see, Wikipedia is not defenseless !
I find it strange hat everybody seems to be talking without considering sourceforge. This site is doing more than offering development means to developer. It is an incentive to have a serious development process : - configuration management/ bug tracking - control of releases - auditing (throught statistics and votes) - planning (not mandatory but pretty) - compile farms to test portability and run tests Currently they do not offer a way to show off the regression testing developers do. But when they find a way to show them in their pretty interface, developers who did not want to make formal regression tests on their code will have big incentive to do it. That's what I find great with sourceforge, it works through incentive and brings a uniform way to describe software projects.