Well, I don't see how commenting on how the headline Quake on Java first makes me think of a computer game and a computer language instead of a place and a natural event is mocking a disaster, but... Hal Duston
So I was reading CNN yesterday, and came accross this link. Quake on Java kills at least four. Hmm, thinks me that was fast, the source was only released this week. But, noooo, their talking about an actual place with an actual event. Funny how channeled our mind becomes after dealing with computers for so long and so exclusively
Well, if Congress is serious about providing oversight (which is another question entirely) they do have one pretty powerfull weapon, which they have used to impose their will on other agencies before,... THE MONEY "So, you guys won't give us the documents we want, we won't fund your agency at the levels you desire."
Well it is actually because of the fact that somebody (NOT Redhat, but rather E*Trade or SEC) is trying to protect you from 'losing' your money in a 'risky' investment by regulating who can participate.
Indeed, I just this February 1999 upgraded from Word 1.1 and Excel 3.0 to Word 6.0 and Excel 5.0 also having upgraded from Win 3.10a and a 386 to Win98 and a P-133. However I still cannot read lots of documents people send me because I am still not "current" with everything. This is the upgrade cycle that is much more of a problem than the OS part. Upgrading the office suite forces the OS to be upgraded, not the other way around, and I am forced to upgrade the office suite when the rest of the world upgrades and sends me documents with newer versions of software than I currently own.
As for interversion combatibility being a problem, the "latest and greatest" Office versions have always been able to read files from previous versions, going back at least 8 years. (Word 97 is happy reading Word 4.0 for Mac files, and Word 4.0 dates to 1989...)
Not always, at my current jobsite, we have Word 6.0 documents that open just fine in Word 6.0, but cause Word 8.0 to crash. We are unable to completely upgrade to Office 97 because of this.
Also I attempted to load a Word 4.0 for Mac file into Word 6.0 for Windows to no avail.
As always, if you need supreme portability, there's always ASCII formats like *TeX or HTML, and don't forget PDF.
Yes, but I get tired of continually having to upgrade my Apps (Until February I was still using Word 1.1 on a 386, now I am using Word 6.0 on a Pentium 133) or telling my clients that I am unable to read their document (usually in Word 8.0 format) and that they need to re-send it. This is the upgrade cycle I am complaining about.
This entire case misses the _real_ Microsoft monopoly. The Office applications are the real monopoly. If I want to send email, use IRC, send files, non-MS OS's interoperate well enough with MS OS's. It is the _content_ of the files, i.e. Word/Excel that is where the real problem is. Not only do you have to have the same application, but you also need the same version. If someone sends me a document chances are that I cannot read/view it unless I match application/version. This forces me to upgrade the application, which in turn forces me to upgrade the OS, which in turn forces me to upgrade the HW.
This sounds similiar to an article I remember reading in IEEE magazine around 1993 or 1994. The author postulated four ages of mankind. The first age was the hunter-gatherer age and lasted about 10000 years. The second was the agrarian age and lasted about 1000 years. The third was the industrial age and is lasted 100 years. The fourth is be the information age and will only last 10 years. After this society begins living in "real time" when the rate of change as accelerated so rapidly that no one can possibly keep up. Intellectual property becomes irrelevant because by the time another company can copy and manufacture what you are selling, you don't care as you are no longer using it. I believe we are close to this point, as I remember reading in Fortune magazine that 90% of Intel's 1998 revenue came from products that were not even in the marketplace in 1997. The author of the article (I believe it is the same person) now was a web-site to sell a book he wrote about this The Friction Free Economy by Ted G. Lewis. Some of this stuff is hinted at in the preface which is available online.
Ok, so let me see if I got this straight. AC's are so people can post anonymously. Suppose someone posts with the handle of flim-flam-man. I know who they are and I can hassle them because I know what their handle is? I still don't know what their Email/Web address is. I don't know what their real name/address is. How exactly is flim-flam-man not anonymous? I try to follow these long threads between an UNKNOWN number of AC's and I have to give up because I have no idea who is replying to who or even how many people are talking. For all I know it could be one or two people just being really annoying.
Perhaps, but I cannot see how the CPU is going to broadcast the serial number all over the place ALL BY ITSELF. My CPU doesn't even know if I have a modem, NIC or anything else, it only knows about memory and interrupt controllers. In otherwords, it will need help from the software. Even if some sites will not let you in without a serial number, if you are using linux or probably even free mozilla, you cannot be prevented from LYING about the number and the CPU will not have to be altered. The only way this would ever work, would be for the DOJ to mandate the use of Windows, AND forbid the use of free mozilla. I don't see that happening.
Actually most disk drives have had a software viewable serial number for over 8 years. Both of my seagate IDE disk drives have a serial number that hdparm can view. One disk is from 1991, and the other one is from 1994.
Well, I don't see how commenting on how the headline Quake on Java first makes me think of a computer game and a computer language instead of a place and a natural event is mocking a disaster, but... Hal Duston
Hal Duston
Well, if Congress is serious about providing oversight (which is another question entirely) they do have one pretty powerfull weapon, which they have used to impose their will on other agencies before,...
THE MONEY
"So, you guys won't give us the documents we want, we won't fund your agency at the levels you desire."
Hal Duston
hald@sound.net
Boring is good
Sold out to whom exactly? Would have been me if I had the funds.
Hal Duston
hald@sound.net
Well it is actually because of the fact that somebody (NOT Redhat, but rather E*Trade or SEC) is trying to protect you from 'losing' your money in a 'risky' investment by regulating who can participate.
Hal Duston
hald@sound.net
Actually is was a trademark. A number of people got involved, attempting to have the trademark revoked. The final result was a reassignment to Linus.
Hal Duston
hald@sound.net
Indeed, I just this February 1999 upgraded from Word 1.1 and Excel 3.0 to Word 6.0 and Excel 5.0
also having upgraded from Win 3.10a and a 386 to Win98 and a P-133. However I still cannot read lots of documents people send me because I am still not "current" with everything. This is the upgrade cycle that is much more of a problem than the OS part. Upgrading the office suite forces the OS to be upgraded, not the other way around, and I am forced to upgrade the office suite when the rest of the world upgrades and sends me documents with newer versions of software than I currently own.
Hal Duston
hald@sound.net
Not always, at my current jobsite, we have Word 6.0 documents that open just fine in Word 6.0, but cause Word 8.0 to crash. We are unable to completely upgrade to Office 97 because of this.
Also I attempted to load a Word 4.0 for Mac file into Word 6.0 for Windows to no avail.
As always, if you need supreme portability, there's always ASCII formats like *TeX or HTML, and don't forget PDF.
Yes, but I get tired of continually having to upgrade my Apps (Until February I was still using Word 1.1 on a 386, now I am using Word 6.0 on a Pentium 133) or telling my clients that I am unable to read their document (usually in Word 8.0 format) and that they need to re-send it. This is the upgrade cycle I am complaining about.
Hal Duston
Boring is good.
This entire case misses the _real_ Microsoft monopoly. The Office applications are the real monopoly. If I want to send email, use IRC, send files, non-MS OS's interoperate well enough with MS OS's. It is the _content_ of the files, i.e. Word/Excel that is where the real problem is. Not only do you have to have the same application, but you also need the same version. If someone sends me a document chances are that I cannot read/view it unless I match application/version. This forces me to upgrade the application, which in turn forces me to upgrade the OS, which in turn forces me to upgrade the HW.
Hal Duston
Boring is good
This sounds similiar to an article I remember reading in IEEE magazine around 1993 or 1994. The author postulated four ages of mankind. The first age was the hunter-gatherer age and lasted about 10000 years. The second was the agrarian age and lasted about 1000 years. The third was the industrial age and is lasted 100 years. The fourth is be the information age and will only last 10 years. After this society begins living in "real time" when the rate of change as accelerated so rapidly that no one can possibly keep up. Intellectual property becomes irrelevant because by the time another company can copy and manufacture what you are selling, you don't care as you are no longer using it. I believe we are close to this point, as I remember reading in Fortune magazine that 90% of Intel's 1998 revenue came from products that were not even in the marketplace in 1997. The author of the article (I believe it is the same person) now was a web-site to sell a book he wrote about this The Friction Free Economy by Ted G. Lewis. Some of this stuff is hinted at in the preface which is available online.
Sun microsystems lists them as a partner. They used to be the Moscow Center of SPARC Technology.
Ok, so let me see if I got this straight. AC's are so people can post anonymously. Suppose someone posts with the handle of flim-flam-man. I know who they are and I can hassle them because I know what their handle is? I still don't know what their Email/Web address is. I don't know what their real name/address is. How exactly is flim-flam-man not anonymous? I try to follow these long threads between an UNKNOWN number of AC's and I have to give up because I have no idea who is replying to who or even how many people are talking. For all I know it could be one or two people just being really annoying.
Perhaps, but I cannot see how the CPU is going to broadcast the serial number all over the place ALL BY ITSELF. My CPU doesn't even know if I have a modem, NIC or anything else, it only knows about memory and interrupt controllers. In otherwords, it will need help from the software. Even if some sites will not let you in without a serial number, if you are using linux or probably even free mozilla, you cannot be prevented from LYING about the number and the CPU will not have to be altered. The only way this would ever work, would be for the DOJ to mandate the use of Windows, AND forbid the use of free mozilla. I don't see that happening.
Actually most disk drives have had a software viewable serial number for over 8 years. Both of my seagate IDE disk drives have a serial number that hdparm can view. One disk is from 1991, and the other one is from 1994.
Hal Duston