Yes, but the chances of UPS and FedEx usage dying off are far more remote, even though I also think that the USPS/snail mail won't really have a decline in shipments either. UPS and FedEx mainly transport items that cannot be sent down a data stream (e.g. computer parts), and even those that could be sent down via file transfers (e.g. DVD, CD, books/text), it is much too inconvienent (4.8 GB/DVD even on a cable modem could take at least a day on a good connection), not to mention generally illegal.
Sure, I bet many people will be more cautious of opening up random unexpected packages that mysteriously showed up at your door (but wouldn't you always?), but I'm not going to run to the nearest health clinic (or wherever you would go) and make them scan every dust and particle in the latest package from Amazon, BestPrices, DVDPlanet, etc.
Well the fact that you're asking and questioning what someone has to gain slows down your response. Whoever committed the terriosts acts against the WTC has caused confusion among the general populace of the world. If you get the world to hestiate enough, it gives you time for further strikes or cause the world to go into further confusion. You have to question everything. You don't have a person to blame that you can be absolutely sure is "pure evil".
Also, who in the world in their right mind would stick up a huge flag saying "I did it! Kill me now!"? One thing is for sure, the terriosts knew what the passengers/airline crew's standard response would be, so they can't be *that* dumb. Although I think the terriosts will and should pay severely for their crimes, I have to give them some credit in that they knew what they were doing.
The thing I've noticed with first person shooter players is that when players try to do a 180 degree turn in one swoop (moving the mouse from right to left across the mouse pad or left to right), the optical mice aren't able to keep up with this rapid movement. Also, when lifting up the mouse in case you're near the edge of your mouse pad or surface, the mouse takes a second or two to read its location again.
Paradoxically, paper letters are a more secure way to transmit information than the internet...
Huh? How many e-mails have the FBI intercepted or been able to find from the terriorsts? I haven't heard of any yet, encrypted or not. Knowing something is encrypted doesn't mean anything if you aren't able to find the message in the first place.
However, like you said, they were able to find paper documents...
Re:Please don't hurt me.
on
VIM 6.0 is Out
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· Score: 2, Informative
Check out the latest user manual too. After the tutorial, it is the best thing that I've found that "completely" documents features in a reasonable and informative fashion. Type ":help user-manual" for the manual.
When has CNET ever linked outside their websites? They might link once or twice a day to a big corporation, but I can't count the number of times they list the website by name (like Slashdot.org) but fail to provide a link. Unfortunately the days of crediting original sources and linking webpages that may provide some competition are coming to an end.
Look at all the gaming news websites for an example of some of the most egotistical webmasters who won't give proper credit. All the good ones are being run out of business because they were properly linking to others and sending their readers away.
Anyone know a good place to start learning about Java Servlets and, in particular, how to implement such programs with Tomcat? The last time I tried, it was a major hassle to get even the sample applets running, and I would like a fresh start.
They've got good engineers, and with the nFORCE (and with it, most likely an AMD CPU) and all the nice stuff the nFORCE has (AC3 encoding, nVidia graphics, AMD, lack of intel)
First off, Intel is supplying a P3 processor (733mhz I believe) for all X-Boxes. There are licensing disagreements between Intel and Nvidia (who actually makes the nForce chipset), so Nvidia can't make P3 compatible motherboards. But Microsoft does have a license, so MS used their license to arrange an nForce and P3 compatible motherboard.
Second, most of MS's products are good, but their technology is not theirs in the first place. See those touted laser optical mice? If I'm not mistaken, the exact same technology is used in Logitech's mice since the company that originally researched and developed it either licensed or sold it out. Besides the software related side and possibly the design of the controllers and the box, none of the internal stuff (motherboard, cpu, etc.) are theirs.
And also, I think that the X-Box runs some form of the Windows 2000 kernel with a special DirectX 8.0 layer. You don't need to register your X-Box either unless they've been hiding that fact for the past few months.
Finally, since 1) the games are probably encoded on a DVD format, 2) there is a special version of DirectX, and 3) your hardware is probably pretty slow compared to the X-Box's (GeForce3, P3 733mhz, nForce), the chances of your game running on your home PC are probably very low. Someone will of course create an "emulator" for it.
However, I think it's bad that HP is buying Compaq, instead of the other way around... I've never been impressed with HP's products (other than printers, which are the best), particularly their servers or workstations.
Personally, I liked Epson and Lexmark's printers, but how about their CD burners? They were one of the, if not the, first companies to have CD burners in nearly all of their computers. They helped popularize a home computer feature that is now practically standard on all computers.
I don't see Compaq having near an impact for home users except for selling to the masses cheaply.
One of the things about computer animation is that you are limitless in your posibilities. Heck, you could have watched Final Fantasy over the main character's shoulder if you wanted. However, that doesn't make it enjoyable. I think the animators wanted to go with the "older tried and true" shot angles and still backgrounds because quite simply...they work. And when they they do move or something does strike you as a great scene, it's a far greater impact.
The CG, while good for stylish effects, should not be noticable in that "Oh my! That's a beautiful CG shot." That's what bothered me about movies like SW Ep I. Sure, good CG (in the current time), but it was plainly noticable. Same with FF, but of course, that was the whole point I think.
Props to Mozillazine for the link. If you want real Mozilla news, check out the latter link. Much more informative, and the discussions are at least somewhat insightful.
Yes, but do you honestly believe that the other 90% or so of users out there really only burned legit CDs? Hell, I had a taxi cab driver talk about Napster and how he regrets not discovering it sooner when there were threats of it being shut down. No joking around.
I don't think the RIAA has a chance in hell of stopping CD-R(W)s, and I clearly think they are in the wrong, but I bet that over a third of the material burned is one of three things: copyrighted music, pirated software (including games), and ripped DivX movies, most of which convinently fit onto CDs. Let's not kid ourselves. Who honestly burns CDs filled with Word/Abiword/KOffice documents at home?
I thought launch dates were the dates you could buy them in the store. I know it didn't happen with the Gameboy Advance in Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit City since they delayed till like the following Wednesday, but most other stores I thought were selling them like mad.
And I think this does matter, but not as big of a deal as many people will make it out to be. Impulsive buyers do have some affect on sales though. GC will still be a hot seller, and will quite possibly sell out. It would be funny if GC outsells X-Box because they'll have more shipments ready to go, but its all up in the air.
Re:Computer Literacy - Hit the nail on the head
on
Linux Win In Schools
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· Score: 1
Elitists are too full of themselves.
Honestly, do you understand that maybe computers are...dare I say...only tools to be used to achieve a greater objective? Not everyone is using them to become a l33t h4x0r or make kernel changes. Not everyone is trying to maximize the performance of a tool that they might use once a year. Not everyone needs to know what every little function does for every little program.
People ranging from office assistants to managers to data entry personnel to telemarketers (ugh, unfortunately) all use computers but they don't need to know how they work.
I would hope software engineers, people in CS/EE, etc. do know how to code but that is their job. As long as your fellow workers can do the job, it is fine that they don't know how things work or aren't running the latest kernel that has XYZ feature to make it 0.005% faster in ABC applications.
On the other hand, if you are in a hardcore software development field, I would suggest you get the hell out of that company if the majority of users around you do not know about computers.
Yeah right. And that's how come there were "only" hundreds of thousands of users of Napster...
Ethics is a huge issue, but I would imagine that most people just don't really care at all since they believe that they've been screwed over on entertainment media for several years. Or they just don't care.
As the college students who have been brought up on high-speed connections, Napster, and file-sharing methods begin to get out of college, I wouldn't be surprised if the entertainment industry has to beef up its content protection methods, and while I personally think that they are just delaying the inevitable and offering a deturrent, they really are just trying to protect their content.
Just to add a little bit...multiplayer online games are a good example of why there needs to be huge tests from outsiders. Anarchy Online, the WWII Online game, Everquest, Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, and Diablo 2 amongst others have all failed at launch (whether it be the login servers, the actual game servers, or just all around buggy code in the client). They really experience a Slashdot-like effect 24/7, and several of them had (or still have) quite a few nuances.
I agree with most of your points, but the 3 things that I think are really holding Debian back from new users are:
1) the lag time between their stable releases is very far. IMO, without a recent identifiable release (6.0, 6.1, 7.0, 8.0, etc.), many users are afraid of jumping in and then upgrading to the latest stable versions of their software, especially if the last release was very old.
2) apt-get is a complex tool that cannot be taken lightly. Its interface is "non-standard", and unless you have the patience, it can really drive new users up the wall since most want to see results immediately. Great tool, but the most widely and used interface for new users is cumbersome IMO.
3) the lag time between stable package update is very far and in-between. Yes, there's the unstable and testing, but these are new users. Getting them used to the system is the first priority without having to make them worry about "Jeez, I don't even have a (GUI|web browser|mp3 player) and XYZ does. Maybe I should switch back."
In any case, those that want to learn will learn eventually. In the meantime, just try to give them a good and convinent experience.
Re:Sony's Linux Comes with XFree 3.3.6
on
X-server for PS2
·
· Score: 1
Please do. I am very curious about the capabilities of the PS2 on Linux, and I think that many people around here are too. A brief overview of the network abilities, hard drive, etc. would also be beneficiary.
You're missing the research and development costs, marketing, getting developers on board and giving them help, support for the dummies who can't operate the machines correctly, and a whole lot more. Sure, the parts are relatively cheap but pushing out a console is not. They have to absorb those costs somewhere and no matter what, it is a money losing scheme for them in the first few years.
- DMCA violations left and right as hobbyists reverse-engineered the console.
Which part of the PS2 when reverse-engineered would make it a violation of the DMCA? I heard that most of the greatest code on the original PSX were made because of reverse-engineering the provided libraries and that lead to some stellar graphical titles at the time. Sony picked up on this and just released barebones development tools and libraries for the PS2 as the rumor goes, so you can just interact with the hardware directly. That's what makes it harder to develop on the PS2 since there is a lot of R&D costs associated unlike X-Box.
Actually, selling a console for underneath the cost has been the long standing rumored tradition (PSX, N64, DC, PS2, and next GG and X-Box). It hasn't been a recent development as far as I know. Furthermore, down the road at some point or another the cost for the hardware does go down to underneath the initial sell price, so usually the console maker cuts the price (i.e. PSX) and they make money on the hardware.
Also, Sony only sells game licenses unless they made the game (e.g. Gran Turismo 3), so they do make a bit, but I would estimate that they only make around $20-$25 of that $49.99 that you pay for games. It is still a lot, but most casual gamers that I know buy roughly 5 titles for any system due to the recent strong divisions in the consoles (N64 vs. PSX; DC vs. PS2; anticipating GC vs. X-Box with the former). It really isn't that insane of a profit yet, and it shows in that Sony is losing money.
One other factor in the recent console generation is that X-Box and PS2 have a harder time of making money because many people that have not bought DVD players are now investigating into just getting a game console to play them. They figure that it is easier to just buy one hardware unit to perform multiple functions. MS and Sony will lose money over this and it could possibly have been the reason why so many PS2s were sold but so few blockbuster games have gone alongside them.
If you get the Linux distribution from Sony, you must have a hard drive. Or rather in their Linux PS2 package that you purchase (only in Japan), you get a hard drive, PS2 Linux CD, a brief manual, and I believe a network ethernet adapter. I would imagine that since you do have a network adapater of some sort you could just send/receive the games over a network of sorts and then just save it to the hard drive. While this is a perfectly valid question for the PS2 Linux distribution, I don't think it should be asked of someone who "just" writes a library.
Oh come on! Rumors of Dynamix closing down have been circulating for weeks on end especially after Tribes 2 was rushed to be released. Releasing a buggy product that manages good but not great sales (which you need to survive in this industry) and angers consumers due to the initial bugginess is not a good sign. I feel sorry for anyone that loses a job, but if he didn't know it was coming, he was pretty blind.
As another example, suppose my neighbor's house is burning and his 10 year old is screaming at the window, and he is not around. Am I ethical in breaking in to save his child ? In this case the answer is really clear.
A more interesting and perhaps correct analogy is that the 10 year old is throwing things at you and other people every 5 minutes and yelling at other kids to do the same. Do you have the right to a) throw something back (counterattack/root the other box), b) tie his hands and shut his mouth (use the antivirus) or should you just find the parent?
The kid in the fire is just screaming at you. He is not doing "physical" harm to you. Meanwhile, Code Red is.
Slashdot Mirror
What stops a person from putting a fake return address now versus having no return address?
Yes, but the chances of UPS and FedEx usage dying off are far more remote, even though I also think that the USPS/snail mail won't really have a decline in shipments either. UPS and FedEx mainly transport items that cannot be sent down a data stream (e.g. computer parts), and even those that could be sent down via file transfers (e.g. DVD, CD, books/text), it is much too inconvienent (4.8 GB/DVD even on a cable modem could take at least a day on a good connection), not to mention generally illegal.
Sure, I bet many people will be more cautious of opening up random unexpected packages that mysteriously showed up at your door (but wouldn't you always?), but I'm not going to run to the nearest health clinic (or wherever you would go) and make them scan every dust and particle in the latest package from Amazon, BestPrices, DVDPlanet, etc.
Well the fact that you're asking and questioning what someone has to gain slows down your response. Whoever committed the terriosts acts against the WTC has caused confusion among the general populace of the world. If you get the world to hestiate enough, it gives you time for further strikes or cause the world to go into further confusion. You have to question everything. You don't have a person to blame that you can be absolutely sure is "pure evil".
Also, who in the world in their right mind would stick up a huge flag saying "I did it! Kill me now!"? One thing is for sure, the terriosts knew what the passengers/airline crew's standard response would be, so they can't be *that* dumb. Although I think the terriosts will and should pay severely for their crimes, I have to give them some credit in that they knew what they were doing.
The thing I've noticed with first person shooter players is that when players try to do a 180 degree turn in one swoop (moving the mouse from right to left across the mouse pad or left to right), the optical mice aren't able to keep up with this rapid movement. Also, when lifting up the mouse in case you're near the edge of your mouse pad or surface, the mouse takes a second or two to read its location again.
Huh? How many e-mails have the FBI intercepted or been able to find from the terriorsts? I haven't heard of any yet, encrypted or not. Knowing something is encrypted doesn't mean anything if you aren't able to find the message in the first place. However, like you said, they were able to find paper documents...
Check out the latest user manual too. After the tutorial, it is the best thing that I've found that "completely" documents features in a reasonable and informative fashion. Type ":help user-manual" for the manual.
When has CNET ever linked outside their websites? They might link once or twice a day to a big corporation, but I can't count the number of times they list the website by name (like Slashdot.org) but fail to provide a link. Unfortunately the days of crediting original sources and linking webpages that may provide some competition are coming to an end.
Look at all the gaming news websites for an example of some of the most egotistical webmasters who won't give proper credit. All the good ones are being run out of business because they were properly linking to others and sending their readers away.
Anyone know a good place to start learning about Java Servlets and, in particular, how to implement such programs with Tomcat? The last time I tried, it was a major hassle to get even the sample applets running, and I would like a fresh start.
First off, Intel is supplying a P3 processor (733mhz I believe) for all X-Boxes. There are licensing disagreements between Intel and Nvidia (who actually makes the nForce chipset), so Nvidia can't make P3 compatible motherboards. But Microsoft does have a license, so MS used their license to arrange an nForce and P3 compatible motherboard.
Second, most of MS's products are good, but their technology is not theirs in the first place. See those touted laser optical mice? If I'm not mistaken, the exact same technology is used in Logitech's mice since the company that originally researched and developed it either licensed or sold it out. Besides the software related side and possibly the design of the controllers and the box, none of the internal stuff (motherboard, cpu, etc.) are theirs.
And also, I think that the X-Box runs some form of the Windows 2000 kernel with a special DirectX 8.0 layer. You don't need to register your X-Box either unless they've been hiding that fact for the past few months.
Finally, since 1) the games are probably encoded on a DVD format, 2) there is a special version of DirectX, and 3) your hardware is probably pretty slow compared to the X-Box's (GeForce3, P3 733mhz, nForce), the chances of your game running on your home PC are probably very low. Someone will of course create an "emulator" for it.
I don't see Compaq having near an impact for home users except for selling to the masses cheaply.
One of the things about computer animation is that you are limitless in your posibilities. Heck, you could have watched Final Fantasy over the main character's shoulder if you wanted. However, that doesn't make it enjoyable. I think the animators wanted to go with the "older tried and true" shot angles and still backgrounds because quite simply...they work. And when they they do move or something does strike you as a great scene, it's a far greater impact.
The CG, while good for stylish effects, should not be noticable in that "Oh my! That's a beautiful CG shot." That's what bothered me about movies like SW Ep I. Sure, good CG (in the current time), but it was plainly noticable. Same with FF, but of course, that was the whole point I think.
Props to Mozillazine for the link. If you want real Mozilla news, check out the latter link. Much more informative, and the discussions are at least somewhat insightful.
Yes, but do you honestly believe that the other 90% or so of users out there really only burned legit CDs? Hell, I had a taxi cab driver talk about Napster and how he regrets not discovering it sooner when there were threats of it being shut down. No joking around.
I don't think the RIAA has a chance in hell of stopping CD-R(W)s, and I clearly think they are in the wrong, but I bet that over a third of the material burned is one of three things: copyrighted music, pirated software (including games), and ripped DivX movies, most of which convinently fit onto CDs. Let's not kid ourselves. Who honestly burns CDs filled with Word/Abiword/KOffice documents at home?
I thought launch dates were the dates you could buy them in the store. I know it didn't happen with the Gameboy Advance in Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit City since they delayed till like the following Wednesday, but most other stores I thought were selling them like mad.
And I think this does matter, but not as big of a deal as many people will make it out to be. Impulsive buyers do have some affect on sales though. GC will still be a hot seller, and will quite possibly sell out. It would be funny if GC outsells X-Box because they'll have more shipments ready to go, but its all up in the air.
Elitists are too full of themselves.
...dare I say...only tools to be used to achieve a greater objective? Not everyone is using them to become a l33t h4x0r or make kernel changes. Not everyone is trying to maximize the performance of a tool that they might use once a year. Not everyone needs to know what every little function does for every little program.
Honestly, do you understand that maybe computers are
People ranging from office assistants to managers to data entry personnel to telemarketers (ugh, unfortunately) all use computers but they don't need to know how they work.
I would hope software engineers, people in CS/EE, etc. do know how to code but that is their job. As long as your fellow workers can do the job, it is fine that they don't know how things work or aren't running the latest kernel that has XYZ feature to make it 0.005% faster in ABC applications.
On the other hand, if you are in a hardcore software development field, I would suggest you get the hell out of that company if the majority of users around you do not know about computers.
Yeah right. And that's how come there were "only" hundreds of thousands of users of Napster...
Ethics is a huge issue, but I would imagine that most people just don't really care at all since they believe that they've been screwed over on entertainment media for several years. Or they just don't care.
As the college students who have been brought up on high-speed connections, Napster, and file-sharing methods begin to get out of college, I wouldn't be surprised if the entertainment industry has to beef up its content protection methods, and while I personally think that they are just delaying the inevitable and offering a deturrent, they really are just trying to protect their content.
Just to add a little bit...multiplayer online games are a good example of why there needs to be huge tests from outsiders. Anarchy Online, the WWII Online game, Everquest, Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, and Diablo 2 amongst others have all failed at launch (whether it be the login servers, the actual game servers, or just all around buggy code in the client). They really experience a Slashdot-like effect 24/7, and several of them had (or still have) quite a few nuances.
I agree with most of your points, but the 3 things that I think are really holding Debian back from new users are:
1) the lag time between their stable releases is very far. IMO, without a recent identifiable release (6.0, 6.1, 7.0, 8.0, etc.), many users are afraid of jumping in and then upgrading to the latest stable versions of their software, especially if the last release was very old.
2) apt-get is a complex tool that cannot be taken lightly. Its interface is "non-standard", and unless you have the patience, it can really drive new users up the wall since most want to see results immediately. Great tool, but the most widely and used interface for new users is cumbersome IMO.
3) the lag time between stable package update is very far and in-between. Yes, there's the unstable and testing, but these are new users. Getting them used to the system is the first priority without having to make them worry about "Jeez, I don't even have a (GUI|web browser|mp3 player) and XYZ does. Maybe I should switch back."
In any case, those that want to learn will learn eventually. In the meantime, just try to give them a good and convinent experience.
Please do. I am very curious about the capabilities of the PS2 on Linux, and I think that many people around here are too. A brief overview of the network abilities, hard drive, etc. would also be beneficiary.
You're missing the research and development costs, marketing, getting developers on board and giving them help, support for the dummies who can't operate the machines correctly, and a whole lot more. Sure, the parts are relatively cheap but pushing out a console is not. They have to absorb those costs somewhere and no matter what, it is a money losing scheme for them in the first few years.
Actually, selling a console for underneath the cost has been the long standing rumored tradition (PSX, N64, DC, PS2, and next GG and X-Box). It hasn't been a recent development as far as I know. Furthermore, down the road at some point or another the cost for the hardware does go down to underneath the initial sell price, so usually the console maker cuts the price (i.e. PSX) and they make money on the hardware. Also, Sony only sells game licenses unless they made the game (e.g. Gran Turismo 3), so they do make a bit, but I would estimate that they only make around $20-$25 of that $49.99 that you pay for games. It is still a lot, but most casual gamers that I know buy roughly 5 titles for any system due to the recent strong divisions in the consoles (N64 vs. PSX; DC vs. PS2; anticipating GC vs. X-Box with the former). It really isn't that insane of a profit yet, and it shows in that Sony is losing money. One other factor in the recent console generation is that X-Box and PS2 have a harder time of making money because many people that have not bought DVD players are now investigating into just getting a game console to play them. They figure that it is easier to just buy one hardware unit to perform multiple functions. MS and Sony will lose money over this and it could possibly have been the reason why so many PS2s were sold but so few blockbuster games have gone alongside them.
If you get the Linux distribution from Sony, you must have a hard drive. Or rather in their Linux PS2 package that you purchase (only in Japan), you get a hard drive, PS2 Linux CD, a brief manual, and I believe a network ethernet adapter. I would imagine that since you do have a network adapater of some sort you could just send/receive the games over a network of sorts and then just save it to the hard drive. While this is a perfectly valid question for the PS2 Linux distribution, I don't think it should be asked of someone who "just" writes a library.
Oh come on! Rumors of Dynamix closing down have been circulating for weeks on end especially after Tribes 2 was rushed to be released. Releasing a buggy product that manages good but not great sales (which you need to survive in this industry) and angers consumers due to the initial bugginess is not a good sign. I feel sorry for anyone that loses a job, but if he didn't know it was coming, he was pretty blind.