The infrastructure for all these wonderful things is not in place, and as far as I know, is not being considered.
To start, how about replacing those old paper SS cards with mangetic cards? I don't know about everybody else out there, but when I go to vote, they have a LARGE book with everybodies signature on it for the county, so that it may be compared when you sign in. I'm sure those simple voting machines cost a pretty penny just because they are for government purposes. How much extra would it really cost to add a magnetic scanner to it.
Verification does not need to be done in realtime when they scan the card. Scan it and just log the ID and the vote. Then when voting is done, let the machines connect to a central tabulation server. If there are more than one transaction by any individual, keep the first one and eliminate the rest, as well as flag it for something the FBI should take a look at.
AtomTime does it. One button to sync. Can also be configured to do it automatically, again with just one button. But that's an example.
date -s "$(telnet time.infa.net 13 2>/dev/null | grep 2000)"
Please look at your example. Tell me why I should have to type in 50+ characters when a single mouse click can do it fo you? Unix is MUCH more flexible with what they give you to start with, but my biggest complaint is the user interface. I don't want my operating system to be a programming language of it's own.
I write programs for a living in the Windows environment and believe me, nothing sucks more than trying to track down a non-existant bug in your code, just because Windows happened to blow up while you were testing something new. But I just don't have a personal use for that much flexibility in the OS. I don't need to be able to redirect output or input for any device/location in the world. Not that I hate *nix but I just don't have a practical use for it myself.
On a similar note, I may have a use for it in the near future, so we'll see.
If anybody really wants to convince me that *nix is worth anything, point me to a list that shows its revolutionary improvements. Not things like "device drivers for latest video card", but real innovations. To me, its development has been done in baby steps.
This is just typical anti-MS rhetoric. I'm not a big fan of a lot of the stuff MS DOS, but at least they eventually create new software , instead of keeping a 30 year old system on life support.
I'm sorry, but I would like to move forward instead of living in the past. You sound like you're one of the guys trying to keep COBOL alive.
And as far as the comparison, it's not apples and oranges. THEY ARE BOTH OPERATING SYSTEMS! THATS THE LEVEL AT WHICH I AM COMPARING THEM!
Right, and then they won't be able to get the stability they are shooting for. Once again, one single unified structure will collapse at the hand of unreliable ISVs.
It's going to turn into everybody trying to contribute their own little piece of code, and then it's no better than the current Windows OS. Most of the BSODs come from poorly implemented drivers and an unstable kernel.
While they may fix the kernel, there will still be the problem with the drivers. Look at ATI, HP or almost any 56k winmodem driver. They ALWAYS cause problems when first released. Whose to say these same companies won't screw up integral parts of.NET like they do with Windows now. Are their developers hands going to be tied and limited to a tightly knitted framework, or are they just going to be given a ticket to do whatever they want in the system and across any memory boundries?
Most of what they are doing with.NET is tying the hands of the wrong developers. While there are applications that are poorly written and cause problems, it's usually the stuff that's allowed to be installed at the OS level that causes the problems. These include services, drivers, shell hooks, etc. Restrict those programs and 2/3 of the problems are solved.
Tried Linux. After spending 3 days trying to get my unsupported video card to work under it, I gave up on it. Although I could get to a command line, I just refuse to go back to DOS days. We should all be past that by now.
Besides, you don't need Linux to show you how a computer works. Linux doesn't teach you anything other than the archaic, abbreviated commands in unix. Spend a few months trying to master assembly language, then you'll learn about how computers work
And don't anybody mod this down to flaimbait just because I don't love Linux!
Linux is inferior in many ways, but I'll admit it is also superior in many ways. It's a trade-off. What do you want more, stability and free software, or software you can use without having to buy several books so you can find out how to install it. I'm lazy. I want to pop a CD in a start doing whatever I bought the software for.
I sure as hell am..NET will do nothing more than limit innovation. If you read the MS propaganda, they take away almost all functionality for the sake of security and stability. Obviously because they can't make the memory management work in Win xxx, they're going to take everything away, so you'll never get a BSOD.
It's nice that they're trying to make this thing stable and secure, but they're taking it to the extreme and don't realize the problems they are creating. They seem to have notion that all developers use VB, and are creating.NET with them in mind. I know.NET is suppose to support all languages equally, but they are dumbing it down to a subset of the existing APIs.
This all stems from MS attempting to make every product they ship, into a development environment. I don't need my browser to run my system. I need my system to run my browser, which in turn, I only need for loading web pages. They are trying to allow everybody to become a developer, and the truth is, not everybody should.
Cross-Platform compatibility, security and stability. We need these things, but do we need to give everything up for them? I don't want to have code everything in low-level assembler, but I don't want to eliminate my ability to use it if I need to.
I'm really hoping that.NET will never come to be. If they release it, I'm switching to Linux.
I believe they can. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the BSA operate on behalf of its members? And doesn't MS have special provision in their license agreements that allow them to perform inspections every now and then? So if that is true, the BSA could check out your computers.
I may be wrong, but I'm too lazy to dig up one of those things and actually read it.
Are these dishes susceptible to the same sort of interference that DirecTV gets when the weather gets bad?
Also, Adelphia is the local cable company, and they just spent the last 6 months rewiring the whole town. They are done now. Called them up and they still don't have any idea when they'll be ready to actually offer the service. At earliest, it should be another 2 months. At most, another 6 according to them. Bell Atlantic told the village last August that we would have DSL by 3rd quarter of this year. Liars. I've given up on Bell. Does anybody have anything to say about Adelphia though?
Whoever posts direct links to an article must also setup a couple mirrors if the hosting site isn't a mainstream site like Times, USA Today, etc.
I wouldn't mind discussing the article if I could actually read the article.
The article mentioned states that these would be an ideal solution for the space station. I don't follow the space scene that much, but solar panels themselves have already been around for decades, and NASA has already been using fuel cells for the shuttle. The space station should be able to draw plenty of energy from the sun with existing technology, considering the atmosphere isn't getting in the way of the solar rays.
I don't believe that testing the new technology in this manner is necessary either. Obviously, these things won't be put into orbit and therefore can't cover the range that satellites in a medium to high orbit can. That would mean that you would need more to cover the same area, and it would only last for 6 months. I don't know the exact cost of traditional satellites vs. these things, but since there would be higher maintenance, and a larger quantity, it probably won't be cost effective for at least another decade, maybe two.
Also, there would have to be an outage while the existing wing is brought down, and a new one is positioned. I would also like to see more posted on how they plan on keeping these things stationary for 6 months straight, unless a client site for wireless net access is going to have a positioning system that will move with the wing. Or maybe a new receiver that doesn't require direct line of sight.
Call me pessimistic, but I don't see how this will change anything. I tend to think it's one of those things where the engineer are just trying to see if they can do it, and aren't considering whether any real benefits will be produced from their efforts.
** Disclaimer: I'm not a physicist (probably misspelled) and therefore probably don't know what I'm talking about anyways. I'm just trying to apply logic to the information I read.
Anybody else notice that after a year, Napster is still in public beta? I sure have.
Their software is really a very low quality and it doesn't appear as though they are making any improvements for it. Either due to a business decision to focus on something else, or because the programmers don't know what they're doing.
Trying doing a search, and then cancel it before it's done. Plan on restarting Napster.
Based on what has currently been released, I don't think they have the capabilities of making something that is secure and effecient. At least to the level of something you would pay for.
You just know they are going to charge for the Napster service and then for the songs on top of that.
This reminded my of a bigger contest for launching something into orbit. I think it was a million $ prize. XContest, or XSpace, or X something. Does anybody know what I'm talking about and if so, the url for their site?
I don't write comments for my/. karma level. It doesn't make me any money and I really don't care about it.
Sega has never been technically superior to Nintendo. Remember, Genesis was limited to 64 colors, and didn't have the psuedo-3d mode 7 that SNES has.
I don't remember stating any facts about the number of games for PS. Its obvious to everyone in the world that the PS has more games than all other systems combined.
You are right about the number of games for Nintendo systems being more than Sega. I got that backwards. That Saturn system completely slipped from my memory.
You lacked to comment on the 3rd paragraph I wrote. That was the one that was directly related to the article. What I stated, was that Sega already has the in-house dev team to produce the games and would match up nicely with Nintendo's superior hardware. Everything else I stated was pretty much my own opinion of what things are like. I didn't state I was an expert or a follower of the industry.
Get a life. If my comments infuriate you this much, then you should check yourself into a mental clinic because you'll probably go postal if you ever turn on the news and find out all the "real" stuff thats happening in the world. Sorry, the world doesn't revolve around video games.
I could be stupid though, I just wrote all this in a reply to somebody that only posted their message as anonymous.
I should have stated "gaming consoles will go away", that's what I really meant.
But what do you think of Sega and Nintendo's future market for their products? They don't have anything but the gaming consoles. Although I can't explain the success of the gameboy, I just can't see them staying alive by themselves by just making game boxes.
I'm sorry I didn't spell it out for you. The XBox specs state that it's made of mostly common components that a PC has, with the exception of the "special" video card. That's my point.
This makes some sense, but it will be years before it will actually take place (if it ever does).
Sega is known for quickly releasing new consoles that don't take advantage oft he latest and greatest in graphics/sound hardware, and making a ton of games. Nintendo is known for putting out good hardware, taking as much time as they want (eons), and releasing a few dozen games (each at near the price of the console itself).
If the hardware engineers get together, maybe something great can happen and a happy medium is found in power/release date for the hardware. They'd probably keep the Sega game division intact since they make some good games. I'm just guessing, but Nintendo must have 1 game dev team for all the Mario stuff. Flame me if I'm wrong. Nintendo is also notorious for not signing enough 3rd party developers, due to technical hurdles for the hardware, or license restrictions.
Anyways, these two companies are not going to grow. All their eggs are in one basket. Sony already has their hand in several other markets and they aren't going to go away if the Playstation fails (which it doesn't look like it will right now).
Specialized consoles WILL go away. Thats it. Anybody remember the days of the original Pong home game. Nothing but a console with two knobs and a power button. Got replaced by cartridge systems. New technology replaces old. New technology often makes things easier to do, and brings in new competition when a company sees that it won't be as hard to re-use existing technology, that have to develop everything from scratch. Nobody needs $10000 3D graphics cards developed anymore, just run down to local computer store and pick up the top-of-the-line for $300. It's getting easier to put consoles together, and the specialized hardware, that Nintendo and Sega develop just isn't needed, as shown by the X-Box.
Wouldn't it be better to set off the nuke between us and the station (after it's far enough away) just to make sure that everything is propelled away from Earth.
How bout we launch it out towards Mars. The NASA guys can plan the flight path, they're pretty good when it comes to at least hitting the planet. All the fungus can then populate Mars and start an ecosystem out there so when humans actually get out there there'll be plenty of life.
Honestly though, I don't like the idea of space fungus crashing into the ocean. You think oil spills are bad, how about bacteria that didn't even originate on this planet. Which sounds more harmful to the environment?
Slashdot Mirror
The infrastructure for all these wonderful things is not in place, and as far as I know, is not being considered.
To start, how about replacing those old paper SS cards with mangetic cards? I don't know about everybody else out there, but when I go to vote, they have a LARGE book with everybodies signature on it for the county, so that it may be compared when you sign in. I'm sure those simple voting machines cost a pretty penny just because they are for government purposes. How much extra would it really cost to add a magnetic scanner to it.
Verification does not need to be done in realtime when they scan the card. Scan it and just log the ID and the vote. Then when voting is done, let the machines connect to a central tabulation server. If there are more than one transaction by any individual, keep the first one and eliminate the rest, as well as flag it for something the FBI should take a look at.
AtomTime does it. One button to sync. Can also be configured to do it automatically, again with just one button. But that's an example.
date -s "$(telnet time.infa.net 13 2>/dev/null | grep 2000)"
Please look at your example. Tell me why I should have to type in 50+ characters when a single mouse click can do it fo you? Unix is MUCH more flexible with what they give you to start with, but my biggest complaint is the user interface. I don't want my operating system to be a programming language of it's own.
I write programs for a living in the Windows environment and believe me, nothing sucks more than trying to track down a non-existant bug in your code, just because Windows happened to blow up while you were testing something new. But I just don't have a personal use for that much flexibility in the OS. I don't need to be able to redirect output or input for any device/location in the world. Not that I hate *nix but I just don't have a practical use for it myself.
On a similar note, I may have a use for it in the near future, so we'll see.
If anybody really wants to convince me that *nix is worth anything, point me to a list that shows its revolutionary improvements. Not things like "device drivers for latest video card", but real innovations. To me, its development has been done in baby steps.
How about I hear a song on the radio, dial up some special number, and it instructs my PC to download the song from Napster?
This is just typical anti-MS rhetoric. I'm not a big fan of a lot of the stuff MS DOS, but at least they eventually create new software , instead of keeping a 30 year old system on life support.
I'm sorry, but I would like to move forward instead of living in the past. You sound like you're one of the guys trying to keep COBOL alive.
And as far as the comparison, it's not apples and oranges. THEY ARE BOTH OPERATING SYSTEMS! THATS THE LEVEL AT WHICH I AM COMPARING THEM!
Right, and then they won't be able to get the stability they are shooting for. Once again, one single unified structure will collapse at the hand of unreliable ISVs.
.NET like they do with Windows now. Are their developers hands going to be tied and limited to a tightly knitted framework, or are they just going to be given a ticket to do whatever they want in the system and across any memory boundries?
.NET is tying the hands of the wrong developers. While there are applications that are poorly written and cause problems, it's usually the stuff that's allowed to be installed at the OS level that causes the problems. These include services, drivers, shell hooks, etc. Restrict those programs and 2/3 of the problems are solved.
It's going to turn into everybody trying to contribute their own little piece of code, and then it's no better than the current Windows OS. Most of the BSODs come from poorly implemented drivers and an unstable kernel.
While they may fix the kernel, there will still be the problem with the drivers. Look at ATI, HP or almost any 56k winmodem driver. They ALWAYS cause problems when first released. Whose to say these same companies won't screw up integral parts of
Most of what they are doing with
Tried Linux. After spending 3 days trying to get my unsupported video card to work under it, I gave up on it. Although I could get to a command line, I just refuse to go back to DOS days. We should all be past that by now.
Besides, you don't need Linux to show you how a computer works. Linux doesn't teach you anything other than the archaic, abbreviated commands in unix. Spend a few months trying to master assembly language, then you'll learn about how computers work
And don't anybody mod this down to flaimbait just because I don't love Linux!
Linux is inferior in many ways, but I'll admit it is also superior in many ways. It's a trade-off. What do you want more, stability and free software, or software you can use without having to buy several books so you can find out how to install it. I'm lazy. I want to pop a CD in a start doing whatever I bought the software for.
I sure as hell am. .NET will do nothing more than limit innovation. If you read the MS propaganda, they take away almost all functionality for the sake of security and stability. Obviously because they can't make the memory management work in Win xxx, they're going to take everything away, so you'll never get a BSOD.
.NET with them in mind. I know .NET is suppose to support all languages equally, but they are dumbing it down to a subset of the existing APIs.
.NET will never come to be. If they release it, I'm switching to Linux.
It's nice that they're trying to make this thing stable and secure, but they're taking it to the extreme and don't realize the problems they are creating. They seem to have notion that all developers use VB, and are creating
This all stems from MS attempting to make every product they ship, into a development environment. I don't need my browser to run my system. I need my system to run my browser, which in turn, I only need for loading web pages. They are trying to allow everybody to become a developer, and the truth is, not everybody should.
Cross-Platform compatibility, security and stability. We need these things, but do we need to give everything up for them? I don't want to have code everything in low-level assembler, but I don't want to eliminate my ability to use it if I need to.
I'm really hoping that
I believe they can. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the BSA operate on behalf of its members? And doesn't MS have special provision in their license agreements that allow them to perform inspections every now and then? So if that is true, the BSA could check out your computers.
I may be wrong, but I'm too lazy to dig up one of those things and actually read it.
Wired article on how a Republican website was hacked. Of course, the Republicans are blaming the Democrats and the Democats are denying everything.
At least both sides still have their integrity. Oh wait, they're acting like a bunch of kindergarteners, guess they don't.
The /. crew editted my original title of "Compaq Dumps Crusoe"
Thanks for making me look like a dope, guys.
Are these dishes susceptible to the same sort of interference that DirecTV gets when the weather gets bad?
Also, Adelphia is the local cable company, and they just spent the last 6 months rewiring the whole town. They are done now. Called them up and they still don't have any idea when they'll be ready to actually offer the service. At earliest, it should be another 2 months. At most, another 6 according to them. Bell Atlantic told the village last August that we would have DSL by 3rd quarter of this year. Liars. I've given up on Bell. Does anybody have anything to say about Adelphia though?
Whoever posts direct links to an article must also setup a couple mirrors if the hosting site isn't a mainstream site like Times, USA Today, etc. I wouldn't mind discussing the article if I could actually read the article.
Once you get to the mention of /. you must realize it's a fake. Bill G doesn't have that much insight into the technical world around him.
It would be funny if that all@microsoft.com address was real, and they didn't have the necessary security on it.
The article mentioned states that these would be an ideal solution for the space station. I don't follow the space scene that much, but solar panels themselves have already been around for decades, and NASA has already been using fuel cells for the shuttle. The space station should be able to draw plenty of energy from the sun with existing technology, considering the atmosphere isn't getting in the way of the solar rays.
I don't believe that testing the new technology in this manner is necessary either. Obviously, these things won't be put into orbit and therefore can't cover the range that satellites in a medium to high orbit can. That would mean that you would need more to cover the same area, and it would only last for 6 months. I don't know the exact cost of traditional satellites vs. these things, but since there would be higher maintenance, and a larger quantity, it probably won't be cost effective for at least another decade, maybe two.
Also, there would have to be an outage while the existing wing is brought down, and a new one is positioned. I would also like to see more posted on how they plan on keeping these things stationary for 6 months straight, unless a client site for wireless net access is going to have a positioning system that will move with the wing. Or maybe a new receiver that doesn't require direct line of sight.
Call me pessimistic, but I don't see how this will change anything. I tend to think it's one of those things where the engineer are just trying to see if they can do it, and aren't considering whether any real benefits will be produced from their efforts.
** Disclaimer: I'm not a physicist (probably misspelled) and therefore probably don't know what I'm talking about anyways. I'm just trying to apply logic to the information I read.
Anybody else notice that after a year, Napster is still in public beta? I sure have.
Their software is really a very low quality and it doesn't appear as though they are making any improvements for it. Either due to a business decision to focus on something else, or because the programmers don't know what they're doing. Trying doing a search, and then cancel it before it's done. Plan on restarting Napster.
Based on what has currently been released, I don't think they have the capabilities of making something that is secure and effecient. At least to the level of something you would pay for.
You just know they are going to charge for the Napster service and then for the songs on top of that.
This reminded my of a bigger contest for launching something into orbit. I think it was a million $ prize. XContest, or XSpace, or X something. Does anybody know what I'm talking about and if so, the url for their site?
Let me point out several things:
/. karma level. It doesn't make me any money and I really don't care about it.
I don't write comments for my
Sega has never been technically superior to Nintendo. Remember, Genesis was limited to 64 colors, and didn't have the psuedo-3d mode 7 that SNES has.
I don't remember stating any facts about the number of games for PS. Its obvious to everyone in the world that the PS has more games than all other systems combined.
You are right about the number of games for Nintendo systems being more than Sega. I got that backwards. That Saturn system completely slipped from my memory.
You lacked to comment on the 3rd paragraph I wrote. That was the one that was directly related to the article. What I stated, was that Sega already has the in-house dev team to produce the games and would match up nicely with Nintendo's superior hardware. Everything else I stated was pretty much my own opinion of what things are like. I didn't state I was an expert or a follower of the industry.
Get a life. If my comments infuriate you this much, then you should check yourself into a mental clinic because you'll probably go postal if you ever turn on the news and find out all the "real" stuff thats happening in the world. Sorry, the world doesn't revolve around video games.
I could be stupid though, I just wrote all this in a reply to somebody that only posted their message as anonymous.
I should have stated "gaming consoles will go away", that's what I really meant.
But what do you think of Sega and Nintendo's future market for their products? They don't have anything but the gaming consoles. Although I can't explain the success of the gameboy, I just can't see them staying alive by themselves by just making game boxes.
I'm sorry I didn't spell it out for you. The XBox specs state that it's made of mostly common components that a PC has, with the exception of the "special" video card. That's my point.
This makes some sense, but it will be years before it will actually take place (if it ever does).
Sega is known for quickly releasing new consoles that don't take advantage oft he latest and greatest in graphics/sound hardware, and making a ton of games. Nintendo is known for putting out good hardware, taking as much time as they want (eons), and releasing a few dozen games (each at near the price of the console itself).
If the hardware engineers get together, maybe something great can happen and a happy medium is found in power/release date for the hardware. They'd probably keep the Sega game division intact since they make some good games. I'm just guessing, but Nintendo must have 1 game dev team for all the Mario stuff. Flame me if I'm wrong. Nintendo is also notorious for not signing enough 3rd party developers, due to technical hurdles for the hardware, or license restrictions.
Anyways, these two companies are not going to grow. All their eggs are in one basket. Sony already has their hand in several other markets and they aren't going to go away if the Playstation fails (which it doesn't look like it will right now).
Specialized consoles WILL go away. Thats it. Anybody remember the days of the original Pong home game. Nothing but a console with two knobs and a power button. Got replaced by cartridge systems. New technology replaces old. New technology often makes things easier to do, and brings in new competition when a company sees that it won't be as hard to re-use existing technology, that have to develop everything from scratch. Nobody needs $10000 3D graphics cards developed anymore, just run down to local computer store and pick up the top-of-the-line for $300. It's getting easier to put consoles together, and the specialized hardware, that Nintendo and Sega develop just isn't needed, as shown by the X-Box.
Wouldn't it be better to set off the nuke between us and the station (after it's far enough away) just to make sure that everything is propelled away from Earth.
Didn't the report state that fungus was also on the outside of the ship?
No kidding. What a brilliant observation. However, WE are the only ones with the resources. Besides, I WAS JOKING!
"We are confident that the integrity of Microsoft source code remains secure." Dammit, I hope this isn't true.
How bout we launch it out towards Mars. The NASA guys can plan the flight path, they're pretty good when it comes to at least hitting the planet. All the fungus can then populate Mars and start an ecosystem out there so when humans actually get out there there'll be plenty of life.
Honestly though, I don't like the idea of space fungus crashing into the ocean. You think oil spills are bad, how about bacteria that didn't even originate on this planet. Which sounds more harmful to the environment?