I enjoyed the article, but I want more. It says Townshend just released his old album on the net, but where is it? And where is his page?
{heading a bit off topic with a rant now] It seems to me like the vast majority of newsprint journalism is really quite mediocre. These days, I have to look to non-mainstream sources to find the writers cabable of seriously good analysis to go along with the facts.
Anyway, I, like CT, wish I could have seen The Who and a few other bands in their heyday. At least I got to hear a first hand report about their Woodstock show from my Ancient History teacher:]
What's the point of a photonic motherboard?
[snip] I doubt that photonics will ever surpass the good old copper wire as ameans of data transmission for most people.
Well, the "for most people" part is right, at least for now. Note this from the article:
Initial applications for these systems will be in high-end computing. Honeywell, for example, is using optical interconnects to link microprocessors, creating compact, powerful parallel computers.
The article also says that the electrical engineers "won't begin to exhaust improvements to metal interconnects by 2008." While it still remains to be seen whether or not optics can replace electronics on our buses (an possibly CPUs), time seems to be running out on the circuit technology were used to. The hardware companies will find a route to the next breakthrough, just like they always do.
Is it just me, or is anyone worried that some key patents in this field could hold the future of computing innovation hostage by two or three viciously greedy companies?
Of course, regional monopolies can only go so far; we don't want to get the only doughnut shop in some small town in trouble.
Remember, monopolies like this are weak, because I could rent out the vacant shop across the street and start my own operation with little capital.
Concentrated power in the Telco/Internet sectors are much scarier, because it takes a hell of alot of resources to compete in selling service to the backbones when Sprint/Worldcom/ATT have a stranglehold. This is also why the ATT monopoly had to be broken.
What happened afterwards was the "baby bells" had regional monopolies. Southwestern Bell, now SBC grew under this protection to become a behemoth, and now enjoys a spot on the DJIA. Only recently have the local lines been opened up to competition.
This brings up an interesting point: who should really control these lines? It only seems fair that the telco should have full control over local lines, since they put them there, but there comes the fact that the consumer is utterly vulnerable should the telco turn Evil.
Anyway, I think we would all be alot better off if, in the near future, we get a communications services market where the buyer can choose from ten or fifteen top-tier companies for backbone services. If this precipitates, then not only would competition keep prices down, but it would make sure you aren't forced into an abusive EULA situation.
um, wasn't there a huge show called PC Expo 2000 this week in New York? That was crowded with Windows and handheld products, and almost no Linux/OSS presence?
IMHO, while Linux people need their own conferences maybe twice a year, they should also go the BIG publicized conferences and take some of the limelight from the Proprietary world of computing....
India really doesn't have the money to spend on a project like going to the moon. This is another example of a govening authority which puts its political survival before the needs of the nation.
India can go to the moon, Pakistan cannot. If the project succeeds, Indian nationalism wins (in the short-sighted pissing contest of subcontinent international relations), and not scientific research or the incredibly poor people in much of rural India. They want to recreate those moments in 1969, thirty-five years later, and use them to increase their own popularity.
And of course it will work on that level, just as the Mars lander made America so proud just a couple of years ago. But right now the last thing India needs to do is start a space program; maybe imposing some law in places like Punjab and stimulating the economy would be a pair of more intelligent goals for now.
Such a project cannot be successfully opposed by the opposition parties, of course, because not working to "achieve the potential greatness of the nation" can be characterized as subverting the nation.
The region is "messed up" pretty badly (and that's what my Indian friends say) and the fact that the smart Indians are leaving for richer parts of the Commonwealth and the U.S. isn't helping any.
Ah well, at least most of us don't have to live there. Though I'd like to visit.
This is a truly great opporitunity for people who care about this issue to make an impact.
Slashdotters really must learn that, to make things better, they should take time out of their day and put pen to paper and write to their elected officials.
Hell, it doesn't even take a full-blown letter campaign, just the thoughts of a few concerned citizens. You must realize that for every letter you write, you counter the efforts of a corporation plus some (you are not only a concerned individual, you are also a constituant and a voter).
If the corp. decides to bring out the big gun lobbyists and big $$$ contributions, that weakens you but you should use the opporitunity to bring in your friends and associates and fight harder.
Have you ever put your name on one of those internet petitions? I have. But in reality, if I was a Senator or the cabinet I would put as much weight on two or three written letters from my constituents as I would on a net petition, even if it was signed by 500 or 5000 and printed out on HP laser jets and sent FedEx. The letter really has that much more weight.
Its time for the bitching and rhetoric on these/. boards to stop. Specifically, the "Why don't things change?" bit. The energy can be much better spent influencing the people that matter, rather than convincing our own brethren of the obvious truths and blatant injustices we see more and more often in the/. news these days.
So, write the FCC, write to your elected legislators to change the laws, and have a nice day.
The Mach 5 racer was pretty damn cheap, if you think about it. Saw blades?? Only the evill guys need resort to such tactics, in my world, anyway.
Racerboy won't win any awards for ethics anytime soon. I have to admit it, though, I'd love to see the reaction of a Texas Highway Patrolman who took a, um, direct Saw Blade hit to the front driver-side radial.
You might be taking a risk by not informing your former employer.
I don't know how important this domain is to the company, but say their main site goes down because they lost their domain. What will they do?
They will go after NSI. When they realize NSI is bigger than they are, they will go after you. Nevermind the ethics of the situation; just protect yourself and your $$$ and send a note to your former employer, and wash your hands of this business.
I think there is some significance that this comes out just after Judge Jackson referred this case to the Supreme Court. He can't say anything about this now, the matter is out of his hands.
This is incredibly suspect considering the whole set of Sun/Msft fiascos. I would bet my trusty Igman box that they have had this under wraps for some time, just waiting for a calm period in the legal fight to slip it to its legions of single-platform developers...
kind of makes me sick, its just the same old Microsoft, back to its same old tactics
Interesting... but because Napster claims no responsibility for the actions of its users, it probably would have a tough time justifying how all of its clients can claim protection under a liscence they buy:]
Should anyone be able to stick the letters GNU at the front of his software programme's name? It seems to me we should courteously leave it to the FSF to distinguish *their* software (or software recommended by them) with this Mark.
Maybe its just me, but if a piece of software like Gnucash has nothing to do with the FSF, it should be called Gplcash or something. (I realize the ability to say it like "new cash" would be lost:)
It looks like this guy's concepts of crypto got pretty well shot down. From what I've read, his proposed methods are much less secure than "what we have already" from the social and mathematical crackpoints.
We don't need lots of computer intellectuals "insights" or "breakthroughs" getting posted on/. when the persons behind them really aren't qualified in their fields.
I have to admit, though, the concepts he brings up are quite interesting and opened a very informative comments section for this post.
This is absolutely correct. Ports of programs with graphical interfaces to Mac OS X will be dependent on Apple's closed source APIs. This means BSD users are no closer than they would have been before OS X saw the light of day to getting these apps.
The fact that this Ask Slashdot was posted shows great ignorance on the part of nik. Anyone who has bothered to visit Apple's Mac OS X website or read any of the technical articles on it (i.e. the Ars Technica article linked from/. awhile back) could have figured out what is going on. This should not be an "Ask Slashdot" because you don't have to "Ask Slashdot" to get the answer, because anyone proficient with a search engine could figure it out in five minutes.
In brief: GTK, Tcl/Tk, Qt and the other cross-platform graphics libraries will be made avaliable to Mac OS X. OSS movement people can write software for these and make it compile on Mac OS X and any other UNIX. But it won't be reciprocal for Apple's graphics libraries. Not until Apple open-sources them, or releases binaries (unlikely as hell) can software that relies on these libs be cross-platform, unless they are reverse-engineered, or cloned, or something (still pretty unlikely, but possible, think WINE).
Are there many AIM clones that support Buddy Icon, Chat, Get File, IM Image, Send File, and Talk? How about the news and stock tickers? Not to my knowledge.
Granted, the only feature of that list that I care for is the file transfer capability, and maybe the stock ticker, but your statement that the clones support "all the stuff" isn't accurate.<P>
My understanding of U.S. Government is that President Bush (if elected) could order his (appointed) U.S. Attorney General to stop the legal proceedings against Microsoft. There would remain nineteen state attorneys general involved in this case, but (I believe) they have no jurisdiction to handle charges against Microsoft without DoJ cooperation.
By the way, this *is* a criminal case. This is not a civil case (i.e. Silicon Valley v. Microsoft filed with the intent of winning a cash settlement). The Antitrust Division at the DoJ is prosecuting under the Sherman Act. This is Criminal.
I've never heard of a corporation being granted a presidential pardon tho, and if Bush did that, he would go down in history as being a coconspirator with the MS Special Interest.
Few modern politicials have the balls to risk something like that:]
Slashdot Mirror
I could have taken a minute to look for the site but my human nature led me to attack and complain instead.
{heading a bit off topic with a rant now] It seems to me like the vast majority of newsprint journalism is really quite mediocre. These days, I have to look to non-mainstream sources to find the writers cabable of seriously good analysis to go along with the facts.
Anyway, I, like CT, wish I could have seen The Who and a few other bands in their heyday. At least I got to hear a first hand report about their Woodstock show from my Ancient History teacher :]
Well, the "for most people" part is right, at least for now. Note this from the article:
The article also says that the electrical engineers "won't begin to exhaust improvements to metal interconnects by 2008." While it still remains to be seen whether or not optics can replace electronics on our buses (an possibly CPUs), time seems to be running out on the circuit technology were used to. The hardware companies will find a route to the next breakthrough, just like they always do.Is it just me, or is anyone worried that some key patents in this field could hold the future of computing innovation hostage by two or three viciously greedy companies?
Remember, monopolies like this are weak, because I could rent out the vacant shop across the street and start my own operation with little capital.
Concentrated power in the Telco/Internet sectors are much scarier, because it takes a hell of alot of resources to compete in selling service to the backbones when Sprint/Worldcom/ATT have a stranglehold. This is also why the ATT monopoly had to be broken.
What happened afterwards was the "baby bells" had regional monopolies. Southwestern Bell, now SBC grew under this protection to become a behemoth, and now enjoys a spot on the DJIA. Only recently have the local lines been opened up to competition.
This brings up an interesting point: who should really control these lines? It only seems fair that the telco should have full control over local lines, since they put them there, but there comes the fact that the consumer is utterly vulnerable should the telco turn Evil.
Anyway, I think we would all be alot better off if, in the near future, we get a communications services market where the buyer can choose from ten or fifteen top-tier companies for backbone services. If this precipitates, then not only would competition keep prices down, but it would make sure you aren't forced into an abusive EULA situation.
IMHO, while Linux people need their own conferences maybe twice a year, they should also go the BIG publicized conferences and take some of the limelight from the Proprietary world of computing....
India can go to the moon, Pakistan cannot. If the project succeeds, Indian nationalism wins (in the short-sighted pissing contest of subcontinent international relations), and not scientific research or the incredibly poor people in much of rural India. They want to recreate those moments in 1969, thirty-five years later, and use them to increase their own popularity.
And of course it will work on that level, just as the Mars lander made America so proud just a couple of years ago. But right now the last thing India needs to do is start a space program; maybe imposing some law in places like Punjab and stimulating the economy would be a pair of more intelligent goals for now.
Such a project cannot be successfully opposed by the opposition parties, of course, because not working to "achieve the potential greatness of the nation" can be characterized as subverting the nation.
The region is "messed up" pretty badly (and that's what my Indian friends say) and the fact that the smart Indians are leaving for richer parts of the Commonwealth and the U.S. isn't helping any.
Ah well, at least most of us don't have to live there. Though I'd like to visit.
Slashdotters really must learn that, to make things better, they should take time out of their day and put pen to paper and write to their elected officials.
Hell, it doesn't even take a full-blown letter campaign, just the thoughts of a few concerned citizens. You must realize that for every letter you write, you counter the efforts of a corporation plus some (you are not only a concerned individual, you are also a constituant and a voter).
If the corp. decides to bring out the big gun lobbyists and big $$$ contributions, that weakens you but you should use the opporitunity to bring in your friends and associates and fight harder.
Have you ever put your name on one of those internet petitions? I have. But in reality, if I was a Senator or the cabinet I would put as much weight on two or three written letters from my constituents as I would on a net petition, even if it was signed by 500 or 5000 and printed out on HP laser jets and sent FedEx. The letter really has that much more weight.
Its time for the bitching and rhetoric on these /. boards to stop. Specifically, the "Why don't things change?" bit. The energy can be much better spent influencing the people that matter, rather than convincing our own brethren of the obvious truths and blatant injustices we see more and more often in the /. news these days.
So, write the FCC, write to your elected legislators to change the laws, and have a nice day.
Racerboy won't win any awards for ethics anytime soon. I have to admit it, though, I'd love to see the reaction of a Texas Highway Patrolman who took a, um, direct Saw Blade hit to the front driver-side radial.
I don't know how important this domain is to the company, but say their main site goes down because they lost their domain. What will they do?
They will go after NSI. When they realize NSI is bigger than they are, they will go after you. Nevermind the ethics of the situation; just protect yourself and your $$$ and send a note to your former employer, and wash your hands of this business.
Tech sector journalists franticly scribble on their pads...
"Wait, I meant to say 'Cee Sharp'!"
But the spirits have already done their work.
Gates: "D'OH!"
I think there is some significance that this comes out just after Judge Jackson referred this case to the Supreme Court. He can't say anything about this now, the matter is out of his hands.
This is incredibly suspect considering the whole set of Sun/Msft fiascos. I would bet my trusty Igman box that they have had this under wraps for some time, just waiting for a calm period in the legal fight to slip it to its legions of single-platform developers...
kind of makes me sick,
its just the same old Microsoft, back to its same old tactics
Interesting... :]
but because Napster claims no responsibility for the actions of its users, it probably would have a tough time justifying how all of its clients can claim protection under a liscence they buy
Do the labels actually force broadcasters to pay to play? Is this actually enforced?
Maybe it is for Commercial Radio, but I <I>know</I> college stations and the like don't pay. Maybe this is simply because of their nonprofit status.
If this is true, couldn't website claim to be nonprofit, and get the same treatment?
This is actually a very good question.
Inferno comes from Lucent, which was once Bell Labs. Plan9 comes from AT&T, which Bell Labs was once a subsidiary of.
However, I have looked and found no evidence of a common heritage (beyond both of them being unices).
This is a tad offtopic, but here goes.
:)
Should anyone be able to stick the letters GNU at the front of his software programme's name? It seems to me we should courteously leave it to the FSF to distinguish *their* software (or software recommended by them) with this Mark.
Maybe its just me, but if a piece of software like Gnucash has nothing to do with the FSF, it should be called Gplcash or something. (I realize the ability to say it like "new cash" would be lost
It looks like this guy's concepts of crypto got pretty well shot down. From what I've read, his proposed methods are much less secure than "what we have already" from the social and mathematical crackpoints.
/. when the persons behind them really aren't qualified in their fields.
We don't need lots of computer intellectuals "insights" or "breakthroughs" getting posted on
I have to admit, though, the concepts he brings up are quite interesting and opened a very informative comments section for this post.
This is absolutely correct.
/. awhile back) could have figured out what is going on. This should not be an "Ask Slashdot" because you don't have to "Ask Slashdot" to get the answer, because anyone proficient with a search engine could figure it out in five minutes.
Ports of programs with graphical interfaces to Mac OS X will be dependent on Apple's closed source APIs. This means BSD users are no closer than they would have been before OS X saw the light of day to getting these apps.
The fact that this Ask Slashdot was posted shows great ignorance on the part of nik. Anyone who has bothered to visit Apple's Mac OS X website or read any of the technical articles on it (i.e. the Ars Technica article linked from
In brief: GTK, Tcl/Tk, Qt and the other cross-platform graphics libraries will be made avaliable to Mac OS X. OSS movement people can write software for these and make it compile on Mac OS X and any other UNIX. But it won't be reciprocal for Apple's graphics libraries. Not until Apple open-sources them, or releases binaries (unlikely as hell) can software that relies on these libs be cross-platform, unless they are reverse-engineered, or cloned, or something (still pretty unlikely, but possible, think WINE).
Are there many AIM clones that support Buddy Icon, Chat, Get File, IM Image, Send File, and Talk? How about the news and stock tickers? Not to my knowledge.
Granted, the only feature of that list that I care for is the file transfer capability, and maybe the stock ticker, but your statement that the clones support "all the stuff" isn't accurate.<P>
My understanding of U.S. Government is that President Bush (if elected) could order his (appointed) U.S. Attorney General to stop the legal proceedings against Microsoft. There would remain nineteen state attorneys general involved in this case, but (I believe) they have no jurisdiction to handle charges against Microsoft without DoJ cooperation.
:]
By the way, this *is* a criminal case. This is not a civil case (i.e. Silicon Valley v. Microsoft filed with the intent of winning a cash settlement). The Antitrust Division at the DoJ is prosecuting under the Sherman Act. This is Criminal.
I've never heard of a corporation being granted a presidential pardon tho, and if Bush did that, he would go down in history as being a coconspirator with the MS Special Interest.
Few modern politicials have the balls to risk something like that