Well, given the fact that 99% of the teaching and administrative staff in the schools know either Macintosh or Windows, it isn't surprising you got that response.
You need to educate them the same way they educate you. Get together statistics about the usage of Linux and Apache. Put together a packet of information describing what Linux and free software is. Get a copy of the GPL and the LGPL, and find a good, non-technical description of what they are and why they are good. If you have a Linux system, arrange to demonstrate what Linux is and what it can to. You might even have an extra credit project here. Try contacting RedHat, VA Linux, Suse, and others and see if they have any literature they can send you.
Actually, this was done about 10 years ago. It was written by IBM, and was the basis for the OS/2 Presentation Manager interface and the Windows 3.0/3.1 interface. It is called CUA '91, standing for Common User Access, 1991 (I think the name is correct). It defined a consistent interface, which unfortunately is largely ignored these days.
When you have 8 servers, each with a 10% chance of going down on a given day, then you have an 80% chance of at least one failure a day!!!
Granted, when one of them goes down, you only lose about 12.5% of the total capacity. But, what happens when the failures cascade from one server to another? What about all that extra software needed to make the 8 servers work together properly? The more complexity you add, the greater the chance of failure.
Now, while each server by itself may have a 10% chance of failure, what are the chances of failure after you've added the linking software and hardware? Let's assume that the linking software has a 5% chance of failure per day, and the extra hardware also has a 5% chance of failure per day. What you end up with is a 90% chance of failure per day, and of that 90%, there is a 10% chance of a total system failure bringing down all servers, per day.
Lets see, back in 1980 they predicted that the mainframe would be gone in 10 years, because of the mini and super-mini computers. What happened? The mainframes got more powerful and continued to sell.
Then in 1990, they predicted that the mainframe would be gone in 10 years, this time because of PCs and servers. Result: IBM is selling more mainframes than ever before.
Now you are predicting the same thing. What you are doing is the exact same thing that previous people did; you are ignoring the ability of the mainframe to improve just as much as PCs. The mainframe is ALWAYS going to be around, because there will always be a need for massive amounts of computational ability and I/O. The PC may improve, but the mainframe will also.
When you buy a PC for 2-3 thousand dollars, you are getting pretty low end stuff, compared to a mainframe which costs $100,000 on up.
For money you get honey, and what you get with a mainframe is a machine that is designed to work and keep on working, no matter what.
Linux is just the kernel. How big is the kernel (include source if you like)? Everything else is other OSS software
Now, this may fly in what you believe, but Linus only maintains the Linux Kernel, and if you look at all the supporting programs, you will find they are from someone else.
I just looked at www.cihost.com, it seems to be up, all the pages came up. But they are still talking about their award-winning service, blah blah blah. No word as to what happened and no acknowledgement that it even happened at all.
If a signifigent part of one's job is working at home via telacommuting, then the same rules that apply at work need to apply to the work area, which has now been defined by the employer/OSHA as part of the work environment.
No, not the leather executive chair, but the employer needs to supply the same workstations/chairs available at the office, or a reasonable equivilent. Of course, a home environment is not going to accomodate the exact same workstation as in an office, but there are plenty of equivilents for home use.
Well, you can go and research the medicines. But there are thousands out there, how are you going to know what medicine to take? What about drug interactions, both with other drugs and any physical conditions/ailments you may have? What about overdoses? For that matter, is the average person going to understand the gobbligook that is written about a medical trial and treatment? I guarantee that if someone self-prescribed and then either overdosed or took something that was harmful, they would sue the drug companies, the pharmacists, and the doctors for not "protecting" them from themselves.
No it doesn't. I've been to science fiction conventions, and one trek con. I believe in science fiction, but there is more than Star Trek. A real trekkie (I have friends who are) don't care about any other science fiction if it isn't related to Star Trek
I took my 6 1/2 year old son to see this movie Saturday afternoon. He didn't get the in jokes, but he still loved it. I loved it also. I'm not a trekkie, but I have gone to the conventions, and the movie did a great job spoofing the whole scene. It didn't even do any real put-downs and the violence was at a very low level. All in all, I've been recommending this to all my friends. Definitely worth seeing.
The cost is $25 million a month, and that goes to the ground-based facilities needed to support Hubble, whether or not Hubble is returning pictures or not.
You obviously haven't been around long enough. Anybody else remember the old Commodore Pet, with the chiklet keyboard and cassette tape backup? Great concept for the time, was the first I remember having the all-in-one concept.
Boy, the number of totally clueless and blind readers never fails to amaze me. First you have this non-sensicle posting about freeing the source (even though the source code for/. has always been available, look at the number of/. powered sites out there), then you get a few other idiots who don't even bother to read a previous reply which specifically states that the source is available and even where to find it.
I don't even know why the original posting was moderated up. Seems like a moderator was also clueless (which makes sence, considering that the moderators are also the same clueless idiots who read and post these totally stupid comments)
Before I get flamed for this, the source code for/. is available at:
I'm sure this trend will continue. It really is a chicken and egg syndrome. First there needs to be enough DVD drives in the field to make it worth the publisher's time and expense to produce the DVD distribution. But, people are still questioning the need for DVD drives. Luckily, the movies being available on DVD are helping to kick-start the availability of DVD drives.
Remember how long it took for CD's to take over the software distribution. For a long time the software was being distributed on floppy (first 5 1/4, then 3 1/2), until now software only comes on CD. Be patient, it will come.
You can use this to hide illegal transactions, overseas transactions (for example, income from a foreign country), etc. I'm sure others can come up with more ideas.
I really hope they lose. Their One-Click technology is nothing more than the use of cookies in a somewhat secure fashion, possibly coupled with some data storage on their computer. It would be really nice if the courts come out with a major statement on this regarding how silly these software patents really are.
>Quite frankly, I think that all patents ought to be done away with.
This statement apparently was made without any thought. While the current mess of software patents is not good, the basic idea behind patents was and still is needed. For an example of why they are needed you only need to look at the cotton mill, which was patented, but since the patents weren't easily enforceable back then thousands of copies were made and sold, and the man who invented it wasn't able to get any signifigent return on his investment of time and intellectual thought.
The beauty behind patents is that after the patent expires the idea becomes public domain, and anybody can use it. It may be that the period of time for patents may also need to be adjusted (currently I think it is 17 years, except for medical patents on medicines which is 3 years), but that is another discussion.
Probably not, but you should include a reference to the database itself. I don't know the law, but using one piece of information from a book or a newspaper does not violate the copyright, but you do need to reference your sources.
Without getting into the discussion about the NSA, the NSA can review the program without seeing the key. Look at PGP and GNUPG, the software is available, you can look at the software, but you can't crack my private key.
This constant yacking about the GPL is very annoying. All I hear on/. is "I want", "We want", and more. You all sound like selfish, immature kids. Grow up! What is wrong with the QPL? Just because you would prefer the GPL doesn't mean that the QPL is bad or stupid. These companies have spent time and money developing their packages (I include the current flap over the Star Office release). What right does anyone have to demand that they then give their investment away? If it is a flawed business model (still no proof either way) then they will learn that soon enough. Your right is to use or not use the software, but you have no right to demand a company do something they don't want to.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, given the fact that 99% of the teaching and administrative staff in the schools know either Macintosh or Windows, it isn't surprising you got that response.
You need to educate them the same way they educate you. Get together statistics about the usage of Linux and Apache. Put together a packet of information describing what Linux and free software is. Get a copy of the GPL and the LGPL, and find a good, non-technical description of what they are and why they are good. If you have a Linux system, arrange to demonstrate what Linux is and what it can to. You might even have an extra credit project here. Try contacting RedHat, VA Linux, Suse, and others and see if they have any literature they can send you.
Good Luck!
Actually, this was done about 10 years ago. It was written by IBM, and was the basis for the OS/2 Presentation Manager interface and the Windows 3.0/3.1 interface. It is called CUA '91, standing for Common User Access, 1991 (I think the name is correct). It defined a consistent interface, which unfortunately is largely ignored these days.
Cal is correct. You are wrong.
3000 is not divisable by 400, which is the exception to the exception. 3200 is.
Leap years occur when:
The year is divisable by 4
unless the year is also divisable by 100 (no leap year),
unless the year is also divisable by 400 (leap year)
Try reading some of the other responses before you post next time.
When you have 8 servers, each with a 10% chance of going down on a given day, then you have an 80% chance of at least one failure a day!!!
Granted, when one of them goes down, you only lose about 12.5% of the total capacity. But, what happens when the failures cascade from one server to another? What about all that extra software needed to make the 8 servers work together properly? The more complexity you add, the greater the chance of failure.
Now, while each server by itself may have a 10% chance of failure, what are the chances of failure after you've added the linking software and hardware? Let's assume that the linking software has a 5% chance of failure per day, and the extra hardware also has a 5% chance of failure per day. What you end up with is a 90% chance of failure per day, and of that 90%, there is a 10% chance of a total system failure bringing down all servers, per day.
Lets see, back in 1980 they predicted that the mainframe would be gone in 10 years, because of the mini and super-mini computers. What happened? The mainframes got more powerful and continued to sell.
Then in 1990, they predicted that the mainframe would be gone in 10 years, this time because of PCs and servers. Result: IBM is selling more mainframes than ever before.
Now you are predicting the same thing. What you are doing is the exact same thing that previous people did; you are ignoring the ability of the mainframe to improve just as much as PCs. The mainframe is ALWAYS going to be around, because there will always be a need for massive amounts of computational ability and I/O. The PC may improve, but the mainframe will also.
When you buy a PC for 2-3 thousand dollars, you are getting pretty low end stuff, compared to a mainframe which costs $100,000 on up.
For money you get honey, and what you get with a mainframe is a machine that is designed to work and keep on working, no matter what.
Get your facts straight, guys.
Linux is just the kernel. How big is the kernel (include source if you like)?
Everything else is other OSS software
Now, this may fly in what you believe, but Linus only maintains the Linux Kernel, and if you look at all the supporting programs, you will find they are from someone else.
God, I hate taking candy from babies.....
You'd lose that bet in an instant. And I don't even know anyone else on your team. But YOU know what OSS is, therefore you lose the bet!
And don't be surprised if someone else also knows.
I just looked at www.cihost.com, it seems to be up, all the pages came up. But they are still talking about their award-winning service, blah blah blah. No word as to what happened and no acknowledgement that it even happened at all.
If a signifigent part of one's job is working at home via telacommuting, then the same rules that apply at work need to apply to the work area, which has now been defined by the employer/OSHA as part of the work environment.
No, not the leather executive chair, but the employer needs to supply the same workstations/chairs available at the office, or a reasonable equivilent. Of course, a home environment is not going to accomodate the exact same workstation as in an office, but there are plenty of equivilents for home use.
Well, you can go and research the medicines. But there are thousands out there, how are you going to know what medicine to take? What about drug interactions, both with other drugs and any physical conditions/ailments you may have? What about overdoses?
For that matter, is the average person going to understand the gobbligook that is written about a medical trial and treatment?
I guarantee that if someone self-prescribed and then either overdosed or took something that was harmful, they would sue the drug companies, the pharmacists, and the doctors for not "protecting" them from themselves.
No it doesn't. I've been to science fiction conventions, and one trek con. I believe in science fiction, but there is more than Star Trek. A real trekkie (I have friends who are) don't care about any other science fiction if it isn't related to Star Trek
I took my 6 1/2 year old son to see this movie Saturday afternoon. He didn't get the in jokes, but he still loved it. I loved it also. I'm not a trekkie, but I have gone to the conventions, and the movie did a great job spoofing the whole scene. It didn't even do any real put-downs and the violence was at a very low level.
All in all, I've been recommending this to all my friends. Definitely worth seeing.
The cost is $25 million a month, and that goes to the ground-based facilities needed to support Hubble, whether or not Hubble is returning pictures or not.
You obviously haven't been around long enough. Anybody else remember the old Commodore Pet, with the chiklet keyboard and cassette tape backup? Great concept for the time, was the first I remember having the all-in-one concept.
Boy, the number of totally clueless and blind readers never fails to amaze me. First you have this non-sensicle posting about freeing the source (even though the source code for /. has always been available, look at the number of /. powered sites out there), then you get a few other idiots who don't even bother to read a previous reply which specifically states that the source is available and even where to find it.
/. is available at:
/. if you use their code.
I don't even know why the original posting was moderated up. Seems like a moderator was also clueless (which makes sence, considering that the moderators are also the same clueless idiots who read and post these totally stupid comments)
Before I get flamed for this, the source code for
http://slashdot.org/code.shtml
Their only requirement is that you link back to
I think the $50 is for the competitive upgrade price, the $149 is the full retail price.
Eastern Standard Time is -5:00 GMT.
I'm sure this trend will continue. It really is a chicken and egg syndrome. First there needs to be enough DVD drives in the field to make it worth the publisher's time and expense to produce the DVD distribution. But, people are still questioning the need for DVD drives. Luckily, the movies being available on DVD are helping to kick-start the availability of DVD drives.
Remember how long it took for CD's to take over the software distribution. For a long time the software was being distributed on floppy (first 5 1/4, then 3 1/2), until now software only comes on CD. Be patient, it will come.
You can use this to hide illegal transactions, overseas transactions (for example, income from a foreign country), etc. I'm sure others can come up with more ideas.
I really hope they lose. Their One-Click technology is nothing more than the use of cookies in a somewhat secure fashion, possibly coupled with some data storage on their computer. It would be really nice if the courts come out with a major statement on this regarding how silly these software patents really are.
Yes, AT&T was using the phrase, and AOL sued them. AOL lost, because the phrase was ruled to be a common phrase (I think that was the reason).
If the lawyer for this woman is any good he will reference the AT&T lawsuit, and possibly counter-sue AOL for a frivilous lawsuit
>Quite frankly, I think that all patents ought to be done away with.
This statement apparently was made without any thought. While the current mess of software patents is not good, the basic idea behind patents was and still is needed. For an example of why they are needed you only need to look at the cotton mill, which was patented, but since the patents weren't easily enforceable back then thousands of copies were made and sold, and the man who invented it wasn't able to get any signifigent return on his investment of time and intellectual thought.
The beauty behind patents is that after the patent expires the idea becomes public domain, and anybody can use it. It may be that the period of time for patents may also need to be adjusted (currently I think it is 17 years, except for medical patents on medicines which is 3 years), but that is another discussion.
Probably not, but you should include a reference to the database itself. I don't know the law, but using one piece of information from a book or a newspaper does not violate the copyright, but you do need to reference your sources.
Sorry, you're wrong.
Without getting into the discussion about the NSA, the NSA can review the program without seeing the key. Look at PGP and GNUPG, the software is available, you can look at the software, but you can't crack my private key.
This constant yacking about the GPL is very annoying. All I hear on /. is "I want", "We want", and more. You all sound like selfish, immature kids. Grow up! What is wrong with the QPL? Just because you would prefer the GPL doesn't mean that the QPL is bad or stupid. These companies have spent time and money developing their packages (I include the current flap over the Star Office release). What right does anyone have to demand that they then give their investment away? If it is a flawed business model (still no proof either way) then they will learn that soon enough. Your right is to use or not use the software, but you have no right to demand a company do something they don't want to.