If there is a problem with the regex you simply have to debug it - this is programming after all. The reason why the comment is important is that the debugger must know exactly what the regex is supposed to do. Is is any valid email addresses? Are there any exceptions? Once a programmer knows exactly what the code is supposed to do they can go about fixing it. Attempting to derive what the coded is supposed to do from the currently broken code is a recipe for disaster.
I know there are engine designs that operate more efficiently at the expense of greatly increased noise. They have not been used because no airports will allow them to land. So is noise going to be a factor with these designs?
Show me a single Apple machine with a Blu-Ray drive. Oh, that's right, there are none.
But there are also no WindowsXP computers with Blu-Ray drives - or more specifically, WindowsXP software that will allow you to fully utilize the Blu-Ray drive and decrypt the content. A big part of Vista was implementing an OS that would prevent decrypted data from exiting the computer. Play a Blu-Ray movie on a monitor connected via DVI and you get a resolution reduced copy of the movie. You have to use HDMI if you want it in full resolution - the reasons for this are purely political.
So getting software licensed to access Blu-Ray is impossible unless the underlying OS supports all of those "trusted computing" initiatives that have been gaining strength these past few years. And while Apple also supports many of these initiatives, what they really have to do is convince the Blu-Ray people that their OS is 100% secure - hence the reason for calling the license requirements "crazy".
And the cost of running another circuit to your electrical panel. Six 200W monsters will overload a single circuit. And I'm assuming you are also going to be plugging in a computer so...
The question is how and why Apple broke this when they got their hands on NeXTStep.
In order to support Carbon which was required for 90% + of the initial OSX applications - even components of OSX such as Quicktime. The changeover to OSX was actually quite successful considering how big a change it was. Now people have more or less abandoned Carbon in favour of Cocoa but it was still an important stepping stone for all of those Classic MacOS developers.
When booted into Win, more often than not I have two cores pegged high, and the others idle. Getting even use out of all cores is the exception, not the rule.
This is because Windows it trying to minimize the movement of threads between cores. Every time a thread switches to a different core the cached data and instructions must be reloaded. This takes time - potentially lots of time depending on the architecture. So by keeping a thread on the same core Windows is trying to speed things up. Now with the newer quad core chips this is less of a problem. They generally share an L3 cache so the time penalty of switching cores is greatly reduced.
The behaviour you noticed is normal and expected. It is not an indication of a flawed design - just a different design. Linux has a pile of different schedulers - some work better in some situations and others in other situations.
Forget the article writeup, my first thought was California. All of the illegals working on the fields have no place to "go". Some farms might provide facilities but when the need is there they are too far away. Currently, the field becomes a toilet - be sure to wash that broccoli!!
I might be wrong regarding the severity of the problem in California, but I know it is a problem around Vancouver. Considering how much more produce is grown in California and its general vicinity to Mexico, I would imagine the problem being far worse. This bag provides a possible solution. One would just have to require that farms provide them for their workers. And the farms can afford them.
For religion, I would describe it as the 10% of the population that adopts a set of beliefs more "completely" then the other 90% of the population. So every religion has an "extremist" population - it simply depends on the context of the population. If looking at Muslims, one might say that the Taliban are "extremists". But if looking at the Taliban, you might only define the ones who want to blow themselves up for the glory of God as being extremist.
By accepting tax-exempt status, a religious group is forbidden from engaging in politics - required by the separation of church and state. All religious groups that attempts to fiddle in politics should simply have their tax-exempt status revoked. For example, many churches hosted rallies for the republican party in the last election - totally allowed so long as you pay taxes on your income and property. (Which, fyi, they do not..)
All of those other groups that you mentioned are not registered as churches, do not have tax-exempt status, and can thusly freely get involved in politics.
*Note - some non-profit groups can be tax-exempt while still being allowed to play with politics. This is because they are not based on religion and also do not profit from their labours. Churches, by comparison, do profit.
if the student was selling illegal drugs, that's a matter for the police
It's also a matter for the police, but it is still a matter for the school. The school is charged with maintaining a safe environment for the students. I am not condoning what the school has done but they should be looking out for illegal activities that could harm other students. Where they went wrong is with the invasion of privacy that occurred when looking for illegal activities.
I believe that all of those cheap 10/100 switches are really two hubs with a switch connecting the 10mb to the 100mb. Technically, there is a switch in it so they call it a switch - but it acts just like a hub.
Okay, so by that logic, either it will be impossible for 2 or more people behind the same router to play multiplayer, or all of that traffic will have to go out the router, off to Blizzard, and then back into the router (meaning that there will definitely be other non-match-making servers at blizzard involved with multiplayer game action).
Skype can do this without any problems so I'm sure Blizzard can find a way to make it work. I am not sure how Skype does it but there are many ways to solve the problem.
1: Check to see if your public IP address is the same as the IP address of your opponent. If so, assume you are on the same network. Perform a broadcast on the subnet to find the private IP of your opponent.
2: Send your private IP address to the match-making server. Match-making server provides both the private and public IP addresses of your opponents. Use the private IP if your public IPs are the same.
And Skype probably uses another method altogether. The point being - it is not a difficult problem to solve.
It has taken this position, I believe, because it knows that Firefox can't implement H.264. I honestly think they want to kill off Firefox so that there's more marketshare for Safari.
No, absolutely not. They just want to make sure that all of their iPods, iPads, and iPhones are supported. These devices include H.264 decoder chips - not Ogg Theora decoders.
If the web were limited to "traditional" computers then this would be a non-issue. Support for Ogg Theora video would be added. But the web is not limited to such devices. A new class of device is on the horizon and they will work great with the web - but not Ogg Theora. In fact, I do not know of a single low power chipset that decodes Ogg Theora video. They probably exist somewhere, but they also probably use twice the power of a H.264 decoder.
If Ogg Theora was better then H.264 (wrt quality) for any segment of the market then it would make sense to support it. But as it stands, H.264 is at least equal to Ogg Theora for all segments of the market. So why support it? It just makes life more complicated. Personally, I think that the group responsible for H.264 should simply adopt a license that is compatible with open source software. It would get it adopted as the standard and put an end to this debate.
But regardless of what happens, the presence of Ogg Theora is good for everyone. Competition is good... But it does not have to become a standard to make a difference.
Everybody has patents and everybody is sharing them. Simple.
Not quite that simple. Different patents have different values so a straight trade does not always work. In addition, Nokia promised to make their patents available so that they would become part of the 3G standard. So Nokia can not use it's patents to force another company (in this case Apple) to share their patents. They are required to offer a deal similar to those offered to other companies - for example, x dollars/device for the rights to create a 3G device.
The patents Apple holds are purely fluff. You can easily create a 3G device that does not intrude onto Apple IP. For this reason, Apple can charge whatever they want - or not even make them available. Other companies can simply work around them. You can not say the same about the patents held by Nokia.
So Nokia needs to be fairly compensated for their patents. The key word is "fairly" - this is where the real disagreement is.
As soon as these scanners are deployed terrorists will simply start to carry the explosives in an internal cavity. 80g of explosives - the amount used on the 25th - only has a volume of 36x36x36 mm^3. There are plenty of places where this could be hidden - just look at the drug mules..
So you will still need to be searched, even if you are travelling in the nude. But at least the searches would take less time.
Maybe now it's time for the US to send their best students abroad and get valuable PhDs from countries where you can still find a taste for hard work and good science?
No, America has a high quality (but very expensive) post-secondary education system. Being expensive means that some bright but less fortunate students will never reach their full potential - which is sad but it is still provides a quality education. The real problem with America is the public education system. Low standards combined with parents that don't get involved result in very few American students good enough to attend post-secondary education. So good students are imported.
For some time now, America has operated their "brain drain" to attract the best from other countries. Take Canada for example (I am Canadian). American jobs generally offer higher wages and result in lower taxes. This is partly because tuition in Canada is subsidized - I only paid ~$2000 a semester. So I can graduate from Canada with very low dept and then move to America to work. This is great for both me and America as America does not have to pay for my training. It is bad for the Canadians that do pay for my training and for the Americans I am competing against that do not have the option of a low cost education. But overall, this is good for America and is partly responsible for the lead America had in R&D.
Others have discussed some reasons why this American "brain drain" is starting to fail - and I agree with them. For example, I have no desire to work in the US. I don't even want to travel to the US - or through the US for that matter. I will gladly pay extra for flights that do not require a transfer in an American airport. It is sad because the Americans that I know who live here in Canada are amazing people. I love my American friends - but seriously America, what happened???
Scientists only pay that much because they are willing to pay that much.
No, that is not the reason. It is essential that scientific experiments can be repeated by scientists at other universities. Because different sensors can take readings differently, that means the equipment used must be readily available to all. It also requires that a listing of equipment used must be included in any publications that result from the acquired data. Saying that you captured measurement 'x' with some custom hardware is only acceptable if you had a really good reason for requiring custom hardware. And in that case, full schematics and firmware code must be provided.
At the end of the day, it is simply much easier to take readings with tools made by established manufacturers. It is less expensive to buy the horribly overpriced equipment then to develop your own and prove to the scientific community that the results are valid. Even a simple temperature measurement can be made horribly complex when you have to detail the accuracy and account for external factors such as humidity. Too much is invested in research to have a year of work questioned as a result of trying to save a couple hundred dollars.
So scientist would love to save money on equipment. But they are not simply purchasing devices that take measurements - they are purchasing devices that take measurements with known amounts of error.
As it stands, you are probably like me. It pains me to see people in my office (biologists) spend ridiculous amounts of money on sensors. I know it would take me less then a day to whip up sensors that perform the same task as the $500 sensors they purchase. It was only after talking to them about their sensors that I started to understand the reasons why they do it. They do not pay lots of money simply because they are willing to - it is actually required.
I remember reading about super efficient fuel injected 2-stroke engines back in 1990 - so the idea has been around for a long time. Implementing it in an efficient and reliable manner must be difficult.
But just the other week I found a mass produced engine that implements the idea. Have a look at the new 600cc engine from ski-doo. It's a 2-stroke engine that runs on gas - without the oil mixture. Oil is still used, but it is injected directly onto the main crank on an "as needed" basis. Overall oil consumption is dramatically reduced.
but at least they are dedicated graphics solutions
Actually, the 9400m is not. It uses system memory but does a much better job then Intel. It also acts as the memory controller and does system IO. The reason for the parent's comments is that all future Intel CPUs will have integrated memory controllers (like the i7 and i5) and an integrated GPU. Performance will suck but it will make for cheap systems. This will make it difficult for system builders to make a low end system with good graphic performance as the market for such systems will be small. The smaller market will reduce the quality/performance of available parts for those system builders - one of which is Apple.
But languages like VB and PHP practically encourage it.
How? Its one thing to say it, and another thing to justify it. In my experience, VB has all the same basic design-freedoms that the C language has (functions, structures, a wide assortment of branching instructions), but also has classes and mostly-enforced garbage collection.
I believe it is not the language that matters so much as it is the APIs and tools associated with using a language. But there are also some differences between actual languages.
Java can be very strict - even putting requirements on file names. While this can be a pain, it does make things easier for other programmers that have to understand your work.
Python programs tend to be very clean and easy to read. This is largely a result of enforced indenting for loops and such.. (my opinion at least)
Both Objective C and Smalltalk have a unique way of making method calls. Unlike other OOP languages, methods tend to be very descriptive. It is difficult to misinterpret the the meaning of arguments or pass then in the wrong order. It is also much easier to understand the meaning of methods written by others.
While I basically agree with your premiss that any language can be bastardized, different languages do offer some advantages. But as I said previously, it is the APIs and tools that really make the difference. For example, if VB templates better supported the MVC paradigm we wouldn't have nearly as much crappy code out there. VB basically encourages you to put application logic into presentation code. For comparison, look how NeXTStep used Interface Builder to design GUI elements. Elements were compiled into NIB files that then linked to the application logic. The tools encouraged the separation thereby resulting in a better design.
Fujitsu. They even design their own SPARC CPUs which are better performing than Sun's. In fact, Sun has done such a craptastic job designing UltraSPARC V and Rock, that they have to sell high-end servers using Fujitsu's processors to be able to compete. Amdahl Corporation manufactures IBM S/360 hardware.
You think they never requested permission to sell such systems? The point of the grandparent still stands - you try to sell such systems and see how long it takes to get a call from a lawyer.
While I am in the same boat as you, there is some justification for how things are. Because you are caucasian, you do not have to worry about being discriminated against. You do not have stereotypes applied to you that would make it difficult to find work. You have an advantage - you have it good. I often find myself feeling lucky that I am an attractive, 6', caucasian, blue eyed male. Doors open easier for me then others - that's life and that isn't fair.
If minority groups held seats of power (political and industrial) that represented their population then all would be good. No equal opportunity laws or policies would be required. Right now these laws exist because the sins of our fathers have to be corrected. And with racial tensions eased, life will be better for all - even people like you and me who already have it good and were not responsible for the problem in the first place.
Slashdot Mirror
If there is a problem with the regex you simply have to debug it - this is programming after all. The reason why the comment is important is that the debugger must know exactly what the regex is supposed to do. Is is any valid email addresses? Are there any exceptions? Once a programmer knows exactly what the code is supposed to do they can go about fixing it. Attempting to derive what the coded is supposed to do from the currently broken code is a recipe for disaster.
I know there are engine designs that operate more efficiently at the expense of greatly increased noise. They have not been used because no airports will allow them to land. So is noise going to be a factor with these designs?
Show me a single Apple machine with a Blu-Ray drive. Oh, that's right, there are none.
But there are also no WindowsXP computers with Blu-Ray drives - or more specifically, WindowsXP software that will allow you to fully utilize the Blu-Ray drive and decrypt the content. A big part of Vista was implementing an OS that would prevent decrypted data from exiting the computer. Play a Blu-Ray movie on a monitor connected via DVI and you get a resolution reduced copy of the movie. You have to use HDMI if you want it in full resolution - the reasons for this are purely political.
So getting software licensed to access Blu-Ray is impossible unless the underlying OS supports all of those "trusted computing" initiatives that have been gaining strength these past few years. And while Apple also supports many of these initiatives, what they really have to do is convince the Blu-Ray people that their OS is 100% secure - hence the reason for calling the license requirements "crazy".
And the cost of running another circuit to your electrical panel. Six 200W monsters will overload a single circuit. And I'm assuming you are also going to be plugging in a computer so...
The question is how and why Apple broke this when they got their hands on NeXTStep.
In order to support Carbon which was required for 90% + of the initial OSX applications - even components of OSX such as Quicktime. The changeover to OSX was actually quite successful considering how big a change it was. Now people have more or less abandoned Carbon in favour of Cocoa but it was still an important stepping stone for all of those Classic MacOS developers.
Engineering - the art of compromise.....
When booted into Win, more often than not I have two cores pegged high, and the others idle. Getting even use out of all cores is the exception, not the rule.
This is because Windows it trying to minimize the movement of threads between cores. Every time a thread switches to a different core the cached data and instructions must be reloaded. This takes time - potentially lots of time depending on the architecture. So by keeping a thread on the same core Windows is trying to speed things up. Now with the newer quad core chips this is less of a problem. They generally share an L3 cache so the time penalty of switching cores is greatly reduced.
The behaviour you noticed is normal and expected. It is not an indication of a flawed design - just a different design. Linux has a pile of different schedulers - some work better in some situations and others in other situations.
Dentists use similar arms for their xray machines so it can be done.
Forget the article writeup, my first thought was California. All of the illegals working on the fields have no place to "go". Some farms might provide facilities but when the need is there they are too far away. Currently, the field becomes a toilet - be sure to wash that broccoli!!
I might be wrong regarding the severity of the problem in California, but I know it is a problem around Vancouver. Considering how much more produce is grown in California and its general vicinity to Mexico, I would imagine the problem being far worse. This bag provides a possible solution. One would just have to require that farms provide them for their workers. And the farms can afford them.
Please define "extremist."
For religion, I would describe it as the 10% of the population that adopts a set of beliefs more "completely" then the other 90% of the population. So every religion has an "extremist" population - it simply depends on the context of the population. If looking at Muslims, one might say that the Taliban are "extremists". But if looking at the Taliban, you might only define the ones who want to blow themselves up for the glory of God as being extremist.
By accepting tax-exempt status, a religious group is forbidden from engaging in politics - required by the separation of church and state. All religious groups that attempts to fiddle in politics should simply have their tax-exempt status revoked. For example, many churches hosted rallies for the republican party in the last election - totally allowed so long as you pay taxes on your income and property. (Which, fyi, they do not..)
All of those other groups that you mentioned are not registered as churches, do not have tax-exempt status, and can thusly freely get involved in politics.
*Note - some non-profit groups can be tax-exempt while still being allowed to play with politics. This is because they are not based on religion and also do not profit from their labours. Churches, by comparison, do profit.
if the student was selling illegal drugs, that's a matter for the police
It's also a matter for the police, but it is still a matter for the school. The school is charged with maintaining a safe environment for the students. I am not condoning what the school has done but they should be looking out for illegal activities that could harm other students. Where they went wrong is with the invasion of privacy that occurred when looking for illegal activities.
Can you even buy hubs any more?
I believe that all of those cheap 10/100 switches are really two hubs with a switch connecting the 10mb to the 100mb. Technically, there is a switch in it so they call it a switch - but it acts just like a hub.
Okay, so by that logic, either it will be impossible for 2 or more people behind the same router to play multiplayer, or all of that traffic will have to go out the router, off to Blizzard, and then back into the router (meaning that there will definitely be other non-match-making servers at blizzard involved with multiplayer game action).
Skype can do this without any problems so I'm sure Blizzard can find a way to make it work. I am not sure how Skype does it but there are many ways to solve the problem.
1: Check to see if your public IP address is the same as the IP address of your opponent. If so, assume you are on the same network. Perform a broadcast on the subnet to find the private IP of your opponent.
2: Send your private IP address to the match-making server. Match-making server provides both the private and public IP addresses of your opponents. Use the private IP if your public IPs are the same.
And Skype probably uses another method altogether. The point being - it is not a difficult problem to solve.
It has taken this position, I believe, because it knows that Firefox can't implement H.264. I honestly think they want to kill off Firefox so that there's more marketshare for Safari.
No, absolutely not. They just want to make sure that all of their iPods, iPads, and iPhones are supported. These devices include H.264 decoder chips - not Ogg Theora decoders.
If the web were limited to "traditional" computers then this would be a non-issue. Support for Ogg Theora video would be added. But the web is not limited to such devices. A new class of device is on the horizon and they will work great with the web - but not Ogg Theora. In fact, I do not know of a single low power chipset that decodes Ogg Theora video. They probably exist somewhere, but they also probably use twice the power of a H.264 decoder.
If Ogg Theora was better then H.264 (wrt quality) for any segment of the market then it would make sense to support it. But as it stands, H.264 is at least equal to Ogg Theora for all segments of the market. So why support it? It just makes life more complicated. Personally, I think that the group responsible for H.264 should simply adopt a license that is compatible with open source software. It would get it adopted as the standard and put an end to this debate.
But regardless of what happens, the presence of Ogg Theora is good for everyone. Competition is good... But it does not have to become a standard to make a difference.
Everybody has patents and everybody is sharing them. Simple.
Not quite that simple. Different patents have different values so a straight trade does not always work. In addition, Nokia promised to make their patents available so that they would become part of the 3G standard. So Nokia can not use it's patents to force another company (in this case Apple) to share their patents. They are required to offer a deal similar to those offered to other companies - for example, x dollars/device for the rights to create a 3G device.
The patents Apple holds are purely fluff. You can easily create a 3G device that does not intrude onto Apple IP. For this reason, Apple can charge whatever they want - or not even make them available. Other companies can simply work around them. You can not say the same about the patents held by Nokia.
So Nokia needs to be fairly compensated for their patents. The key word is "fairly" - this is where the real disagreement is.
As soon as these scanners are deployed terrorists will simply start to carry the explosives in an internal cavity. 80g of explosives - the amount used on the 25th - only has a volume of 36x36x36 mm^3. There are plenty of places where this could be hidden - just look at the drug mules..
So you will still need to be searched, even if you are travelling in the nude. But at least the searches would take less time.
Maybe now it's time for the US to send their best students abroad and get valuable PhDs from countries where you can still find a taste for hard work and good science?
No, America has a high quality (but very expensive) post-secondary education system. Being expensive means that some bright but less fortunate students will never reach their full potential - which is sad but it is still provides a quality education. The real problem with America is the public education system. Low standards combined with parents that don't get involved result in very few American students good enough to attend post-secondary education. So good students are imported.
For some time now, America has operated their "brain drain" to attract the best from other countries. Take Canada for example (I am Canadian). American jobs generally offer higher wages and result in lower taxes. This is partly because tuition in Canada is subsidized - I only paid ~$2000 a semester. So I can graduate from Canada with very low dept and then move to America to work. This is great for both me and America as America does not have to pay for my training. It is bad for the Canadians that do pay for my training and for the Americans I am competing against that do not have the option of a low cost education. But overall, this is good for America and is partly responsible for the lead America had in R&D.
Others have discussed some reasons why this American "brain drain" is starting to fail - and I agree with them. For example, I have no desire to work in the US. I don't even want to travel to the US - or through the US for that matter. I will gladly pay extra for flights that do not require a transfer in an American airport. It is sad because the Americans that I know who live here in Canada are amazing people. I love my American friends - but seriously America, what happened???
I believe the parent was referring to the 4th generation iPhone - not an iPhone that works on a 4G network.
Scientists only pay that much because they are willing to pay that much.
No, that is not the reason. It is essential that scientific experiments can be repeated by scientists at other universities. Because different sensors can take readings differently, that means the equipment used must be readily available to all. It also requires that a listing of equipment used must be included in any publications that result from the acquired data. Saying that you captured measurement 'x' with some custom hardware is only acceptable if you had a really good reason for requiring custom hardware. And in that case, full schematics and firmware code must be provided.
At the end of the day, it is simply much easier to take readings with tools made by established manufacturers. It is less expensive to buy the horribly overpriced equipment then to develop your own and prove to the scientific community that the results are valid. Even a simple temperature measurement can be made horribly complex when you have to detail the accuracy and account for external factors such as humidity. Too much is invested in research to have a year of work questioned as a result of trying to save a couple hundred dollars.
So scientist would love to save money on equipment. But they are not simply purchasing devices that take measurements - they are purchasing devices that take measurements with known amounts of error.
As it stands, you are probably like me. It pains me to see people in my office (biologists) spend ridiculous amounts of money on sensors. I know it would take me less then a day to whip up sensors that perform the same task as the $500 sensors they purchase. It was only after talking to them about their sensors that I started to understand the reasons why they do it. They do not pay lots of money simply because they are willing to - it is actually required.
I remember reading about super efficient fuel injected 2-stroke engines back in 1990 - so the idea has been around for a long time. Implementing it in an efficient and reliable manner must be difficult.
But just the other week I found a mass produced engine that implements the idea. Have a look at the new 600cc engine from ski-doo. It's a 2-stroke engine that runs on gas - without the oil mixture. Oil is still used, but it is injected directly onto the main crank on an "as needed" basis. Overall oil consumption is dramatically reduced.
but at least they are dedicated graphics solutions
Actually, the 9400m is not. It uses system memory but does a much better job then Intel. It also acts as the memory controller and does system IO. The reason for the parent's comments is that all future Intel CPUs will have integrated memory controllers (like the i7 and i5) and an integrated GPU. Performance will suck but it will make for cheap systems. This will make it difficult for system builders to make a low end system with good graphic performance as the market for such systems will be small. The smaller market will reduce the quality/performance of available parts for those system builders - one of which is Apple.
But languages like VB and PHP practically encourage it.
How? Its one thing to say it, and another thing to justify it. In my experience, VB has all the same basic design-freedoms that the C language has (functions, structures, a wide assortment of branching instructions), but also has classes and mostly-enforced garbage collection.
I believe it is not the language that matters so much as it is the APIs and tools associated with using a language. But there are also some differences between actual languages.
Java can be very strict - even putting requirements on file names. While this can be a pain, it does make things easier for other programmers that have to understand your work.
Python programs tend to be very clean and easy to read. This is largely a result of enforced indenting for loops and such.. (my opinion at least)
Both Objective C and Smalltalk have a unique way of making method calls. Unlike other OOP languages, methods tend to be very descriptive. It is difficult to misinterpret the the meaning of arguments or pass then in the wrong order. It is also much easier to understand the meaning of methods written by others.
While I basically agree with your premiss that any language can be bastardized, different languages do offer some advantages. But as I said previously, it is the APIs and tools that really make the difference. For example, if VB templates better supported the MVC paradigm we wouldn't have nearly as much crappy code out there. VB basically encourages you to put application logic into presentation code. For comparison, look how NeXTStep used Interface Builder to design GUI elements. Elements were compiled into NIB files that then linked to the application logic. The tools encouraged the separation thereby resulting in a better design.
Fujitsu. They even design their own SPARC CPUs which are better performing than Sun's. In fact, Sun has done such a craptastic job designing UltraSPARC V and Rock, that they have to sell high-end servers using Fujitsu's processors to be able to compete. Amdahl Corporation manufactures IBM S/360 hardware.
You think they never requested permission to sell such systems? The point of the grandparent still stands - you try to sell such systems and see how long it takes to get a call from a lawyer.
While I am in the same boat as you, there is some justification for how things are. Because you are caucasian, you do not have to worry about being discriminated against. You do not have stereotypes applied to you that would make it difficult to find work. You have an advantage - you have it good. I often find myself feeling lucky that I am an attractive, 6', caucasian, blue eyed male. Doors open easier for me then others - that's life and that isn't fair.
If minority groups held seats of power (political and industrial) that represented their population then all would be good. No equal opportunity laws or policies would be required. Right now these laws exist because the sins of our fathers have to be corrected. And with racial tensions eased, life will be better for all - even people like you and me who already have it good and were not responsible for the problem in the first place.