even IF every router used the same algorithm, it would be based upon what is fastest FROM THAT ROUTER. They all would see the fastest as something else from their point. And they all don't use the same algorithm:)
I'm confused too. The article states that computers test the routes, and pick the least congested route to use. Thus, it slows everything down for everyone.
What should it do? Pick the MOST congested route? Either I'm just confused, the author didn't understand the situation correctly, or the whole thing is BS.
Thank you. I was sitting there reading it, thinking "this sounds like a load of shit. Either I am a blithering idiot (entirely possible) or this article is worthless."
Its sounds like a purely acedemic exercise that is being underwritten by someone with too much money, that has NO practical application.
He gained access to something he didn't have a right to access, by stealing the password. He then sold - or at least got money for -something he didn't own. The fact that the property is virtual is besides the point; obviously someone didn't want it stolen, and some one else was villing to shell out hard cash for it
Nice summary. What some people don't get is what he stole was virtual property. In one way, this is similar to intellectual property in that the woman had spent CONSIDERABLE time playing in order to earn enough to buy this virtual house. If he were allowed to "keep" this house, this would the same as stealing the amount of time it took her to get it.
This is worse than stealing your code in one respect, because if someone stole your code, you could still use it. In this case, the time she spent obtaining the "house" was unrecoverable because she was denied the use of it.
Frankly, who gives a damn what the "experts" say. If someone refuses to download your file served ala HTTP because its "n0t KewL" then the problem is on the wireless end of their keyboard. This "elite" attitude is so old, so outdated, and frankly, no longer elite.
Reliablility isn't so much an issue for a file that is only 1 to 6mb. If you already have a HTTP server, and don't have an anonymous FTP server, that SHOULD figure in your decision.
You should make the file available to download in the format that serves you best and offers the easiest way for people to get it. Don't get caught in the trap of following what select 'experts' say you should do.
The link you gave had a space in it, thus no one could cut and paste without editing it. A corrected link to that story that he was referring to can be found here.
The Preview button keaps yuo from makign misteaks:-)
what is the practical range of a wifi card? Varies alot. I have cable modem connected to a LinkSys cable/wifi router. My lap top gets about 150 feet if the aluminum window frames are not directly inbetween the laptop and router. even at short distances (in my sunroom, 35 feet away) aluminum frame windows really screw with my reception.
I have a workshop 150 feet from the house that has a steel exterior. couldn't get it to access in there, so I bought an external USB wifi receiver (140 bucks), drilled a hole in the steel, place the transceiver in a clear watertight Tupperwear container, with fiberglass insulation surrounding it (to keep unit from getting hot in direct sun). Bolted this Tupperwear unit under the window unit AC to further protect from rain, and ran the cable thru the hole, where i could connect to any computer with USB. that one gets great connectivity.
It may seem like a lot to do, but it was much easier than running cat5 or bnc underground. It has been up over a year, never a failure.
As to your second question: my router and external tranceiver are linksys, my two pcmcia transceiver (my wife has one of these too) are D-Link. The pcmcia do not seem to have as good of range as the external unit. The pcmcia also seem to link at a lower speed than the external unit. Also, MY pcmcia unit seems to fade in and out of range more at a given distance than the wifes, even tho they are same brand and model (dlink dwl-650)
Your milage may vary, but this is what my experiences have been over the last year. All and all, I have been pretty happy with the linksys router, EXCEPT its not good for gaming (wired or wireless), since it appears to stall every few seconds for half a second. Just long enough to get your head blown off. So i have two ips, one for gaming, one for wireless.
This is a noble goal, but one whose story has been posted several times here on Slashdot. So.. what do you do if your area has NO broadband in the first place? You can't hook up your wireless network point to a 56k modem and share that about.
Yes you can.:)
Several years ago, I had one win95 box with a 28.8 modem share access with the whole shop, 12 clients, including thru a quasi-wan that linked two buildings that were 500 feet apart. I COULD have added a wi-fi hub and share that access wirelessly, had they existed/affordable then. It used winproxy, stayed connected 9-6, and an ISP that issued permanant IP addresses ($30 mo.), so i could telnet and ftp into the winbox (thx Fictional Daemon).
It was slow and would suck more used wirelessly thus I conceed to your point, but I can promise you, it CAN be done:)
Your other option is to purchase a T1 and hook it up to the wireless network, if you could get a "coop" of local users to defer costs. IF its available.
Another choice is to use a direcpc satalite link (in the US), although that is against their TOS. but it works, albeit with mediocre latency. I used to do that, and never got caught.
Maybe these wont work well or at all in your situation, but there are a few options for many people, even those who live in the sticks, like me.
What about Xbox Live users in areas where Time Warner Cable is the only cable company and the telephone company does not provide DSL service? In their case, the only residential-priced high-speed Internet access option is through a company owned by AOL.
I live way out in the country, and can't get DSL. I had Hughes DirecPC for years (and no, the regular satalite system isn't going out of biz, just the land line part). Now I can choose satalite or dialup. Then AOL-Time-Warner ran cable out here.
I game too, so i chose cable. Now you might say "satalite sucks for games" and it does, but you still have a choice. You can also use dialup to any ISP, including AOL. Long distances charges may apply.
You choose cable because you like to game. It was your choice of all the available options. That doesn't make AOL bad. It shows that AOL-Time-Warner provided fast access where no other company was willing to invest.
Several years ago, AOL was the last to offer real internet access, before they had flat rate pricing (remember the $150 a month horror stories?). They had the slowest access, busy signals, and seemed very "old fashioned". Granted, they had amassed a couple million customers, and it had no where to go but down.
I would have bet the farm that AOL was dead. After all, I could get internet access from my local ISP (who isnt in business anymore) for a decent flat price. And now the world was going to open up, and be dominated by independent ISPs. Then they changed their network, their pricing, their marketing, and all the rules in general.
I don't care for AOL, but they have proved that they can adapt like a freaking borg. I wouldn't count them out quite yet.
AOL is getting everything it deserves. Let's hope this sealed off network dies a death.
I used to be semi-pro AOL. I knew most Internet geeks didn't like their service, but I recommended them to newbies, since they do have a good 'get running quickly' service that's easy to understand. No more. My clients complain they receive TONS of spam now, despite AOL's OTT screening and banning.
I'm lost here. Granted, I think AOL sucks. I wouldn't use it. But no one (including anyone in Soviet Russia) is forced to use it. Yet, millions do (not as many as last month, but still millions). My mother uses it, and frankly, I set her up with it so she wouldn't bug me to death asking questions.
It's called "free market". AOL adds value to many people. To me and you, no, its not worth the price, but it obviously is to alot of people.
A "sealed off network", as you call it, is just the same internet (albeit at crappys speeds) and lots of unique content. I am not convinced that is a bad thing.
You talk about them banning email servers for spam, then bitch that they get tons of spam. You can't have it both ways. I can no longer send email from my own servers on a SDSL line, because a "free open list" that is commonly used, lists all SDSL ip ranges. My servers never sent more than 10 emails a day. Oh, and AOL accepts mail from my servers.
You seem to have a lot of anger toward them, but your logic doesn't make sense. It seems to just be a rant against "closed systems".
As to being "semi-pro AOL", I have no freaking idea what the hell that is. Is that like "an experienced newbie"?
*Man takes off his pants and forlornly looks down at his crotch.* "Don't worry!", says the hot naked chick, "Size doesn't matter!". *The man happily jumps in the bed and starts pumping his hips faster than a llama can spit.* "HEY!", yells the hot mama, "SLOW DOWN! It's not the speed, it's how you use it." *Commercial cuts to Intel CEO wearing a suit, sitting in a leather chair*
Ok, someone OBVIOUSLY is spending entirely too much time downloading pr0n.:-)
I have a different take on it: I think this is a good chance for Intel to start focusing on minimization... If they do this "single chip" thing long enough, then PDAs, cellphones, gameboys, etc... might eventually be running on top of a single-chip style platform from Intel.
I'm glad this is happening, more competition means better prices. I generally like Intel products, so this is good news for me.
Actually, AMD tried the "most stuff on a chip" technique several years ago, with built in video and NIC built into the support chips. They failed miserably. I actually purchased 5 of these systems to use on a network where the clients need barely more than a terminal. I sent all 5 back. Nvidia is atempting to do similar now, but its not very cost effective for most applications. Up to now, it has looked better on paper than in practice.
Hopefully, Intel will do better. I prefer Intel chips over everything else. (no comments from the peanut galley please) Doesn't mean I don't think they are full of crap in their marketing dept.:)
Perhaps now we will see a new wave of marketing, measuring and such from Intel, although I doubt it.
They have made a tremendous amount of money due to the ignorance of "moms and dads" who assume that bigger numbers mean faster computer.
They are more typically going to say "yea, but this is for laptops only, they are different" and still focus the race on ghz. I mean, you can't blame them. their job is to make money for their shareholders, not impress/.ers with their honesty.
i was under the impression that you cannot prosecute people for acts committed before they were made a crime. anyone have any info on that?
It called "ex post facto" and it is a major part of the US Constitution. No law can be passed to make that provision irrelevant either, it would take a Constitutional amendment to. Ex Post Facto (latin, roughly translated: after the fact) is one of the basic parts of our freedom, and what seperates us from non-democratic societies.
The goal of the FBI in wiretapping isn't to arrest terrorists, its to find out what is being planned and attempt to prevent or derail it. Many of these individuals *could* be exported as enemy combatants anyway (quietly, Im sure) if they are not US citizens.
Doesn't make it right to wiretap everyone, but that is the goal.
And it's all closed, if not by liscense, by closed-minded 'sceners' who dont want to share.
Thats my point. since the company this article refers to is releasing the engine under the GPL, it will be OPEN. This may encourage other companies to do the same. If half life and its mods (Team Fortress Classic, Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, Natural Selection and others) can be as successful with a closed system, then there are even higher opportunities with an open system.
Even if the engine sucked (and i doubt it does) it is still an event because so few have done so to date.
3D engines really aren't the time-consuming part of creating a game. It would be nice to see some 'open sourced' player models, motion captures, sound effects, musics, etc, etc..
Sorry, but i would have to disagree. Case in point: Half Life. There have been well over a dozen mods made for it, because the modders can use the Half Life engine (which Valve simply licensed, its a slightly modified Quake 2 engine).
There are STILL mods coming out for half life, 6 years after the game came out. The engine is the least creative part of the game. The music, art, story line, maps, etc ARE the creative part.
While I have never played this game (not into snowboarding or snowboarding games) the fact that they have opened up the engine IS a big deal for several reasons. It encourages mods and allows other programmers to create wholely seperate games (and allows them to distribute them independently, unlike the mods to half life). it also sets a precedent. Wolf3D was open sourced as well, several years ago, allowing a new generation of programmers to look inside the guts of the first real 3d FPS.
Also, this will open some possibility of new mods and games for Linux, which is part of what will help it gain acceptance on the desktop.
Oh yea, and games are still a growing and profitable section of the programming market, which gives programmers jobs. Im too broke to buy a newer version of office, but I just paid $50 for SimCity 4. (it was worth it)
It's not like anyone's going to get locked up or executed for this, it's a company on trial, not a person. The judicial safeguards therefore don't have to be as rigorous, IMO. Having said that, the economic impact of MicroSoft being severely slapped shouldn't be underestimated. There are a lot of pension funds heavily tied up in MicroSoft stock.
Keep in mind, a fine eventually is paid by everyone who buys MS products. Its not like Bill poney's up the cash himself. They raise the price "because of lawsuits and other expenses" and most people have to pay the higher prices, because of the way MS has a monopoly (the reason for the lawsuit). If you NEED office to communicate with your clients, you will buy it even if it costs an extra 50 bucks.
The cost is meaningless to a company that has a monopoly because they can pass the costs on. The key is to get ACTION from the suit, to force them to act responsibly. If the suit only causes MS to be fined, it will only serve to raise prices, and nothing more. The stock will suffer in the short run, and not the long run, under this scenario.
Yes, that sometime is true of "open-source" software but free software [gnu.org] is free as in speech, AND as in free beer.
And it is not likely to ever get certified because there is no way to recover your costs.
The point being made here is Linux being certified, making it more able to compete with Microsoft in the marketplace. The point isn't to argue over symantics.
Why is this even worth noting? Certification efforts aren't especially cheap. If you're going to expend time and resources getting a version of your product certified, why not put the effort into the version that is likeliest to generate enough revenue as a result of the certification to pay for the effort.
After all, while RedHat is in relatively good financial condition, it's not like they have around $40 billion in the bank (unlike some operating system companies). Certifying Advanced Server is a good use of limited resources.
Amen. Their "more expensive" verion is what makes them money, not the free version. Certification of Advanced server doesn't take away from the benefits of their downloadable version, or other distros in any way.
If Linux is going to take hold, SOMEONE has to make money with it. People just miss the point: OS software is free as in speech, NOT as in beer. OSS doesn't mean everyone just walks around and works for free. It means programmers contribute code for "free", but make money when they support this code (and the code others contributed "free") to end users. When they add value to it.
If the GPL did not allow anyone to make any money, in any way, we would not be here talking about Linux.
Humans exist, today, because of billions and billions of tiny factors, and probably about a dozen large factors. If you took any of them away, you wouldn't be alive today.
Im a big believer of the concept that "the reason it looks this way is because if it was any other way, we wouldnt be here to look at it." as well.
It seems a slight waste of time to debate if they made a difference or not, when there are so many other questions that are more relevent, such as 'are we alone?'.
Oh yea, and I had to fight REALLY REALLY hard to not comment on "billions and billions" Carl Sagan style comment.:-) God I miss him.
Actually Linux runs well on 8 CPU's from what I have read, and has even run on a sun E1000 with 31 CPU's (though it is possible someone has even a higher record than that).
Thanks for an intellegent reply. Ironic how hard they are to get on/. nowdays. I did a little research. My experience is with smp only, not clustered. I own 6 dual cpu boxes (all linux, different flavors), from ppro to p3, but i have been pretty lazy lately, and been using rh stock kernels since 2.4 came out, and frankly behind on smp scalablility.
im sure i will get some hell about that from some trolls, but my goal is stable systems, not to prove how 37337 I am. im too old and tired to be KewL. Besides, they are pretty nice kernel builds from my experience.
just out of curiosity, i had THOUGHT there was a problem/bug/feature/limitation with x86 smp systems that limited it to 15 cpus in practice (16 in theory, but there was a reason it couldnt do the 16th cpu). is that still an issue? i dont remember seeing any x86 boxes over 8 cpus anyway.
part of the prob is i never saw the real FIRST post. i use the 'troll blacklist is my friend' and he is a foe of my friend, so -6 points trick.
it appears, it has its drawbacks. on MY screen, it looked the guy who i was answering was replying directly to the article, thus trashing the guy who did the schedule thingy in linux. the original wasnt just artificially modded down, it wasnt visible at all. i had to set it so all posts were visible to see it. confused yet? me too.
That, or it could be that I havn't been stoned in days. Oh, and I dont recommend viewing/. where you can see all the -1 posts. scary to think that some of those people will breed.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a non story. If you can sit in front of a linux box you can do the same thing. Just boot into maintenance/init 1 and go crazy.
Yes. The author, Carl Note did. Quoting him:
There always remains the possibility that the tale of the hoax may in itself be a hoax, like a riddle inside an enigma.
He went on to say that they had used several sources, and had confidence in the story, but it was possible.
even IF every router used the same algorithm, it would be based upon what is fastest FROM THAT ROUTER. They all would see the fastest as something else from their point. And they all don't use the same algorithm :)
I'm confused too. The article states that computers test the routes, and pick the least congested route to use. Thus, it slows everything down for everyone.
What should it do? Pick the MOST congested route? Either I'm just confused, the author didn't understand the situation correctly, or the whole thing is BS.
Thank you. I was sitting there reading it, thinking "this sounds like a load of shit. Either I am a blithering idiot (entirely possible) or this article is worthless."
Its sounds like a purely acedemic exercise that is being underwritten by someone with too much money, that has NO practical application.
Glad to know I'm not alone in the confusion.
He gained access to something he didn't have a right to access, by stealing the password. He then sold - or at least got money for -something he didn't own. The fact that the property is virtual is besides the point; obviously someone didn't want it stolen, and some one else was villing to shell out hard cash for it
Nice summary. What some people don't get is what he stole was virtual property. In one way, this is similar to intellectual property in that the woman had spent CONSIDERABLE time playing in order to earn enough to buy this virtual house. If he were allowed to "keep" this house, this would the same as stealing the amount of time it took her to get it.
This is worse than stealing your code in one respect, because if someone stole your code, you could still use it. In this case, the time she spent obtaining the "house" was unrecoverable because she was denied the use of it.
So, not only will I get spam telling me how to "enlarge my member" but phone calls during dinner, too. Isn't that special.
Frankly, who gives a damn what the "experts" say. If someone refuses to download your file served ala HTTP because its "n0t KewL" then the problem is on the wireless end of their keyboard. This "elite" attitude is so old, so outdated, and frankly, no longer elite.
Reliablility isn't so much an issue for a file that is only 1 to 6mb. If you already have a HTTP server, and don't have an anonymous FTP server, that SHOULD figure in your decision.
You should make the file available to download in the format that serves you best and offers the easiest way for people to get it. Don't get caught in the trap of following what select 'experts' say you should do.
The link you gave had a space in it, thus no one could cut and paste without editing it. A corrected link to that story that he was referring to can be found here.
:-)
The Preview button keaps yuo from makign misteaks
what is the practical range of a wifi card?
Varies alot. I have cable modem connected to a LinkSys cable/wifi router. My lap top gets about 150 feet if the aluminum window frames are not directly inbetween the laptop and router. even at short distances (in my sunroom, 35 feet away) aluminum frame windows really screw with my reception.
I have a workshop 150 feet from the house that has a steel exterior. couldn't get it to access in there, so I bought an external USB wifi receiver (140 bucks), drilled a hole in the steel, place the transceiver in a clear watertight Tupperwear container, with fiberglass insulation surrounding it (to keep unit from getting hot in direct sun). Bolted this Tupperwear unit under the window unit AC to further protect from rain, and ran the cable thru the hole, where i could connect to any computer with USB. that one gets great connectivity.
It may seem like a lot to do, but it was much easier than running cat5 or bnc underground. It has been up over a year, never a failure.
As to your second question: my router and external tranceiver are linksys, my two pcmcia transceiver (my wife has one of these too) are D-Link. The pcmcia do not seem to have as good of range as the external unit. The pcmcia also seem to link at a lower speed than the external unit. Also, MY pcmcia unit seems to fade in and out of range more at a given distance than the wifes, even tho they are same brand and model (dlink dwl-650)
Your milage may vary, but this is what my experiences have been over the last year. All and all, I have been pretty happy with the linksys router, EXCEPT its not good for gaming (wired or wireless), since it appears to stall every few seconds for half a second. Just long enough to get your head blown off. So i have two ips, one for gaming, one for wireless.
This is a noble goal, but one whose story has been posted several times here on Slashdot. So.. what do you do if your area has NO broadband in the first place? You can't hook up your wireless network point to a 56k modem and share that about.
:)
:)
Yes you can.
Several years ago, I had one win95 box with a 28.8 modem share access with the whole shop, 12 clients, including thru a quasi-wan that linked two buildings that were 500 feet apart. I COULD have added a wi-fi hub and share that access wirelessly, had they existed/affordable then. It used winproxy, stayed connected 9-6, and an ISP that issued permanant IP addresses ($30 mo.), so i could telnet and ftp into the winbox (thx Fictional Daemon).
It was slow and would suck more used wirelessly thus I conceed to your point, but I can promise you, it CAN be done
Your other option is to purchase a T1 and hook it up to the wireless network, if you could get a "coop" of local users to defer costs. IF its available.
Another choice is to use a direcpc satalite link (in the US), although that is against their TOS. but it works, albeit with mediocre latency. I used to do that, and never got caught.
Maybe these wont work well or at all in your situation, but there are a few options for many people, even those who live in the sticks, like me.
What about Xbox Live users in areas where Time Warner Cable is the only cable company and the telephone company does not provide DSL service? In their case, the only residential-priced high-speed Internet access option is through a company owned by AOL.
I live way out in the country, and can't get DSL. I had Hughes DirecPC for years (and no, the regular satalite system isn't going out of biz, just the land line part). Now I can choose satalite or dialup. Then AOL-Time-Warner ran cable out here.
I game too, so i chose cable. Now you might say "satalite sucks for games" and it does, but you still have a choice. You can also use dialup to any ISP, including AOL. Long distances charges may apply.
You choose cable because you like to game. It was your choice of all the available options. That doesn't make AOL bad. It shows that AOL-Time-Warner provided fast access where no other company was willing to invest.
They didn't screw you, they did you a service.
The real question is: does AOL have a future?
Several years ago, AOL was the last to offer real internet access, before they had flat rate pricing (remember the $150 a month horror stories?). They had the slowest access, busy signals, and seemed very "old fashioned". Granted, they had amassed a couple million customers, and it had no where to go but down.
I would have bet the farm that AOL was dead. After all, I could get internet access from my local ISP (who isnt in business anymore) for a decent flat price. And now the world was going to open up, and be dominated by independent ISPs. Then they changed their network, their pricing, their marketing, and all the rules in general.
I don't care for AOL, but they have proved that they can adapt like a freaking borg. I wouldn't count them out quite yet.
AOL is getting everything it deserves. Let's hope this sealed off network dies a death.
I used to be semi-pro AOL. I knew most Internet geeks didn't like their service, but I recommended them to newbies, since they do have a good 'get running quickly' service that's easy to understand. No more. My clients complain they receive TONS of spam now, despite AOL's OTT screening and banning.
I'm lost here. Granted, I think AOL sucks. I wouldn't use it. But no one (including anyone in Soviet Russia) is forced to use it. Yet, millions do (not as many as last month, but still millions). My mother uses it, and frankly, I set her up with it so she wouldn't bug me to death asking questions.
It's called "free market". AOL adds value to many people. To me and you, no, its not worth the price, but it obviously is to alot of people.
A "sealed off network", as you call it, is just the same internet (albeit at crappys speeds) and lots of unique content. I am not convinced that is a bad thing.
You talk about them banning email servers for spam, then bitch that they get tons of spam. You can't have it both ways. I can no longer send email from my own servers on a SDSL line, because a "free open list" that is commonly used, lists all SDSL ip ranges. My servers never sent more than 10 emails a day. Oh, and AOL accepts mail from my servers.
You seem to have a lot of anger toward them, but your logic doesn't make sense. It seems to just be a rant against "closed systems".
As to being "semi-pro AOL", I have no freaking idea what the hell that is. Is that like "an experienced newbie"?
Ok, someone OBVIOUSLY is spending entirely too much time downloading pr0n.
I have a different take on it: I think this is a good chance for Intel to start focusing on minimization... If they do this "single chip" thing long enough, then PDAs, cellphones, gameboys, etc... might eventually be running on top of a single-chip style platform from Intel.
:)
I'm glad this is happening, more competition means better prices. I generally like Intel products, so this is good news for me.
Actually, AMD tried the "most stuff on a chip" technique several years ago, with built in video and NIC built into the support chips. They failed miserably. I actually purchased 5 of these systems to use on a network where the clients need barely more than a terminal. I sent all 5 back. Nvidia is atempting to do similar now, but its not very cost effective for most applications. Up to now, it has looked better on paper than in practice.
Hopefully, Intel will do better. I prefer Intel chips over everything else. (no comments from the peanut galley please) Doesn't mean I don't think they are full of crap in their marketing dept.
Perhaps now we will see a new wave of marketing, measuring and such from Intel, although I doubt it.
/.ers with their honesty.
They have made a tremendous amount of money due to the ignorance of "moms and dads" who assume that bigger numbers mean faster computer.
They are more typically going to say "yea, but this is for laptops only, they are different" and still focus the race on ghz. I mean, you can't blame them. their job is to make money for their shareholders, not impress
i was under the impression that you cannot prosecute people for acts committed before they were made a crime. anyone have any info on that?
It called "ex post facto" and it is a major part of the US Constitution. No law can be passed to make that provision irrelevant either, it would take a Constitutional amendment to. Ex Post Facto (latin, roughly translated: after the fact) is one of the basic parts of our freedom, and what seperates us from non-democratic societies.
The goal of the FBI in wiretapping isn't to arrest terrorists, its to find out what is being planned and attempt to prevent or derail it. Many of these individuals *could* be exported as enemy combatants anyway (quietly, Im sure) if they are not US citizens.
Doesn't make it right to wiretap everyone, but that is the goal.
And it's all closed, if not by liscense, by closed-minded 'sceners' who dont want to share.
Thats my point. since the company this article refers to is releasing the engine under the GPL, it will be OPEN. This may encourage other companies to do the same. If half life and its mods (Team Fortress Classic, Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, Natural Selection and others) can be as successful with a closed system, then there are even higher opportunities with an open system.
Even if the engine sucked (and i doubt it does) it is still an event because so few have done so to date.
3D engines really aren't the time-consuming part of creating a game. It would be nice to see some 'open sourced' player models, motion captures, sound effects, musics, etc, etc..
Sorry, but i would have to disagree. Case in point: Half Life. There have been well over a dozen mods made for it, because the modders can use the Half Life engine (which Valve simply licensed, its a slightly modified Quake 2 engine).
There are STILL mods coming out for half life, 6 years after the game came out. The engine is the least creative part of the game. The music, art, story line, maps, etc ARE the creative part.
While I have never played this game (not into snowboarding or snowboarding games) the fact that they have opened up the engine IS a big deal for several reasons. It encourages mods and allows other programmers to create wholely seperate games (and allows them to distribute them independently, unlike the mods to half life). it also sets a precedent. Wolf3D was open sourced as well, several years ago, allowing a new generation of programmers to look inside the guts of the first real 3d FPS.
Also, this will open some possibility of new mods and games for Linux, which is part of what will help it gain acceptance on the desktop.
Oh yea, and games are still a growing and profitable section of the programming market, which gives programmers jobs. Im too broke to buy a newer version of office, but I just paid $50 for SimCity 4. (it was worth it)
It's not like anyone's going to get locked up or executed for this, it's a company on trial, not a person. The judicial safeguards therefore don't have to be as rigorous, IMO. Having said that, the economic impact of MicroSoft being severely slapped shouldn't be underestimated. There are a lot of pension funds heavily tied up in MicroSoft stock.
Keep in mind, a fine eventually is paid by everyone who buys MS products. Its not like Bill poney's up the cash himself. They raise the price "because of lawsuits and other expenses" and most people have to pay the higher prices, because of the way MS has a monopoly (the reason for the lawsuit). If you NEED office to communicate with your clients, you will buy it even if it costs an extra 50 bucks.
The cost is meaningless to a company that has a monopoly because they can pass the costs on. The key is to get ACTION from the suit, to force them to act responsibly. If the suit only causes MS to be fined, it will only serve to raise prices, and nothing more. The stock will suffer in the short run, and not the long run, under this scenario.
Yes, that sometime is true of "open-source" software but free software [gnu.org] is free as in speech, AND as in free beer.
And it is not likely to ever get certified because there is no way to recover your costs.
The point being made here is Linux being certified, making it more able to compete with Microsoft in the marketplace. The point isn't to argue over symantics.
Why is this even worth noting? Certification efforts aren't especially cheap. If you're going to expend time and resources getting a version of your product certified, why not put the effort into the version that is likeliest to generate enough revenue as a result of the certification to pay for the effort.
After all, while RedHat is in relatively good financial condition, it's not like they have around $40 billion in the bank (unlike some operating system companies). Certifying Advanced Server is a good use of limited resources.
Amen. Their "more expensive" verion is what makes them money, not the free version. Certification of Advanced server doesn't take away from the benefits of their downloadable version, or other distros in any way.
If Linux is going to take hold, SOMEONE has to make money with it. People just miss the point: OS software is free as in speech, NOT as in beer. OSS doesn't mean everyone just walks around and works for free. It means programmers contribute code for "free", but make money when they support this code (and the code others contributed "free") to end users. When they add value to it.
If the GPL did not allow anyone to make any money, in any way, we would not be here talking about Linux.
Humans exist, today, because of billions and billions of tiny factors, and probably about a dozen large factors. If you took any of them away, you wouldn't be alive today.
:-) God I miss him.
Im a big believer of the concept that "the reason it looks this way is because if it was any other way, we wouldnt be here to look at it." as well.
It seems a slight waste of time to debate if they made a difference or not, when there are so many other questions that are more relevent, such as 'are we alone?'.
Oh yea, and I had to fight REALLY REALLY hard to not comment on "billions and billions" Carl Sagan style comment.
Actually Linux runs well on 8 CPU's from what I have read, and has even run on a sun E1000 with 31 CPU's (though it is possible someone has even a higher record than that).
/. nowdays. I did a little research. My experience is with smp only, not clustered. I own 6 dual cpu boxes (all linux, different flavors), from ppro to p3, but i have been pretty lazy lately, and been using rh stock kernels since 2.4 came out, and frankly behind on smp scalablility.
Thanks for an intellegent reply. Ironic how hard they are to get on
im sure i will get some hell about that from some trolls, but my goal is stable systems, not to prove how 37337 I am. im too old and tired to be KewL. Besides, they are pretty nice kernel builds from my experience.
just out of curiosity, i had THOUGHT there was a problem/bug/feature/limitation with x86 smp systems that limited it to 15 cpus in practice (16 in theory, but there was a reason it couldnt do the 16th cpu). is that still an issue? i dont remember seeing any x86 boxes over 8 cpus anyway.
part of the prob is i never saw the real FIRST post. i use the 'troll blacklist is my friend' and he is a foe of my friend, so -6 points trick.
/. where you can see all the -1 posts. scary to think that some of those people will breed.
it appears, it has its drawbacks. on MY screen, it looked the guy who i was answering was replying directly to the article, thus trashing the guy who did the schedule thingy in linux. the original wasnt just artificially modded down, it wasnt visible at all. i had to set it so all posts were visible to see it. confused yet? me too.
That, or it could be that I havn't been stoned in days. Oh, and I dont recommend viewing