I agree that Linux isn't going to kill Windows - even if Linux suddenly becomes a huge runaway success, there will still be Windows.
However, the article's reasoning is devoid of content. It goes on about how Linux 'isn't a platform' [for servers], just an OS. Of course, Linux is just a kernel. But he's saying that as if there aren't things that run on the Linux kernel (like, say, Apache, PHP, PostgreSQL/MySQL, Perl etc. for large values of etc.) that come with any distribution that you are actually going to end up using which in my book (and any sane person's book) DOES make a platform and addresses all the things he reckons Linux doesn't have.
The article isn't comparing like with like - it's comparing the full Windows server distribution with the Linux kernel alone (or perhaps just Linux + the GNU tools and C compiler), but completely ignoring all the stuff that comes with a server-oriented distro.
The article was either written by someone who has never used a recent (within the last 6 years or so) Linux distro, or someone who is trolling.
If the charges are anywhere near as bad as the WiFi hotspot at London City airport, no thanks. Expensive and restrictive. You can't just, say, buy 15 minutes to check your email, the minimum is 1 hour - usually for about GPB6 or so - and you can't just use 15 mins one day, then 15 the next. (By contrast, in an airport, those 'payphone style' internet kiosks are GBP4/hr and you can buy just 15 minutes for £1 if you want, and you don't get to use up your laptop's battery).
Since I've already paid for GPRS access on my mobile phone, I'll just use my GPRS thanks. Although it's only 64kbit/s, for going on IRC, writing emails and Slashdotting it's more than adequate, and it works well on the train as well as in airports.
The maximum line speeds on the UK train network is 125mph, not 60mph. In the former southern region 'commuter belt' typically they are a bit lower, around 90-100mph.
Actually, the HST (InterCity 125) can do 140mph on the level with a full load of passengers, it's been done - they are still the world's fastest diesel train. In normal use they are limited to 125mph.
You say that now - but I bet if you were faced with a madman pointing an AK74 at you, after he'd just shot your best friend, I bet you would feel fear. Or if you saw the flash of a nuclear weapon you'd feel fear. Or if you were attacked by a bear you'd feel fear. If you tell me that it's not so, then sorry, I simply don't believe you.
It's very easy sitting in the comfort of your chair in front of a computer to claim you are fearless because you believe in God, but faced with a real oh-shit-I'm-gonna-die situation, you'd feel fear just like any other human on this planet.
No, not BS. It took less than 30 seconds to click on the link, and get to the sentence "Well, we just made that up". The story should *never* have been posted in its original form, let alone corrected only after many comments pointing out the error had been posted. I wonder if the editor in question ever clicked the link to TFA - I'm betting if the link really had pointed to a copy of goatse on the Register's website, the story would have still got posted verbatim.
If this happened only once in a while, it wouldn't be a big deal - but dupes, bad stories, misquotes get posted rather too frequently.
There's been 600 _different_ astronauts launched by the Shuttle? Or 600 person/trips? The original poster compared Shuttle safety with road safety. If there were two fatal car accidents per 600 person/trips in a car, there'd be outrage.
As I said earlier, that's not to say the risk is necessarily unacceptable - leaving the Earth's atmosphere will always be a risky proposition (and it's certainly a personal risk I'd accept if I had the oppportunity). And half of the problem is this expectation of safety in something that's inherently a very hazardous operation (and pretty much impossible to make 'safe' with current technology).
Have you priced up a GPS recently that can be used for primary navigation (i.e. essentially it will need to be IFR certified?) Not only do the updates (every 56 days) for the database cost on the order of $500 per year, an IFR-certified GPS once installed is on the order of $10,000.
Contrary to popular belief, not all pilots are made of money.
But there are how many astronauts compared to how many drivers?
Your comparison makes no sense unless you compare on a per-capita basis. 15 dead astronauts out of a pool of perhaps 150 or so that have flown is quite big - if 10% of all drivers were killed in car accidents over a period of 40 years, you bet there'd be outrage.
On the other hand, even though it is orders of magnitude more risky than anything normal people would do, I agree with you that it is not unacceptably risky. Sending people outside Earth's atmosphere will always be a risky proposition, but it's worth it in the long run. I'd give my left nut to get a ride on the Space Shuttle.
The trouble is with the RIP Act it makes you a potential criminal for using SSH. All a law enforcement officer would have to do is demand your keys - which you don't know because SSH is automatically keyed - and you are liable for a long prison sentence merely because you don't know them.
Fortunately, just across a few miles of the Irish Sea we don't have this madness.
Spam requires no new legislation - only existing legislation be enforced. The vast majority of spammers are already breaking the law - selling counterfeit prescription drugs which is illegal, using hacked machines in zombie networks which is illegal, or promoting illegal scams. I don't think I've seen a spam message recently that hasn't broken the law in some way (either by using hacked computers or by advertising something illegal).
I don't know about the Tube, but on the mainline, there is also AWS (which has been around for decades). If a signal is at Caution or Danger, the driver must reset the AWS within a fairly short period of time or the brakes will automatically apply. This prevents a runaway train from passing a signal at Danger (or at least not going far beyond it) because in most cases, it would encounter a Caution (yellow) signal quite some distance before the Danger (red) signal, and the automatic brake application will stop the train well short of the red signal.
AWS is based on a system of electromagnets between the rails - there is one on the approach to every AWS-equipped signal.
However, I don't go worrying about being hit by a car continuously, because I can mitigate the risk of being hit by a car, and if I do get hit by a car, the entire human race doesn't perish.
A random gamma ray burst on the other hand I can do nothing about. [0] Since a big part of our point is the continuation of our race as a whole (we are genetically predisposed to want to do this), we will also be hard wired to fear events that can totally end the entire genetic line of our species. Also, I expect a death by gamma ray burst would be drawn out and deeply unpleasant. Dying of radiation poisoning whilst watching everyone around you do the same thing will be a pretty nasty event.
[0] No, I don't actually sit around worrying about gamma ray bursts, in fact I give it very little thought. I give much more thought to ways of avoiding being run down by cars.
Actually - it's only the 1 and 2p coins (i.e. the most bloody useless ones now that vending machines no longer take them, which was the method by which I used to get rid of all my shrapnel) that haven't changed.
Now I save up all the copper shrapnel for the poor sandwich lady at work!
It wasn't USA War II, it was World War II. It didn't only become World War II when the USA entered; Enough of the world was involved that it's considered World War II from September 1939 even though the USA wasn't involved until later.
Well move here during the summer, where it's light at 04:30am and doesn't get properly dark until around 11pm. You get to drive to work in the light even when doing lots of unpaid overtime!
Privacy is something that is entirely the opposite of the DHS's goal - therefore, isn't it obvious that they will hire experts in how to remove privacy? The DHS's privacy department isn't about protecting privacy (because that would be counter to the DHS's mission) but rather how to remove privacy so the DHS can do its job. Of course they will mask this in doublespeak - just like what was called the department of war half a century ago got renamed to the department of defence.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree that Linux isn't going to kill Windows - even if Linux suddenly becomes a huge runaway success, there will still be Windows.
However, the article's reasoning is devoid of content. It goes on about how Linux 'isn't a platform' [for servers], just an OS. Of course, Linux is just a kernel. But he's saying that as if there aren't things that run on the Linux kernel (like, say, Apache, PHP, PostgreSQL/MySQL, Perl etc. for large values of etc.) that come with any distribution that you are actually going to end up using which in my book (and any sane person's book) DOES make a platform and addresses all the things he reckons Linux doesn't have.
The article isn't comparing like with like - it's comparing the full Windows server distribution with the Linux kernel alone (or perhaps just Linux + the GNU tools and C compiler), but completely ignoring all the stuff that comes with a server-oriented distro.
The article was either written by someone who has never used a recent (within the last 6 years or so) Linux distro, or someone who is trolling.
If the charges are anywhere near as bad as the WiFi hotspot at London City airport, no thanks. Expensive and restrictive. You can't just, say, buy 15 minutes to check your email, the minimum is 1 hour - usually for about GPB6 or so - and you can't just use 15 mins one day, then 15 the next. (By contrast, in an airport, those 'payphone style' internet kiosks are GBP4/hr and you can buy just 15 minutes for £1 if you want, and you don't get to use up your laptop's battery).
Since I've already paid for GPRS access on my mobile phone, I'll just use my GPRS thanks. Although it's only 64kbit/s, for going on IRC, writing emails and Slashdotting it's more than adequate, and it works well on the train as well as in airports.
The maximum line speeds on the UK train network is 125mph, not 60mph. In the former southern region 'commuter belt' typically they are a bit lower, around 90-100mph.
Actually, the HST (InterCity 125) can do 140mph on the level with a full load of passengers, it's been done - they are still the world's fastest diesel train. In normal use they are limited to 125mph.
You say that now - but I bet if you were faced with a madman pointing an AK74 at you, after he'd just shot your best friend, I bet you would feel fear. Or if you saw the flash of a nuclear weapon you'd feel fear. Or if you were attacked by a bear you'd feel fear. If you tell me that it's not so, then sorry, I simply don't believe you.
It's very easy sitting in the comfort of your chair in front of a computer to claim you are fearless because you believe in God, but faced with a real oh-shit-I'm-gonna-die situation, you'd feel fear just like any other human on this planet.
Note that fear and panic are not the same things.
No, not BS. It took less than 30 seconds to click on the link, and get to the sentence "Well, we just made that up". The story should *never* have been posted in its original form, let alone corrected only after many comments pointing out the error had been posted. I wonder if the editor in question ever clicked the link to TFA - I'm betting if the link really had pointed to a copy of goatse on the Register's website, the story would have still got posted verbatim.
If this happened only once in a while, it wouldn't be a big deal - but dupes, bad stories, misquotes get posted rather too frequently.
There's been 600 _different_ astronauts launched by the Shuttle? Or 600 person/trips? The original poster compared Shuttle safety with road safety. If there were two fatal car accidents per 600 person/trips in a car, there'd be outrage.
As I said earlier, that's not to say the risk is necessarily unacceptable - leaving the Earth's atmosphere will always be a risky proposition (and it's certainly a personal risk I'd accept if I had the oppportunity). And half of the problem is this expectation of safety in something that's inherently a very hazardous operation (and pretty much impossible to make 'safe' with current technology).
Have you priced up a GPS recently that can be used for primary navigation (i.e. essentially it will need to be IFR certified?)
Not only do the updates (every 56 days) for the database cost on the order of $500 per year, an IFR-certified GPS once installed is on the order of $10,000.
Contrary to popular belief, not all pilots are made of money.
Actually - violations of the DC restricted airspace happens quite frequently with commercial aircraft, too.
But there are how many astronauts compared to how many drivers?
Your comparison makes no sense unless you compare on a per-capita basis. 15 dead astronauts out of a pool of perhaps 150 or so that have flown is quite big - if 10% of all drivers were killed in car accidents over a period of 40 years, you bet there'd be outrage.
On the other hand, even though it is orders of magnitude more risky than anything normal people would do, I agree with you that it is not unacceptably risky. Sending people outside Earth's atmosphere will always be a risky proposition, but it's worth it in the long run. I'd give my left nut to get a ride on the Space Shuttle.
Two fatal accidents in ~100 missions? Better track record than anything humans have ever designed before?
I think the designers of the Boeing 747 would disagree there. Or indeed the designers of pretty much any aircraft since the 1920s.
The trouble is with the RIP Act it makes you a potential criminal for using SSH. All a law enforcement officer would have to do is demand your keys - which you don't know because SSH is automatically keyed - and you are liable for a long prison sentence merely because you don't know them.
Fortunately, just across a few miles of the Irish Sea we don't have this madness.
Spam requires no new legislation - only existing legislation be enforced.
The vast majority of spammers are already breaking the law - selling counterfeit prescription drugs which is illegal, using hacked machines in zombie networks which is illegal, or promoting illegal scams. I don't think I've seen a spam message recently that hasn't broken the law in some way (either by using hacked computers or by advertising something illegal).
I don't know about the Tube, but on the mainline, there is also AWS (which has been around for decades). If a signal is at Caution or Danger, the driver must reset the AWS within a fairly short period of time or the brakes will automatically apply. This prevents a runaway train from passing a signal at Danger (or at least not going far beyond it) because in most cases, it would encounter a Caution (yellow) signal quite some distance before the Danger (red) signal, and the automatic brake application will stop the train well short of the red signal.
AWS is based on a system of electromagnets between the rails - there is one on the approach to every AWS-equipped signal.
Actually, in the rest of the (non-US) world, it's the Engineer who designs the train. The driver drives the train.
However, I don't go worrying about being hit by a car continuously, because I can mitigate the risk of being hit by a car, and if I do get hit by a car, the entire human race doesn't perish.
A random gamma ray burst on the other hand I can do nothing about. [0] Since a big part of our point is the continuation of our race as a whole (we are genetically predisposed to want to do this), we will also be hard wired to fear events that can totally end the entire genetic line of our species. Also, I expect a death by gamma ray burst would be drawn out and deeply unpleasant. Dying of radiation poisoning whilst watching everyone around you do the same thing will be a pretty nasty event.
[0] No, I don't actually sit around worrying about gamma ray bursts, in fact I give it very little thought. I give much more thought to ways of avoiding being run down by cars.
Actually - it's only the 1 and 2p coins (i.e. the most bloody useless ones now that vending machines no longer take them, which was the method by which I used to get rid of all my shrapnel) that haven't changed.
Now I save up all the copper shrapnel for the poor sandwich lady at work!
May I suggest you lay off the Big Macs and Whoppers for a while then?
Don't forget music piracy!
It wasn't USA War II, it was World War II. It didn't only become World War II when the USA entered; Enough of the world was involved that it's considered World War II from September 1939 even though the USA wasn't involved until later.
The trouble is Mandriva sounds a bit like a 70s porno flick!
Well move here during the summer, where it's light at 04:30am and doesn't get properly dark until around 11pm. You get to drive to work in the light even when doing lots of unpaid overtime!
Umm, World War II was from September 1939...
Oh come on - isn't it obvious?
Privacy is something that is entirely the opposite of the DHS's goal - therefore, isn't it obvious that they will hire experts in how to remove privacy? The DHS's privacy department isn't about protecting privacy (because that would be counter to the DHS's mission) but rather how to remove privacy so the DHS can do its job. Of course they will mask this in doublespeak - just like what was called the department of war half a century ago got renamed to the department of defence.
If you travel on the airlines, I'm sure you fly on aircraft older than you.