There is a crux with this though: the music industry doesn't really have similar products.
If you like Madonna, would you buy a cheaper record from the artist Annodam ? Most wouldn't.
So, in effect EMI (or whoever it is) has a local monopoly on Madonna music. It is hard to see how one could create a competitive market when brands are everything.
I think yes and no. I just read this account of some first experiences with using it, and one complaint was that even if the store recognized that you've purchased a song before, it wouldn't let you d/l it again. It did allow the user to purchase it again, reminding the user that it already had done so.
If they didn't do it, sure as shootin' someone else would.
That's a terrible excuse. There is a huge difference if (one of) the world's largest maker of networking hardware implements traffic content surveillance, or if some miniscule manufacturer on Iceland does it.
I blame them, they shouldn't get their hands in this jar.
Key point of the article
on
Legacy-Free PCs
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
"The installed base--that is, the mass of existing, older, in-use hardware--acts like a giant speed brake on the computer industry because businesses and users are loath to give up older equipment that's still functional, even if newer designs would perform better or faster."
Just like this says, this is about the computer industry - not about the users, the businesses that rely on computers or the businesses that develop software. It's about those who sell new systems.
Hell, what commodity industry wouldn't like to see the current technology stack thrown out the window every 20 years ? The perhaps largest change we see in consumer technology today is the current TV systems being replaced with HDTV. That too is driven by the industry, but has only become possible with the emergence of cheap DVD technologies and crappification of cinema theaters that makes the home experience better than the cinema experience. Consumers now feel that HDTV will give them a meaningful upgrade.
I doubt that very few home users feel that the 20 year old legacy is a problem. In fact, most users realize that there is little need to upgrade the core of the computer any longer, since performance for their basics needs isn't improved with new hardware (gamers excluded).
"Ironically, a win32 port has yet to be released."
Ironically, Duke3d has been running on win32 operative systems since the beginning. The tweaks to get the it working has been around about as long.
Great... another April 1st joke....
on
BSDs to be Merged
·
· Score: 4, Funny
The biggest controversy seems to be the selection of a new logo, which has stirred much debate within the new FretBSD community. While the BSD Daemon will remain, it's just a matter of changing his sneakers. Kris Kennaway, ex-FreeBSD Ports Cluster administrator, said : "We need to change those sneakers. Why do you think they're green anyway? Purple is a much superior color".
I wonder if paid subscribes don't have to put up with the April 1 jokes... might be worth it really.
So what exactly is the advantage of getting the distro a week ahead of everyone else when the servers for "subscriber use" are so overloaded it will take me a week to download it!?!
Because in a week when everyone else will try to get it it will take 2 weeks to download ?
One of the players engaging in this automated counterfeiting, a 29-year-old financial planner from Texas, said he did so without apology (although he did not want to be identified by name). "I think the bots actually level the playing field for people who have day jobs," he said. "When I play an online game, I can't be the best because there are some college kids out there spending 14 hours a day."
Yeah, bots also level the field for stupid people, less skilled people and complete idiots who don't know the game. "Leveling the playing field" is an stupid excuse. Games usually reward those who spend 14 hours a day compared to those who spend 1 hour a day, it's called practice.
Granted, games where the pure amount of time spent playing is rewarded are inherently poorly designed. But that doesn't excuse using bots.
Re:And today
on
Strike on Iraq
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The United States, along with all the other members of the UN Security Council, is authorized explicitly under UNSCR 678 to use "all necessary means" to resolve the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait.
No, you are wrong.
Resolution 678 says that "all necessary means" are allowed to enforce resolution 660.
Resolution 660:
1. Condemns the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait;
2. Demands that Iraq withdraw immediately and unconditionally all s its forces to the positions in which they were located on 1 August 1990;
3. Calls upon Iraq and Kuwait to begin immediately intensive negotiations for the resolution of their differences and supports all efforts in this regard, and especially those of the League of Arab States;
4. Decides to meet again as necessary to consider further steps with to ensure compliance with the present resolution.
Now, tell me how resolution 678 gives the US authorization to attack Iraq.
Oh how I want to meta-moderate this moderation... The poster not only does not know about H1Bs, but obviously he never thought about reading the article either.
It was my submission and I agree it's not very clear... I meant to say that the article is targeted at an audience that may be at a lower level of OSS experience.
I'd prefer if they did not see people having sex on the street. That does not mean that putting up security cameras everywhere that would anticipate what children are looking at in public, is a good idea.
It's absurd, but you only need the number to assume the identity of the person to which the number belongs. While credit card numbers usually can't be used without the actual card, the SSN can.
The US really needs a personal ID card, to protect the citizens from identity theft, like many other countries have. Americans already are uniquely identified by the government with a combination of paper trails, so it is not a question of integrity - that was lost long ago.
Think of the SSN as a public key, with your personal physical ID card as your private key. If it gets stolen that's when you worry and contact the police, not when your SSN gets guessed or stolen. Countries far more secure and respectful of citizens integrity than the US use this model successfully.
... don't be so damn uptight! I'm sure you'd complain about free beer not being cold enough.
Seeing dupe stories and silly spelling mistakes in the two-liners that editors write, add a lot of humanity to the site. It shows that there's a guy sitting there thinking "Oh man, I can't wait to get this out to the crowd!".
And all you can think about is that it says 'there' instead of 'their' somewhere. Sure, it's easy to spell-check but it's not about that. We don't want computer generated texts, we want it live!
Well, where else but on/. would being less knowledgeable of computer languages be considered being stupid ? I'm sure you're among those who blame security problems on "stupid Windoze users that deserve it anyway!".
I find your post very short-sighted and it is obvious that you have little understanding for how children learn and develop intelligence. There is no need to train kids on computers, just like there is no need to train them to use TVs or eat candy. They will learn it anyway, trust me,
With child-obesity at record levels, what we need to learn our children is to play outside, exercise, socialize and eat healthy. Maybe she should go horse riding if she's interested in animals - it's a great learning experience caring for a horse plus it practices empathy.
> My 11 year old has a better understanding about computers, > operating systems and computing than 90% of the population.
That's great if you want your daughter to become a computer blue collar worker in 2010, you're doing fine. She'll make a good code-monkey or sysadmin perhaps. A computer is a tool, not a purpose.
What children need to learn is learning, not specific proficiencies. Maybe that's the good part of what you are doing, you're learning her to learn. But don't focus on the tools, they're irrelevant toys just like the ones she had when she was a baby. They are for learning, not for skills.
> He spends 3 hours with his child teaching, and 8-12 hours playing > (you gotta keep up on the house and spouse/GF also)
There is no point in putting a child through 3 hours of school after school. And spending 15 hours a day with your daughter... I think you should put her into a real school and yourself into a job, just to give her a break!;)
"Instead of wasting space on functions that are not even vulnerabilities, they should be covering issues like Oracle's "unbreakable" applications having yet another series of remote buffer overflows that took six months to fix. They should be covering the fact that in order to get the patches for Oracle, you have to pay for them under a service contract. If Microsoft tried something like that, angry mobs of protesters would pull Bill Gates from his own home like a group of crazed Colombian soccer fans and bind him to a whipping post. "
Although the last part about whipping arouses me in a peculiar way, I'd much rather see Larry Ellison's claims being dissected and put into context. Sure they are a marginal player in most markets, but in the enterprise application business they really advertise aggressively and not so truthfully.
Seeing the tech press just relaying a story like this only confirms the notion that there are no journalists that understand tech, and no techies that understand journalism.
Slashdot Mirror
There is a crux with this though: the music industry doesn't really have similar products.
If you like Madonna, would you buy a cheaper record from the artist Annodam ? Most wouldn't.
So, in effect EMI (or whoever it is) has a local monopoly on Madonna music. It is hard to see how one could create a competitive market when brands are everything.
That's funny. I just saw an interview on VH1 this weekend with Gene Simmons where he admitted that they never played completely live.
Why don't they take the studio versions and add crowd noise instead.
79% of all percentages are made up on the spot.
I think yes and no. I just read this account of some first experiences with using it, and one complaint was that even if the store recognized that you've purchased a song before, it wouldn't let you d/l it again. It did allow the user to purchase it again, reminding the user that it already had done so.
You, sir, are supporting terrorism!
If they didn't do it, sure as shootin' someone else would.
That's a terrible excuse. There is a huge difference if (one of) the world's largest maker of networking hardware implements traffic content surveillance, or if some miniscule manufacturer on Iceland does it.
I blame them, they shouldn't get their hands in this jar.
"The installed base--that is, the mass of existing, older, in-use hardware--acts like a giant speed brake on the computer industry because businesses and users are loath to give up older equipment that's still functional, even if newer designs would perform better or faster."
Just like this says, this is about the computer industry - not about the users, the businesses that rely on computers or the businesses that develop software. It's about those who sell new systems.
Hell, what commodity industry wouldn't like to see the current technology stack thrown out the window every 20 years ? The perhaps largest change we see in consumer technology today is the current TV systems being replaced with HDTV. That too is driven by the industry, but has only become possible with the emergence of cheap DVD technologies and crappification of cinema theaters that makes the home experience better than the cinema experience. Consumers now feel that HDTV will give them a meaningful upgrade.
I doubt that very few home users feel that the 20 year old legacy is a problem. In fact, most users realize that there is little need to upgrade the core of the computer any longer, since performance for their basics needs isn't improved with new hardware (gamers excluded).
Agreed, but I think you are missing my point; duke3d already runs on win32 OSs. It runs on win2k under the DOS emulator.
Hehe, I already knew about that since a guy ran it against the dictionary file a few months ago...maybe that was you as well ? :)
I give in, better now ?
"Ironically, a win32 port has yet to be released."
Ironically, Duke3d has been running on win32 operative systems since the beginning. The tweaks to get the it working has been around about as long.
The biggest controversy seems to be the selection of a new logo, which has stirred much debate within the new FretBSD community. While the BSD Daemon will remain, it's just a matter of changing his sneakers. Kris Kennaway, ex-FreeBSD Ports Cluster administrator, said : "We need to change those sneakers. Why do you think they're green anyway? Purple is a much superior color".
I wonder if paid subscribes don't have to put up with the April 1 jokes... might be worth it really.
So what exactly is the advantage of getting the distro a week ahead of everyone else when the servers for "subscriber use" are so overloaded it will take me a week to download it!?!
Because in a week when everyone else will try to get it it will take 2 weeks to download ?
One of the players engaging in this automated counterfeiting, a 29-year-old financial planner from Texas, said he did so without apology (although he did not want to be identified by name). "I think the bots actually level the playing field for people who have day jobs," he said. "When I play an online game, I can't be the best because there are some college kids out there spending 14 hours a day."
Yeah, bots also level the field for stupid people, less skilled people and complete idiots who don't know the game. "Leveling the playing field" is an stupid excuse. Games usually reward those who spend 14 hours a day compared to those who spend 1 hour a day, it's called practice.
Granted, games where the pure amount of time spent playing is rewarded are inherently poorly designed. But that doesn't excuse using bots.
I got this image as an ad below the story. First I thought it was part of the story itself...
1 048263156125
http://images.slashdot.org/banner/ciph0004en.gif?
No, you are wrong.
Resolution 678 says that "all necessary means" are allowed to enforce resolution 660.
Resolution 660:
Now, tell me how resolution 678 gives the US authorization to attack Iraq.
References:
678
660
Oh how I want to meta-moderate this moderation... The poster not only does not know about H1Bs, but obviously he never thought about reading the article either.
It was my submission and I agree it's not very clear... I meant to say that the article is targeted at an audience that may be at a lower level of OSS experience.
I'd prefer if they did not see people having sex on the street. That does not mean that putting up security cameras everywhere that would anticipate what children are looking at in public, is a good idea.
It's absurd, but you only need the number to assume the identity of the person to which the number belongs. While credit card numbers usually can't be used without the actual card, the SSN can.
The US really needs a personal ID card, to protect the citizens from identity theft, like many other countries have. Americans already are uniquely identified by the government with a combination of paper trails, so it is not a question of integrity - that was lost long ago.
Think of the SSN as a public key, with your personal physical ID card as your private key. If it gets stolen that's when you worry and contact the police, not when your SSN gets guessed or stolen. Countries far more secure and respectful of citizens integrity than the US use this model successfully.
... don't be so damn uptight! I'm sure you'd complain about free beer not being cold enough.
Seeing dupe stories and silly spelling mistakes in the two-liners that editors write, add a lot of humanity to the site. It shows that there's a guy sitting there thinking "Oh man, I can't wait to get this out to the crowd!".
And all you can think about is that it says 'there' instead of 'their' somewhere. Sure, it's easy to spell-check but it's not about that. We don't want computer generated texts, we want it live!
Well, where else but on /. would being less knowledgeable of computer languages be considered being stupid ? I'm sure you're among those who blame security problems on "stupid Windoze users that deserve it anyway!".
;)
I find your post very short-sighted and it is obvious that you have little understanding for how children learn and develop intelligence. There is no need to train kids on computers, just like there is no need to train them to use TVs or eat candy. They will learn it anyway, trust me,
With child-obesity at record levels, what we need to learn our children is to play outside, exercise, socialize and eat healthy. Maybe she should go horse riding if she's interested in animals - it's a great learning experience caring for a horse plus it practices empathy.
> My 11 year old has a better understanding about computers,
> operating systems and computing than 90% of the population.
That's great if you want your daughter to become a computer blue collar worker in 2010, you're doing fine. She'll make a good code-monkey or sysadmin perhaps. A computer is a tool, not a purpose.
What children need to learn is learning, not specific proficiencies. Maybe that's the good part of what you are doing, you're learning her to learn. But don't focus on the tools, they're irrelevant toys just like the ones she had when she was a baby. They are for learning, not for skills.
> He spends 3 hours with his child teaching, and 8-12 hours playing
> (you gotta keep up on the house and spouse/GF also)
There is no point in putting a child through 3 hours of school after school. And spending 15 hours a day with your daughter... I think you should put her into a real school and yourself into a job, just to give her a break!
"Instead of wasting space on functions that are not even vulnerabilities, they should be covering issues like Oracle's "unbreakable" applications having yet another series of remote buffer overflows that took six months to fix. They should be covering the fact that in order to get the patches for Oracle, you have to pay for them under a service contract. If Microsoft tried something like that, angry mobs of protesters would pull Bill Gates from his own home like a group of crazed Colombian soccer fans and bind him to a whipping post. "
Although the last part about whipping arouses me in a peculiar way, I'd much rather see Larry Ellison's claims being dissected and put into context. Sure they are a marginal player in most markets, but in the enterprise application business they really advertise aggressively and not so truthfully.
Seeing the tech press just relaying a story like this only confirms the notion that there are no journalists that understand tech, and no techies that understand journalism.
> some charity organization like the local police
Dude, you need to go outside more often.
Oops bad example, mappquest.com exists. Use "map quest.com" instead.