Not to rain on your parade, but your link is a parody site. Don't believe everything you read in The Onion either.
While there is quite a bit of truth to what you're saying, the Queen makes a good point. The US political system is in disrepair due to voter apathy - and saying it's broke, ain't gonna fix it. What's needed is for people to express their opinions, rather than crawl into a hole, feeling sorry that no one agrees with their unspoken views.
Geeks are in a unique position w.r.t. the rest of the electorate. We have a very different set of concerns than the bulk of society. And... We're the Morlocks, they're the Eloi.
So tell me, If I've had a comptuer since I was 8 years old, and when I went to college for a few months they were teaching stuff I knew from back when I was 8, why should I sit through this class and have them take credit for what I knew about when I was 8?
For the same reason why you would bring your ID when going out with friends. You'll probably not get carded on the way into a bar - but if you do, you have some sort of 'proof' that you're old enough to be there. Even a fake ID will get you in, just as having a diploma, but being stupid, will let you in. But without an ID, you have to be OBVIOUSLY old enough - and you can not judge a competent IT pro by the number of wrinkles on his face.
Well.. I certainly didn't mean to imply that a College Degree meant a free ride for the rest of your life. I must not have made myself clear about the value of an education.
Ultimately, the money rules.
When there is room for flex, between otherwise equal candidates - I would hope that individual characteristics and past performance are considered - but often the decision is made by people who do not know the candidates personally, and so the degreed person tends to prevail, unless that person is female, which is very unfortunate.
FWIW, I've had the (dis)pleasure of working with a couple of turnips. Education is certainly not a cure for ignorance, but it has great things to offer to the intelligent. People who tend to memorize, rather than understand, should not be in IT - the field moves too fast and no amount of formal education will help them keep up. People who are fiercely intelligent, and can easily abstract experience into theory will gain little at a University - a piece of paper, a few interesting friends, and maybe forced exposure to fields that they would otherwise NOT venture into. Most people fall somewhere in between these two extremes. We tend to memorize what we have to, and understand what we can - and many times, being presented with the theory in a formal way greatly simplifies things. Understanding the theory helps to deal with the special cases we encounter in daily routine, and having a piece of paper to attest to this understanding is very helpful in getting the job, and keeping it down the line.
The turnip I worked with had been at the company for 25 years. I guarantee that, had the company been a fast-moving tech venture, he wouldn't survived a month. Furthermore, if he didn't have a degree, he would have never gotten in the door.
Now, I'm not saying that it is the right thing to do, to hire a graduatated Turnip, but I think his case makes the point quite clearly, don't you? He's got a degree, he's got a job. He's an idiot, but that's besides the point.
The point was that, all else being equal, a diploma beats lack thereof. Of course experience matters - the discussion is not about education vs experience in the long term, but about whether or not education is optional, and it is not.
In real reality, the person who can do the job cheaper will get the job. Superior technology, education, whatever... The accountants make the hiring decisions, especially when money is scarce. A $50k/annum 'seasoned veteran' will end up on his arse when a green newbie with the right buzzwords on his resume accepts a job at $25k.
For a father of 2 driving-age teens, with a mortgage, car payments, insurance and the prospect of putting kids through college, a salary requirement of $70k/yr is exactly that - a requirement. For a kid used to roommates and Ramen, $35k is a windfall. Money is relative.
As for employers honoring experience... Does it ever rain in your pretty little world? I grew up in the North East during it's boom-time. Subsequently, I've seen too many career engineers get laid off as their kids started school, just because it made sense on the bottom line. Snap out of it, and invest in proof of adapibility, an education, and don't forget to minor in something OTHER than your field of choice. Diversified interests are an investment in the future.
But education is what qualifies you for having a job when the economy is not that great... When the economy turns, and it will, IT jobs will start thinning out. Then, those who did as you suggest better be sure they have adequate funds saved up to afford not only College, but also the high standard of living they've grown accustomed to during the "good old days".
It's a real tough call. When the job market gets lean, as it will in a few years (as the IT trolls lured into the field by big bucks, and not the love of computers, start dropping like flies; and a new crop of grads enters an already bloated workforce) cashing in those stock options may not be a bad idea at all. Unless of course your options went belly up with the bulk of the dying dot-coms...
My suggestion, as an edumacated IT person: Get a job but go to school, at least part time. Keep going down the educational path, even if you have to crawl. And make sure that you consider employers who reimburse you for educational expenses more seriously than those who shower you with over-inflated stocks and leased cars. Those employers are investing in you, not tying you to their own success and binding you to their risks.
Stocks and cars will dry up quick when the economy turns south, but what you've learned is yours for life.
I suppose that the following were all myths, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary:
Joan d'Arc
Boudiccia
Kang Ke-Ching
Grace O'Malley
Bat Zabbai (Zenobia)
A whole nation known as the Amazons
While it is very true that women were traditionally a minority in armed combat, they were certainly not unheard of. Take a look at one of the Women Worriors pages on the net, or do your own search next time that facts inconveniently stand contrary to your opinion and prejudice.
Ok, let me get this straight...
The MPAA is going after those who distribute the DeCSS source code, AND after those who link to those distributing it.
The DeCSS code is a matter of public record, among the court documents of the case, and is available under the Freedom of Information Act.
How long before the MPAA should logically sue the US government for posessing and distributing DeCSS?
Let's all write to the relevant court and request a copy of the court records - and find out.
The REAL jabber has the/. user id: 13196
YESS! MPAA vs RIAA! There IS a God!
on
DeCSS Source Song
·
· Score: 1
Is there any way at all, that a major recording industry artist could find room for this piece on their upcoming album? The Offspring maybe?
This way the MPAA and the RIAA can bring their guns to bear onto each other's legal departments, allowing the rest of us to get on with making the world a better place without either of their bloated, reeking corpses.
An Anonymous Coward writes:
"Until recently I worked for Apple, and was not permitted to tell the world the truth about Apples internal technologies. But, now that I am no longer employed (though not at all disgruntled, honest) I can speak the truth.
Apple runs Linux on all it's internal servers! There! The truth is finally out.
Apple runs Linux everywhere. In fact, they preload it on all machines to test them properly, and then load MacOS for shipment to customers. Apple will not use MacOS in-house because it's not stable enough, the GUI looks too unprofessional, and (especially with the candy colored Aqua UI) the interns keep licking the screen. Steve Jobs often says "GUIs are for panty-waists and tree-huggers! Real people use C shell!"
Further more, Apple does not use any colorful or rounded cases in-house. Yes, Apple employees prefer beige, blocky cases, since it makes them feel like real professionals.
Oh, and Orcale has something to do with it as well.
Resumes provided upon request."
There you have it folks, the truth behind Apple's colorful peal. And you heard it here first.
There is no way in Hell that international computer-to-computer transactions did not exist before 1997. The World Bank, Western Union and any large business with an international branch or supply-chain has been using computerized transactions since at least the mid-80's... Some as far back as the 60's..
Please! The people behind this patent should not only be denied their claim, they should be tared, feathered and run out of town in a wheel-barrow!
Just as we NEED a frivolous law-suit penalty, we also should make the filing of frivolous patents punishable.
Exactly. This makes the application of software marketting tactics (public beta) to hardware even worse. Hardware is very unforgiving and it really accentuates the flaws in this sort of approach to "doing business".
Very true, except that Crusoe hasn't been officially released - only announced as 'being in development' - 'pending production' - etc.
Dell is accepting orders for thie Intel 1.3 Ghz chips right now, but the chip may not be usable.
While it is true that Crusoe is not yet shipping, TransMeta isn't retailing it either. Intel IS selling their chip, well, actually, they're selling it's hype.
I know, I know, there's enough M$ bashing here as it is, but... They (M$) did start this trend that Intel (and numerous.coms) seems to have picked up.
They announce a product before it's completely designed. They "release" an unstable, unworkable version 1.0 of something, just to get their name out on a press-release. All to divert attention from a competitors product and get some cash flowing in to fund the development of version 2.0 (or 3.1) which is the actual product.
The competitor releases their offering later, but it's of higher quality. Still, the vapour has already dulled people's minds to the competitor's efforts and value.
Techies know better, but how many home-users and managers do? We have to make it clear to the business decision makers and the casual users, that this is not about Intel being technologically superior or better able to deliver on schedule than AMD or Transmeta or anyone else - it's marketting and it needs to be stated as such.
Not that I think Transmeta is a God-send, but let's let numbers and solid products do the talking. A 1.3Ghz CPU from Intel, even though it's been demoed, is still vapour-ware, until it's solid and readily available.
The REAL jabber has the/. user id: 13196
Cloning extinct species
on
TigerCloning
·
· Score: 1
I don't think that they're doing it to repopulate the world with mammoth, but rather to see if they CAN bring a dead species back to life. Interesting question that brings up some interesting thoughts.
They died out for a reason. Could they even survive now? They won't bring any of their diseases back with them, since that's not inherent in their DNS, but they may be easily susceptible to our diseases. Great potential value for immunology research, environmental adaptibility studies, increased knowledge of genetic engineering (insert link to spider-silk producing goats here).
If we prove that we CAN do it, will we also prove that we SHOULD NOT have? If openning the Panama Canal had very dire consequences on the ecology of both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and introducing rabbits into Australia was a disaster, and introducing lamprey into the Great Lakes is a major problem, and dumping an exotic aquarium into a local lake is inviting trouble, and you can not transport live fruit to another country... What might the consequences be of introducing into the wild, an animal from a different millenium? What if, after successfully cloning a mammoth, we try the Velociraptors after all? Did Divine Providence remove them for a reason, so we'd have a chance?
And, will the ability to bring the dead back to life make us more cavalier about how we handle our ecology? Will we be less careful with deforestation and developing the wet-lands because, after all, we now have an "UNDO" button? The government is storing seeds of our staple crops, just as they store printed materials in the LoC; just in case of a disaster. Will they also store animal DNA - so we can recover the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus after it goes extinct?
And lastly, will this ability to rewind evolution encourage us to hack human DNA, and take human life more lightly than we already do because... Hey.. We can always reinstall the previous version of your child, since the upgraded 'genius-athlete' model developed cancer at the age of three.
But, the problem is that for all the speculating we can do, we simply can not know the consequences without walking that path in rigorously controlled, laboratory conditions - to see what lies on the other side of the door. We need to do this; but we need to realize that we may not be able to close the door again, and so we should not open it unless we're willing to accept whatever comes through it.
First: I mean, really.. The government makes the laws, and the DoD is an appendant body of the government, so therefore, the government can say that Copyright Licenses do not apply to the DoD, and bypass the GPL without so much as an 'excuse me'. If we were ever told about the transgressions of law that have been perpetrated in the name of National Security, we would SHIT!
Yeah, yeah, "lead by example" and all that. Bull!
Second: I am completely convinced that RMS would be more than happy to release the DoD from any obligation to the GPL in the case of National Defense.
Third: The GPL only requires the release of source code IF you redistribute the product. Somehow, I doubt we will be seeing DoD-Linux on store shelves any time soon.
Fourth: Why Linux? Isn't OpenBSD THE most secure and solid OS on the planet?
The ship had to be towed into the Naval base at Norfolk, Va., because a database overflow caused its propulsion system to fail...
As much as I enjoy kicking Microsoft every chance I get, this doesn't sound like their fault. I mean, BSOD or not... That's just bad fscking design. The person responsible (probably a manager who encouraged junior coders or contractors to cut corners in an effort to meet schedule) should be court-marshaled. The idea of leaving critical system hooked into anything other than a power source is staggering.
Unless of course, propulsion is not a critical system. I can see some logic in there. If you can't turn tail and run, you're likely to fight harder.;)
If I understand this correctly, this is not a problem with PGP per se, but rather with the corporate/government backdoor extension into PGP. PGP itself is sounds as stone, but yet another hack, intended to give enquiring minds a means to know has it's pants down.
As I understand the 'extended' scheme, there are actually two copies of the message in the PGP ciphertext. One is encoded with MY key, and is safe, and the other is encoded with Their key - which in some versions is not secured properly and may be compromised.
The workaround seems simple enough: pre-encode my message before giving it to the 'weak' version of PGP; this way, if Their version of the key is bogus, all that an eavesdropper can get is my original cipher. Or is there a problem with doubly-encoding a message with My key?
Does that mean that my freshly-ordered DeCSS T-shirt from www.copyleft.net will be siezed by postal inspectors?? Will the FBI raid my underwear drawer looking for contraband?
The rate and trend we're on, it's likely to be a monolithic box with a single fiber-bundle input. Chock full of DSPs and reprogrammable chips - like the Crusoe; except we don't get to go inside.
It's mounted on a rack in the closet, and the cabling goes all throughout the house. Better yet, BlueTooth.
Any component you want to add can be plugged in anywhere. A new flat-screen TV is your monitor, as is the PDA in your pocket. You speak into the air in any room, and you are obeyed. You buy a new refridgerator, and it's suddenly online. Where you put the keyboard - and there WILL be one - is a matter of decoration more than functionality.
And it's completely transparent to all, except the technologists - which is as it should be. Just as I don't care to know the exact air/fuel mix in my engine, neither does my mechanic care about his chip-set or the temperature of his CPU.
People who are not passionate about the tech find it too complex and too intrusive. They want a box they plug in, more easily then a stereo component or VCR. They just want it to work, seamlessly and without requiring them to RTFM.
The computer of 2010 may be more like a CD changer than anything else. The computer of 2015 will be a freaking LAMP. Seriously... You can cram a whole lot of hardware into those things - all that empty space. Network the thing via power-lines, and to upgrade your processing power, you just buy another lamp, or TV, or Microwave... Or a slot mounted, monolithic box (the size of a VHS tape at most) that you plug-in to a rack in the closet.. But this is where I came in.
A U.S. sub has just pulled into dock in Groton, C.T.
There is an inexplicable scuff of red paint on the side,
but other then that, none the worse for wear.
Slashdot Mirror
While there is quite a bit of truth to what you're saying, the Queen makes a good point. The US political system is in disrepair due to voter apathy - and saying it's broke, ain't gonna fix it. What's needed is for people to express their opinions, rather than crawl into a hole, feeling sorry that no one agrees with their unspoken views.
Geeks are in a unique position w.r.t. the rest of the electorate. We have a very different set of concerns than the bulk of society. And... We're the Morlocks, they're the Eloi.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
For the same reason why you would bring your ID when going out with friends. You'll probably not get carded on the way into a bar - but if you do, you have some sort of 'proof' that you're old enough to be there. Even a fake ID will get you in, just as having a diploma, but being stupid, will let you in. But without an ID, you have to be OBVIOUSLY old enough - and you can not judge a competent IT pro by the number of wrinkles on his face.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Ultimately, the money rules.
When there is room for flex, between otherwise equal candidates - I would hope that individual characteristics and past performance are considered - but often the decision is made by people who do not know the candidates personally, and so the degreed person tends to prevail, unless that person is female, which is very unfortunate.
FWIW, I've had the (dis)pleasure of working with a couple of turnips. Education is certainly not a cure for ignorance, but it has great things to offer to the intelligent. People who tend to memorize, rather than understand, should not be in IT - the field moves too fast and no amount of formal education will help them keep up. People who are fiercely intelligent, and can easily abstract experience into theory will gain little at a University - a piece of paper, a few interesting friends, and maybe forced exposure to fields that they would otherwise NOT venture into. Most people fall somewhere in between these two extremes. We tend to memorize what we have to, and understand what we can - and many times, being presented with the theory in a formal way greatly simplifies things. Understanding the theory helps to deal with the special cases we encounter in daily routine, and having a piece of paper to attest to this understanding is very helpful in getting the job, and keeping it down the line.
The turnip I worked with had been at the company for 25 years. I guarantee that, had the company been a fast-moving tech venture, he wouldn't survived a month. Furthermore, if he didn't have a degree, he would have never gotten in the door.
Now, I'm not saying that it is the right thing to do, to hire a graduatated Turnip, but I think his case makes the point quite clearly, don't you? He's got a degree, he's got a job. He's an idiot, but that's besides the point.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The point was that, all else being equal, a diploma beats lack thereof. Of course experience matters - the discussion is not about education vs experience in the long term, but about whether or not education is optional, and it is not.
In real reality, the person who can do the job cheaper will get the job. Superior technology, education, whatever... The accountants make the hiring decisions, especially when money is scarce. A $50k/annum 'seasoned veteran' will end up on his arse when a green newbie with the right buzzwords on his resume accepts a job at $25k.
For a father of 2 driving-age teens, with a mortgage, car payments, insurance and the prospect of putting kids through college, a salary requirement of $70k/yr is exactly that - a requirement. For a kid used to roommates and Ramen, $35k is a windfall. Money is relative.
As for employers honoring experience... Does it ever rain in your pretty little world? I grew up in the North East during it's boom-time. Subsequently, I've seen too many career engineers get laid off as their kids started school, just because it made sense on the bottom line. Snap out of it, and invest in proof of adapibility, an education, and don't forget to minor in something OTHER than your field of choice. Diversified interests are an investment in the future.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
It's a real tough call. When the job market gets lean, as it will in a few years (as the IT trolls lured into the field by big bucks, and not the love of computers, start dropping like flies; and a new crop of grads enters an already bloated workforce) cashing in those stock options may not be a bad idea at all. Unless of course your options went belly up with the bulk of the dying dot-coms...
My suggestion, as an edumacated IT person: Get a job but go to school, at least part time. Keep going down the educational path, even if you have to crawl. And make sure that you consider employers who reimburse you for educational expenses more seriously than those who shower you with over-inflated stocks and leased cars. Those employers are investing in you, not tying you to their own success and binding you to their risks.
Stocks and cars will dry up quick when the economy turns south, but what you've learned is yours for life.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Joan d'Arc
Boudiccia
Kang Ke-Ching
Grace O'Malley
Bat Zabbai (Zenobia)
A whole nation known as the Amazons
While it is very true that women were traditionally a minority in armed combat, they were certainly not unheard of. Take a look at one of the Women Worriors pages on the net, or do your own search next time that facts inconveniently stand contrary to your opinion and prejudice.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The MPAA is going after those who distribute the DeCSS source code, AND after those who link to those distributing it.
The DeCSS code is a matter of public record, among the court documents of the case, and is available under the Freedom of Information Act.
How long before the MPAA should logically sue the US government for posessing and distributing DeCSS?
Let's all write to the relevant court and request a copy of the court records - and find out.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
This way the MPAA and the RIAA can bring their guns to bear onto each other's legal departments, allowing the rest of us to get on with making the world a better place without either of their bloated, reeking corpses.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
"Until recently I worked for Apple, and was not permitted to tell the world the truth about Apples internal technologies. But, now that I am no longer employed (though not at all disgruntled, honest) I can speak the truth.
Apple runs Linux on all it's internal servers! There! The truth is finally out.
Apple runs Linux everywhere. In fact, they preload it on all machines to test them properly, and then load MacOS for shipment to customers. Apple will not use MacOS in-house because it's not stable enough, the GUI looks too unprofessional, and (especially with the candy colored Aqua UI) the interns keep licking the screen. Steve Jobs often says "GUIs are for panty-waists and tree-huggers! Real people use C shell!"
Further more, Apple does not use any colorful or rounded cases in-house. Yes, Apple employees prefer beige, blocky cases, since it makes them feel like real professionals.
Oh, and Orcale has something to do with it as well.
Resumes provided upon request."
There you have it folks, the truth behind Apple's colorful peal. And you heard it here first.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Please! The people behind this patent should not only be denied their claim, they should be tared, feathered and run out of town in a wheel-barrow!
Just as we NEED a frivolous law-suit penalty, we also should make the filing of frivolous patents punishable.
Click here.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Dell is accepting orders for thie Intel 1.3 Ghz chips right now, but the chip may not be usable.
While it is true that Crusoe is not yet shipping, TransMeta isn't retailing it either. Intel IS selling their chip, well, actually, they're selling it's hype.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
They announce a product before it's completely designed. They "release" an unstable, unworkable version 1.0 of something, just to get their name out on a press-release. All to divert attention from a competitors product and get some cash flowing in to fund the development of version 2.0 (or 3.1) which is the actual product.
The competitor releases their offering later, but it's of higher quality. Still, the vapour has already dulled people's minds to the competitor's efforts and value.
Techies know better, but how many home-users and managers do? We have to make it clear to the business decision makers and the casual users, that this is not about Intel being technologically superior or better able to deliver on schedule than AMD or Transmeta or anyone else - it's marketting and it needs to be stated as such.
Not that I think Transmeta is a God-send, but let's let numbers and solid products do the talking. A 1.3Ghz CPU from Intel, even though it's been demoed, is still vapour-ware, until it's solid and readily available.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
They died out for a reason. Could they even survive now? They won't bring any of their diseases back with them, since that's not inherent in their DNS, but they may be easily susceptible to our diseases. Great potential value for immunology research, environmental adaptibility studies, increased knowledge of genetic engineering (insert link to spider-silk producing goats here).
If we prove that we CAN do it, will we also prove that we SHOULD NOT have? If openning the Panama Canal had very dire consequences on the ecology of both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and introducing rabbits into Australia was a disaster, and introducing lamprey into the Great Lakes is a major problem, and dumping an exotic aquarium into a local lake is inviting trouble, and you can not transport live fruit to another country... What might the consequences be of introducing into the wild, an animal from a different millenium? What if, after successfully cloning a mammoth, we try the Velociraptors after all? Did Divine Providence remove them for a reason, so we'd have a chance?
And, will the ability to bring the dead back to life make us more cavalier about how we handle our ecology? Will we be less careful with deforestation and developing the wet-lands because, after all, we now have an "UNDO" button? The government is storing seeds of our staple crops, just as they store printed materials in the LoC; just in case of a disaster. Will they also store animal DNA - so we can recover the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus after it goes extinct?
And lastly, will this ability to rewind evolution encourage us to hack human DNA, and take human life more lightly than we already do because... Hey.. We can always reinstall the previous version of your child, since the upgraded 'genius-athlete' model developed cancer at the age of three.
But, the problem is that for all the speculating we can do, we simply can not know the consequences without walking that path in rigorously controlled, laboratory conditions - to see what lies on the other side of the door. We need to do this; but we need to realize that we may not be able to close the door again, and so we should not open it unless we're willing to accept whatever comes through it.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Yeah, yeah, "lead by example" and all that. Bull!
Second: I am completely convinced that RMS would be more than happy to release the DoD from any obligation to the GPL in the case of National Defense.
Third: The GPL only requires the release of source code IF you redistribute the product. Somehow, I doubt we will be seeing DoD-Linux on store shelves any time soon.
Fourth: Why Linux? Isn't OpenBSD THE most secure and solid OS on the planet?
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
As much as I enjoy kicking Microsoft every chance I get, this doesn't sound like their fault. I mean, BSOD or not... That's just bad fscking design. The person responsible (probably a manager who encouraged junior coders or contractors to cut corners in an effort to meet schedule) should be court-marshaled. The idea of leaving critical system hooked into anything other than a power source is staggering.
Unless of course, propulsion is not a critical system. I can see some logic in there. If you can't turn tail and run, you're likely to fight harder.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
From the authors original message:
*PGP-2.6.3ia UNIX (not vulnerable - doesn't support V4 signatures)
*PGP-5.0i UNIX (not vulnerable)
*PGP-5.5.3i WINDOWS (VULNERABLE)
*PGP-6.5.1i WINDOWS (VULNERABLE)
*GnuPG-1.0.1 UNIX (not vulnerable)
Well, call me a zealot, but I think I see a pattern emerging...
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
As I understand the 'extended' scheme, there are actually two copies of the message in the PGP ciphertext. One is encoded with MY key, and is safe, and the other is encoded with Their key - which in some versions is not secured properly and may be compromised.
The workaround seems simple enough: pre-encode my message before giving it to the 'weak' version of PGP; this way, if Their version of the key is bogus, all that an eavesdropper can get is my original cipher. Or is there a problem with doubly-encoding a message with My key?
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Or if you used it on yourself, you could be arrested for hiding evidence.
This thing is really out of control. I hope the few sane people left in Washington are paying attention.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
[duck, run, hide]
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
HELP! HELP! I'm being redressed!
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
It's mounted on a rack in the closet, and the cabling goes all throughout the house. Better yet, BlueTooth.
Any component you want to add can be plugged in anywhere. A new flat-screen TV is your monitor, as is the PDA in your pocket. You speak into the air in any room, and you are obeyed. You buy a new refridgerator, and it's suddenly online. Where you put the keyboard - and there WILL be one - is a matter of decoration more than functionality.
And it's completely transparent to all, except the technologists - which is as it should be. Just as I don't care to know the exact air/fuel mix in my engine, neither does my mechanic care about his chip-set or the temperature of his CPU.
People who are not passionate about the tech find it too complex and too intrusive. They want a box they plug in, more easily then a stereo component or VCR. They just want it to work, seamlessly and without requiring them to RTFM.
The computer of 2010 may be more like a CD changer than anything else. The computer of 2015 will be a freaking LAMP. Seriously... You can cram a whole lot of hardware into those things - all that empty space. Network the thing via power-lines, and to upgrade your processing power, you just buy another lamp, or TV, or Microwave... Or a slot mounted, monolithic box (the size of a VHS tape at most) that you plug-in to a rack in the closet.. But this is where I came in.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
There is an inexplicable scuff of red paint on the side,
but other then that, none the worse for wear.
Coincidence? I think not.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Learn more here.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196