but can the storage format your putting your data on stand up to the heat?
Oddly enough, I was just looking into these earlier today. They make media fireproof safes. Most of them I saw say that they will keep the internal temperature uner 125 degrees F, and under 80% humidity. 125 degrees is the melting point of most portable media. They seemed pretty costly, but if you are going to get a fireproof box, why not spend the extra $100 to get one that is media friendly? I saw some decent, albeit small, ones for around $250.
I like UT for all out fragging, but I really like the old Team Fortress for the gameplay. Half-life was OK for this too, but it seems a little refined for my tastes. Kind of like driving a new sports car vs an older one - the older ones have a certain raw charm about them. Plus, I like the modding that has been done for TF, and I even created my own map. Fun stuff.
MS has made a decision to be backwards compatible. This represents a huge liability.
I am confused by this. How are they backwards compatible? I can't upgrade Win98 to NT, or 2000, or XP. It is a fresh install. I *may* be able to run some of my old apps from Win98 to a newer MS OS, but that isn't guaranteed.
And where they are backwards compatible, it is only a liability because of HOW they implement things, with their closed "standards". If they were openly available formats and standards, then it would be much less of a liability. Their liability is in HOW they chose to be backwards compatible, or more correctly on how they chose to architect their system.
Having read their section on Windows' Strengths, there are several bits that I disagree with, but really the hardware issue is the most annoying.
Better hardware detection. Setting up UNIX on a new PC is difficult, requiring a more intimate knowledge of how the hardware is built. That's an up-front cost; given the existence of multiple identically configured systems, cloning an established system doesn't present the same problems.
This I don't agree with. Granted that you need a little bit more knowledge to get hardware working, if you do know what you're doing (and this paper is aimed at people who do, or at least should know what they're doing), it is far more reliable. If something goes wrong, there is a reason it went wrong, and a way to fix it. In windows, even the biggest guru finds the hardware detection system to be black magic to say the least. At worst, it can be completely random!
Plus cloning a Linux is very easy and reliable, because as a general rule there are fewer driver dependencies. Think about a Slackware setup booting into console only server mode. How many hardware/module dependencies are there? All I can think of is the Ethernet card. Other than that, the image is completely transferrable.
You have to keep in mind that this paper wasn't released today, it was in August of 2000. So it is safe to say that the research behind it was probably even earlier in 2000. I don't think it was that simple back then, it has certainly gotten much better. Given the fact that it used to be that there weren't *nix drivers for new hardware provided by the manufacturer, it would have been more difficult to set up a new PC with *nix. Now, things have changed, but there is still work to be done. Note the story right after this one on/. frontpage, where ATI released new Linux drivers. Also, not knowing what the article meant by "unix" could play into that decision - if speaking in general, then yes, generally it WAS a little more difficult to get these things working.
Just wondering, why can't you run Quake under Linux/*BSD/WhateverYouUse. I ask this because I'm a total Linux idiot, and even I can get it working.
Cause I am lazy.:-)
Seriously, because I haven't been able to get my scroll mouse to work under Redhat 7.3. I have tried to get imwheel to work, but it just doesn't. I need my wheel when I play Quake (I play the old Team Fortress, not that fancy-pants new one). I have a zoom cfg file that uses the wheel mouse to variable zoom. Quite handy.
Why are these things posted here? Is it because of the many/. users that use windows:-), or is it because we're always trying to make windows look bad?
1. Yes, a lot of Slashdotters use Windows. I am using it right now. I have to, because that is what is mandated where I work. I am sure that is the case for many other people. I am sure some of the admins have to administer Windows systems. Basically, we are stuck with Windows, so we need to know this information. At home, on the other hand, I only boot up the Windows machine if I need a Quake fix.
2. We don't have to make Windows look bad, it is doing a fine job of doing that itself, thank you very much. Slashdot didn't release this alert, Microsoft did. Would you rather not know about it?
Schools simply don't have the programs for technology education, and even in the high schools there is, at best, only a typing and a Microsoft Word class, and if you are extremely lucky and well funded, a class that will teach Q-Basic.
Whaaaa?
In 1986 I took my first computer class in school. I learned how to program in BASIC on an 8086. We later got in several 286 machines, which was awesome. This was in a town of 3000 people, and our computer teacher was about 40 years old at the time. We obviously didn't have a huge budget, and there was no such thing as a network.
Are you telling me that today, in high school, they only use computers to teach typing? I find it extremely hard to believe that computer education has gotten worse in 15 years.
You can be cynical all you want, but don't project it onto the education system.
And of course the discounts aren't "real". They simply jack the prices and give you the old price if you sign up to be tracked.
No, not really (at least in this case). I am speaking of Jewel/Osco and Dominicks stores. A lot of times it is "buy one get one free" or a reasonable sale price on an item. You can compare the brands, and unless they jack up the price on everything in the store, you can clearly see where the bargains are. Sometimes it is a great sale on beef or chicken, where it is really a bargain to use their card.
And profiling customers is a bad thing? Here's my take on it:
1) Advertising isn't going away, it's increasing, we are getting bombarded everywhere, now even in video game.
2) Why not give enough information to the sellers so that they can give me offers that I might actually like?
That is all fine and good, if you want it. The real crux of the issue is that the people who don't want it shouldn't have it forced on them. It should be 100% voluntary, but that won't happen. They don't want advertising to be voluntary. The way they do it now, at least where I shop, is they give you a store card with a barcode on it, which they scan at checkout. You get additional discounts on many items if you use it. While it is voluntary to have a card, the discounts are sufficient enough to warrant getting one. I usually save $5-10 every time I shop.
Voluntary targeted advertising - good.
Mandatory targeted advertising - bad.
And to answer your questions:
1) That doesn't make it right
2) They will always ask for more information than they really need. At least more than meets their stated objectives. Why do they need my address, phone number, etc simply to track which groceries I buy?
And if you don't want the government to know the info, but you don't care if a store manager knows, you should think about that a little more. Do you care if a librarian knows what books you check out? What about the FBI? When you give up that information, you lose control over who gets to see it.
I have Knoppix running on an old Dell PII-233 as my MP3 player. I took out the hard drive, so it only runs on CD. I put in a 6-channal audio card hooked into the stereo and a video card w/TV-out (auto-detected, way cool). I run GNUMP3D on my Linux server, and now I can play all my MP3s through my stereo in the living room using the knoppix distro as the front end. (the wired keyboard/mouse isn't that elegant, I might get a wireless one eventually). The nice part is that it is pretty much silent when not in use.
They'll chip away at Sony and Nintendo's profits until even these successful companies can't make a profit.
This will NOT happen. That is like saying that MacOS will drive Windows off the desktop.
Sony is HUGE, and they could probably fight MS toe-to-toe, especially in the console market. Nintendo is the 800 lb gorilla when it comes to game consoles, with Sony weighing in at a hefty 700 lbs. Microsoft is a screeching, shit-flinging chimpanzee.
Honestly, I think for the most part, the layoffs haven't changed the way people work. That is something I have found to hold pretty true, that people (at least here in the US) have a pretty short memory.
(pardon the Katzian reference)
Shortly after Sep11,2001, I wondered how soon it would be before people got over the genuine shock and horror of what happened, stop being friendly to each other in solidarity, and start in with the Bin Laden jokes. I knew it wouldn't be long. Sure enough, about 2 months after it happened, I saw my first Tshirt with Bin Laden's face in the crosshairs. Sure, there is natural bad sentiment towards someone who did something that tragic, but the REAL gravity of what happened dissipated quickly. It was back to NASCAR and lawsuits.
Granted, this isn't true of everyone, but overall we as a country are back to business as usual. (unfortunately) I think the same can be said of the tech industry, at least from my experience. Sure, we have trimmed budgets, and cut the work force, but I really don't see any difference in how people look at their jobs as a result of that. There are still lazy people who do just enough to get by. After a layoff, people scurry around, and try to prove that they are valuable, but that subsides quickly. No sooner has the sigh of relief that you still have a job been breathed than you just settle down in your chair and get back to same old routine.
Maybe I am a bit jaded, because I was able to get a job a month after the company I worked for went under. But that was 2 years ago, on the front side of the massive meltdown. I was lucky to get with a large company that has had only one layoff since then, and it was relatively small. But I see things going the same as they were when I got here. In general, people aren't worried about losing their jobs. Not that you need to be worried about losing your job in order to do a good job, but it doesn't seem like there is an urgency anymore. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
Jeez, where am I going with this? Well, I kind of follow a Zen style of work. I do my job, I do it as good as I can. If I get laid off, I get laid off. I have confidence that I can do my job as good or better than my coworkers, and if not, then at least I did my best. I don't do just what it takes to get by, I try not to settle in for the long haul and cruise. I have been here 2 years, and I am still trying to improve myself and my skills. This skill is lost on a lot of people, and I think it is a valuable one. I think if you are working in a manner just to keep your job, then you aren't being genuine. Be genuine, and just be. There is no prize to keep your eye on. Develop yourself, improve yourself, because you are the asset, and others will see that.
Presumably those of us who spend time here do so in pursuit of some nerdy interest of our own.
Then why would you comment on something that you knew nothing about?
Think about that for a second.
And I hardly think it is uber-geekery to be able to make the connection between the word "trojan" and "trojan horse" when referring to malicious code that was snuck into other code.
I agree with a lot of the opinion here that the commentary on this article is crap, and is clearly anti-MS in the worst way.
But this story reminds me of that great Chris Rock routine. (paraphrasing, and substituting the N word)
People always want credit for something they're supposed to do. I ain't never been to jail. What do you want, a cookie?!
I take care of my kids. You're supposed to you dumb motherfucker!
So yes, while it is good that MS is doing this, I think that it is no big deal - they should do it. I am not going to praise them for it, this is what they should have done long before now. I am not going to rail on them either, because they are making some kind of effort. Assuming that they actually do what they say they are going to do. Sorry, but they have a bad track record, I am not going to believe it until I see it. Why am I skeptical? Among other things, I have seen the Win2kSP2 EULA. I wonder what the EULA on these new security patches will look like...
Sure, there are people who are interested in only piracy, and there are people who are only interested in free games, but in a hundred years, the reason why we will have copies of arcade games from 1975 on up will be because of emulations projects like MAME.
I don't condone piracy to avoid paying for the latest game or to avoid paying a theater for a movie. But there is a difference between downloading GTA3 and downloading a 25 year old ROM that is not available for commercial sale. Not legally, but ethically.
AMEN! I used to collect video games, and I know a couple collectors who own a LOT of games. I am talking 300+. These are the enthusiasts who keep these things alive. One of my good friends was involved in scrounging up all the parts and putting together one of the only known working Zektor games at the time. He put it in a standup Eliminator cocktail cabinet, and we used to get drunk as hell and play Zektor and Eliminator until the wee hours of the morning.
I ended up selling my two standup cabinets because they just took up too much room in my apartment. I still have a cocktail game, and a Galaga cabaret. I have a couple of boxes of boardsets in the garage, containing the games I just couldn't bear to sell (Bubble Bobble, New Zealand Story, Rainbow Islands, Pengo, Elevator Action, Gyruss, Galaxian). If it weren't for the enthusiasts, the people who love arcade games, these things would be extinct. Instead, they are kept alive. So what if I have a CDROM set with all the ROMs on them. Some are legal, because I own the boardsets, but most of them are illegal. Oooooo, lock me up, I am breaking the law. I know some guys who were trying to get side art to restore one of their game cabinets, and they couldn't find it. So they went through the trouble to reproduce it. They were shut down when the game company got wind of it. Sad. Technically, that is illegal, but for Jebus' sake, when did we stop using our brains and rely completely on the "law"? I think there are definitely gray areas. Pac-Man is a part of our collective culture, as are many of the old classics (and not-so-classics). Enthusiasts have done some really amazing things out of love for these games. Like MAME.
I know that typical Slashdot math (49 + 2 - 1 = 49) is a bit "creative", but I hardly see how a dozen (or even two, three, or four dozen) movie studios with a couple hundred Linux boxes measures up to the predicted number of Linux desktop users (18,000,000) [li.org] from the folks who run the Linux Counter Web site.
Because they aren't dorks like you and me (ok, just you);-). These are big movie studios, and that gives GNU/Linux mainstream credibility. That is something that you or I don't do.
It isn't earth-shattering news, but I do see it as good news. The more people, including high-profile businesses, that use GNU/Linux, the better. The even nicer part is that they aren't just users, they are giving back too.
Several people seemed to take the idea that the film studios using this had some kind of implication in the MPAA's fight against piracy or DRM, but I just saw it as a nice little bit of irony. After all, if they are able to impact OSS, at least they will feel part of the pain too. Let's hope it doesn't come to that though.
Re:Open Source Pioneers? Or $$$ Saving?
on
Film Gimp
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· Score: 2
By the way, I thought we hate the movie industry here, and now we laud them for use of open-source?
Yes. Why not preach the benefits of Open Source? That is the point, everyone can benefit from it. Let them benefit from it. Let them see first hand WHY it is beneficial, and why they shouldn't destroy it by supporting DRM and Palladium. There is no harm that can come of that, only the potential for good. If OSS gets kicked in the gnuts by Trusted Computing, then maybe they will feel a twinge of pain. It is obvious that they don't listen to reason, or the general public, so let them feel our pain.
The way I see it, the more people that use GNU/Linux and Open Source Software, the better. After all, that is the point. Dreamworks gives it more credibility than you or I do.
Re:Maybe it's just me...
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Film Gimp
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Dreamworks wants to make a profit. The larger the profit they can make, the happier everyone is. One way to increase your profits is to reduce your costs. Simple math right? So how do you reduce the cost of your software? You switch to open source of course.
I HIGHLY doubt they switched to Linux desktops to save money. That may have been a benefit, but it couldn't have been the only reason. They switched because it worked better for their needs (and SGI was out). The article states that they do a lot of work to improve the software, and to customize it to do what they want. I have a feeling that is the real driving force - it is the solution they need.
Just because it's a large company and they chose to use open source software isn't anything special in my book. It's the logical choice for those in the know. But then again I guess it's nice to hear about Linux's ever-increasing acceptance.
I think that it is important becuase it is big movie studios. Companies? Big deal. Big companies who can get to the point where they rely on it for their business, and those same companies are fighting for DRM? Hmm, a little more interesting. Not that having Linux in house will prevent them from supporting DRM, but if they do it, they will feel the effects. The more people that use it, the better.
My using it doesn't give it credibility, but Dreamworks using it sure as hell does.
Somebody's been messing around there, don't you think?
Mod down/burn karma?
Mod down/burn karma?
Mod down/burn karma?
Burn Karma.
I had a complete flame composed, but then realized that you honestly can't be this ignorant, and must have meant this to be funny. If this was a serious comment, then you really should hang your head in shame. (actually, you should either way)
I made the choice about 8 years ago. When I got out of college in '93, I took a job at Motorola. I had a BS-CS. My entry level position lasted about a year, I was doing build/configuration management stuff. At the end of that year I had proven myself, and they said I should decide what I wanted to do next. I had two choices - development or test. I knew how to code, as most CS students fresh out of college do. I had gotten to know both teams of people, and I chose the test side. I have been doing it ever since, and it has served me well.
A lot of people consider it to be a stepping stone position, where you put the new developers so they can get an overall idea of the product. I don't. That is good for me, because companies want people who are serious about the position. They don't teach QA in school, they teach programming. I went with the odds that I wouldn't be fighting for my job every year against a fresh batch of bright-eyed programmers.
Some people aren't suited for QA, others are. I think I am, because I get to problem solve quite a bit, and even write a little code. I am currently working on QA process, and test automation. You get to really be anal-retentive and picky, which I am good at. If you program, you only know X number of languages, but I can test pretty much anything you throw at me. My job is based on methodologies that I can pretty much apply to anything. I admin my own Linux system on my home network, which I find really interesting, but I don't think I want to be an admin. But it helps me when I need to talk to the admins, or other tech people I come across in my job.
No matter what your job is, I think you should always pursue what you really like outside of your job. Maybe they are the same things. Develop YOU, because no matter where you work, you will have to interact with other people.
Certainly, there are lots more drives out there, but they are failing at a higher rate.
I think part of it is that there is a bigger demand for drives, so the companies that make them are pushing the technology. It does seem that there are bad "batches" or "runs" of drives. In the rush to get to market, I can see where quality and perhaps durability has slipped. But several years ago, there didn't seem to be this big of a push for bigger drives. I have a feeling that the quest for larger drives will slow a bit, because currently we are running out of ways to fill them up. Not everyone needs a 100 GB drive. When the average user could fill 10GB, demand for drives seemed to jump. For the average user, a 20 or 30GB drive is PLENTY of space, at least right now. If you do video editing, or keep a digital music collection, or run a server of some kind, you need more space.
At least by pushing the speed/density frontier, manufacturers are advancing the technology. Hopefully that will drive for more stable storage technology as well. I am pretty sure that the platter style hard drives we currently have has its days numbered, but they aren't going to find the replacement until they push the limits.
As drives have gotten smaller/increased data density, they've become increasingly unreliable. I'm pretty sure this coincides with the new 1 year warranties (versus the older 3 year standard warranties).
I think this is a bad correlation. At the same time drives are getting more dense and/or smaller, more people are using them. The use of PCs over the last 4 years has greatly increased. There are more reasons to need more drive space, I have a 30 GB and a 120GB. I wouldn't have needed those 4 years ago, but now they are about 60% full. Hard drives are used a little harder now. People are modding cases, OCing their systems, and generally getting more out of the PC than they have in years past. I had a 4 GB drive fail 3 weeks after the 3 year warranty expired. Now you would be hard pressed to find a 4 GB drive. I think that manufacturers realized that 3 years is a LONG time in the tech industry. Compare the number of drives sold 5 years ago to the number sold today.
I don't know if there is an increase in unreliability of hard drives over the last few years, but I know that instead of 1 computer I now have about 5 running at home. Of course, all this applies until one of my drives crashes, then I'll be convinced that hard drive manufacturers don't give a damn about quality anymore.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Are you sure about that?
Oddly enough, I was just looking into these earlier today. They make media fireproof safes. Most of them I saw say that they will keep the internal temperature uner 125 degrees F, and under 80% humidity. 125 degrees is the melting point of most portable media. They seemed pretty costly, but if you are going to get a fireproof box, why not spend the extra $100 to get one that is media friendly? I saw some decent, albeit small, ones for around $250.
I like UT for all out fragging, but I really like the old Team Fortress for the gameplay. Half-life was OK for this too, but it seems a little refined for my tastes. Kind of like driving a new sports car vs an older one - the older ones have a certain raw charm about them. Plus, I like the modding that has been done for TF, and I even created my own map. Fun stuff.
I am confused by this. How are they backwards compatible? I can't upgrade Win98 to NT, or 2000, or XP. It is a fresh install. I *may* be able to run some of my old apps from Win98 to a newer MS OS, but that isn't guaranteed.
And where they are backwards compatible, it is only a liability because of HOW they implement things, with their closed "standards". If they were openly available formats and standards, then it would be much less of a liability. Their liability is in HOW they chose to be backwards compatible, or more correctly on how they chose to architect their system.
You have to keep in mind that this paper wasn't released today, it was in August of 2000. So it is safe to say that the research behind it was probably even earlier in 2000. I don't think it was that simple back then, it has certainly gotten much better. Given the fact that it used to be that there weren't *nix drivers for new hardware provided by the manufacturer, it would have been more difficult to set up a new PC with *nix. Now, things have changed, but there is still work to be done. Note the story right after this one on /. frontpage, where ATI released new Linux drivers. Also, not knowing what the article meant by "unix" could play into that decision - if speaking in general, then yes, generally it WAS a little more difficult to get these things working.
Cause I am lazy. :-)
Seriously, because I haven't been able to get my scroll mouse to work under Redhat 7.3. I have tried to get imwheel to work, but it just doesn't. I need my wheel when I play Quake (I play the old Team Fortress, not that fancy-pants new one). I have a zoom cfg file that uses the wheel mouse to variable zoom. Quite handy.
Ahh, what the heck - here is where you can get my my zoom cfg file...
SuperflyTNT's Quake Page
1. Yes, a lot of Slashdotters use Windows. I am using it right now. I have to, because that is what is mandated where I work. I am sure that is the case for many other people. I am sure some of the admins have to administer Windows systems. Basically, we are stuck with Windows, so we need to know this information. At home, on the other hand, I only boot up the Windows machine if I need a Quake fix.
2. We don't have to make Windows look bad, it is doing a fine job of doing that itself, thank you very much. Slashdot didn't release this alert, Microsoft did. Would you rather not know about it?
Whaaaa?
In 1986 I took my first computer class in school. I learned how to program in BASIC on an 8086. We later got in several 286 machines, which was awesome. This was in a town of 3000 people, and our computer teacher was about 40 years old at the time. We obviously didn't have a huge budget, and there was no such thing as a network.
Are you telling me that today, in high school, they only use computers to teach typing? I find it extremely hard to believe that computer education has gotten worse in 15 years.
You can be cynical all you want, but don't project it onto the education system.
No, not really (at least in this case). I am speaking of Jewel/Osco and Dominicks stores. A lot of times it is "buy one get one free" or a reasonable sale price on an item. You can compare the brands, and unless they jack up the price on everything in the store, you can clearly see where the bargains are. Sometimes it is a great sale on beef or chicken, where it is really a bargain to use their card.
1) Advertising isn't going away, it's increasing, we are getting bombarded everywhere, now even in video game.
2) Why not give enough information to the sellers so that they can give me offers that I might actually like?
That is all fine and good, if you want it. The real crux of the issue is that the people who don't want it shouldn't have it forced on them. It should be 100% voluntary, but that won't happen. They don't want advertising to be voluntary. The way they do it now, at least where I shop, is they give you a store card with a barcode on it, which they scan at checkout. You get additional discounts on many items if you use it. While it is voluntary to have a card, the discounts are sufficient enough to warrant getting one. I usually save $5-10 every time I shop.
Voluntary targeted advertising - good.
Mandatory targeted advertising - bad.
And to answer your questions:
1) That doesn't make it right
2) They will always ask for more information than they really need. At least more than meets their stated objectives. Why do they need my address, phone number, etc simply to track which groceries I buy?
And if you don't want the government to know the info, but you don't care if a store manager knows, you should think about that a little more. Do you care if a librarian knows what books you check out? What about the FBI? When you give up that information, you lose control over who gets to see it.
I have Knoppix running on an old Dell PII-233 as my MP3 player. I took out the hard drive, so it only runs on CD. I put in a 6-channal audio card hooked into the stereo and a video card w/TV-out (auto-detected, way cool). I run GNUMP3D on my Linux server, and now I can play all my MP3s through my stereo in the living room using the knoppix distro as the front end. (the wired keyboard/mouse isn't that elegant, I might get a wireless one eventually). The nice part is that it is pretty much silent when not in use.
This will NOT happen. That is like saying that MacOS will drive Windows off the desktop.
Sony is HUGE, and they could probably fight MS toe-to-toe, especially in the console market. Nintendo is the 800 lb gorilla when it comes to game consoles, with Sony weighing in at a hefty 700 lbs. Microsoft is a screeching, shit-flinging chimpanzee.
(pardon the Katzian reference)
Shortly after Sep11,2001, I wondered how soon it would be before people got over the genuine shock and horror of what happened, stop being friendly to each other in solidarity, and start in with the Bin Laden jokes. I knew it wouldn't be long. Sure enough, about 2 months after it happened, I saw my first Tshirt with Bin Laden's face in the crosshairs. Sure, there is natural bad sentiment towards someone who did something that tragic, but the REAL gravity of what happened dissipated quickly. It was back to NASCAR and lawsuits.
Granted, this isn't true of everyone, but overall we as a country are back to business as usual. (unfortunately) I think the same can be said of the tech industry, at least from my experience. Sure, we have trimmed budgets, and cut the work force, but I really don't see any difference in how people look at their jobs as a result of that. There are still lazy people who do just enough to get by. After a layoff, people scurry around, and try to prove that they are valuable, but that subsides quickly. No sooner has the sigh of relief that you still have a job been breathed than you just settle down in your chair and get back to same old routine.
Maybe I am a bit jaded, because I was able to get a job a month after the company I worked for went under. But that was 2 years ago, on the front side of the massive meltdown. I was lucky to get with a large company that has had only one layoff since then, and it was relatively small. But I see things going the same as they were when I got here. In general, people aren't worried about losing their jobs. Not that you need to be worried about losing your job in order to do a good job, but it doesn't seem like there is an urgency anymore. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
Jeez, where am I going with this? Well, I kind of follow a Zen style of work. I do my job, I do it as good as I can. If I get laid off, I get laid off. I have confidence that I can do my job as good or better than my coworkers, and if not, then at least I did my best. I don't do just what it takes to get by, I try not to settle in for the long haul and cruise. I have been here 2 years, and I am still trying to improve myself and my skills. This skill is lost on a lot of people, and I think it is a valuable one. I think if you are working in a manner just to keep your job, then you aren't being genuine. Be genuine, and just be. There is no prize to keep your eye on. Develop yourself, improve yourself, because you are the asset, and others will see that.
Then why would you comment on something that you knew nothing about?
Think about that for a second.
And I hardly think it is uber-geekery to be able to make the connection between the word "trojan" and "trojan horse" when referring to malicious code that was snuck into other code.
Well, you could cancel any other magazine that you do subscribe to, considering that they would be as relevant to this topic as Rolling Stone.
But this story reminds me of that great Chris Rock routine. (paraphrasing, and substituting the N word)
People always want credit for something they're supposed to do.
I ain't never been to jail. What do you want, a cookie?!
I take care of my kids. You're supposed to you dumb motherfucker!
So yes, while it is good that MS is doing this, I think that it is no big deal - they should do it. I am not going to praise them for it, this is what they should have done long before now. I am not going to rail on them either, because they are making some kind of effort. Assuming that they actually do what they say they are going to do. Sorry, but they have a bad track record, I am not going to believe it until I see it. Why am I skeptical? Among other things, I have seen the Win2kSP2 EULA. I wonder what the EULA on these new security patches will look like...
AMEN! I used to collect video games, and I know a couple collectors who own a LOT of games. I am talking 300+. These are the enthusiasts who keep these things alive. One of my good friends was involved in scrounging up all the parts and putting together one of the only known working Zektor games at the time. He put it in a standup Eliminator cocktail cabinet, and we used to get drunk as hell and play Zektor and Eliminator until the wee hours of the morning.
I ended up selling my two standup cabinets because they just took up too much room in my apartment. I still have a cocktail game, and a Galaga cabaret. I have a couple of boxes of boardsets in the garage, containing the games I just couldn't bear to sell (Bubble Bobble, New Zealand Story, Rainbow Islands, Pengo, Elevator Action, Gyruss, Galaxian). If it weren't for the enthusiasts, the people who love arcade games, these things would be extinct. Instead, they are kept alive. So what if I have a CDROM set with all the ROMs on them. Some are legal, because I own the boardsets, but most of them are illegal. Oooooo, lock me up, I am breaking the law. I know some guys who were trying to get side art to restore one of their game cabinets, and they couldn't find it. So they went through the trouble to reproduce it. They were shut down when the game company got wind of it. Sad. Technically, that is illegal, but for Jebus' sake, when did we stop using our brains and rely completely on the "law"? I think there are definitely gray areas. Pac-Man is a part of our collective culture, as are many of the old classics (and not-so-classics). Enthusiasts have done some really amazing things out of love for these games. Like MAME.
Because they aren't dorks like you and me (ok, just you) ;-). These are big movie studios, and that gives GNU/Linux mainstream credibility. That is something that you or I don't do.
It isn't earth-shattering news, but I do see it as good news. The more people, including high-profile businesses, that use GNU/Linux, the better. The even nicer part is that they aren't just users, they are giving back too.
Several people seemed to take the idea that the film studios using this had some kind of implication in the MPAA's fight against piracy or DRM, but I just saw it as a nice little bit of irony. After all, if they are able to impact OSS, at least they will feel part of the pain too. Let's hope it doesn't come to that though.
Yes. Why not preach the benefits of Open Source? That is the point, everyone can benefit from it. Let them benefit from it. Let them see first hand WHY it is beneficial, and why they shouldn't destroy it by supporting DRM and Palladium. There is no harm that can come of that, only the potential for good. If OSS gets kicked in the gnuts by Trusted Computing, then maybe they will feel a twinge of pain. It is obvious that they don't listen to reason, or the general public, so let them feel our pain.
The way I see it, the more people that use GNU/Linux and Open Source Software, the better. After all, that is the point. Dreamworks gives it more credibility than you or I do.
I HIGHLY doubt they switched to Linux desktops to save money. That may have been a benefit, but it couldn't have been the only reason. They switched because it worked better for their needs (and SGI was out). The article states that they do a lot of work to improve the software, and to customize it to do what they want. I have a feeling that is the real driving force - it is the solution they need.
Just because it's a large company and they chose to use open source software isn't anything special in my book. It's the logical choice for those in the know. But then again I guess it's nice to hear about Linux's ever-increasing acceptance.
I think that it is important becuase it is big movie studios. Companies? Big deal. Big companies who can get to the point where they rely on it for their business, and those same companies are fighting for DRM? Hmm, a little more interesting. Not that having Linux in house will prevent them from supporting DRM, but if they do it, they will feel the effects. The more people that use it, the better.
My using it doesn't give it credibility, but Dreamworks using it sure as hell does.
That is because Microsoft trademarked the word "Hailstorm".
Look for these other upcoming releases:
"Insecure (tm)"
"Monkey-manageable (tm)"
"Vulnerable(tm)"
"Bloated(tm)"
"Unstable(tm)
"Internet(tm)"
Mod down/burn karma?
Mod down/burn karma?
Mod down/burn karma?
Burn Karma.
I had a complete flame composed, but then realized that you honestly can't be this ignorant, and must have meant this to be funny. If this was a serious comment, then you really should hang your head in shame. (actually, you should either way)
A lot of people consider it to be a stepping stone position, where you put the new developers so they can get an overall idea of the product. I don't. That is good for me, because companies want people who are serious about the position. They don't teach QA in school, they teach programming. I went with the odds that I wouldn't be fighting for my job every year against a fresh batch of bright-eyed programmers.
Some people aren't suited for QA, others are. I think I am, because I get to problem solve quite a bit, and even write a little code. I am currently working on QA process, and test automation. You get to really be anal-retentive and picky, which I am good at. If you program, you only know X number of languages, but I can test pretty much anything you throw at me. My job is based on methodologies that I can pretty much apply to anything. I admin my own Linux system on my home network, which I find really interesting, but I don't think I want to be an admin. But it helps me when I need to talk to the admins, or other tech people I come across in my job.
No matter what your job is, I think you should always pursue what you really like outside of your job. Maybe they are the same things. Develop YOU, because no matter where you work, you will have to interact with other people.
I think part of it is that there is a bigger demand for drives, so the companies that make them are pushing the technology. It does seem that there are bad "batches" or "runs" of drives. In the rush to get to market, I can see where quality and perhaps durability has slipped. But several years ago, there didn't seem to be this big of a push for bigger drives. I have a feeling that the quest for larger drives will slow a bit, because currently we are running out of ways to fill them up. Not everyone needs a 100 GB drive. When the average user could fill 10GB, demand for drives seemed to jump. For the average user, a 20 or 30GB drive is PLENTY of space, at least right now. If you do video editing, or keep a digital music collection, or run a server of some kind, you need more space.
At least by pushing the speed/density frontier, manufacturers are advancing the technology. Hopefully that will drive for more stable storage technology as well. I am pretty sure that the platter style hard drives we currently have has its days numbered, but they aren't going to find the replacement until they push the limits.
I think this is a bad correlation. At the same time drives are getting more dense and/or smaller, more people are using them. The use of PCs over the last 4 years has greatly increased. There are more reasons to need more drive space, I have a 30 GB and a 120GB. I wouldn't have needed those 4 years ago, but now they are about 60% full. Hard drives are used a little harder now. People are modding cases, OCing their systems, and generally getting more out of the PC than they have in years past. I had a 4 GB drive fail 3 weeks after the 3 year warranty expired. Now you would be hard pressed to find a 4 GB drive. I think that manufacturers realized that 3 years is a LONG time in the tech industry. Compare the number of drives sold 5 years ago to the number sold today.
I don't know if there is an increase in unreliability of hard drives over the last few years, but I know that instead of 1 computer I now have about 5 running at home. Of course, all this applies until one of my drives crashes, then I'll be convinced that hard drive manufacturers don't give a damn about quality anymore. :-)