This is a question - are there legal standards for digital storage of information? I would assume some sort of standardized format (perhaps I presume too much?) - the Electronic Freedom of Information Act in 1996 provides that computer resources be used, "to make government more accessible and accountable to citizens."
I guess there is nothing in there about publishing cost, though...
Although, to be fair, popular opinion does have some sway in this case as (in the 60's, I think) they passed a law that said that breaking up a monopoly had to 'be in the public good.'
That was why they asked for public opinion in the first place - to assess the public's perception of the 'public good'.
* Nice (customizable) code formatting, syntax coloring, with little niceties like showing you the first bracket when you end one.
* Great debugger, be able to step through code and graphically watch variables change, as well have a command mode for full 'probing' beyond what the GUI should reasonably do.
* Library knowledge. When you hit the '.' to access the members of an object, should pull up a list of all members of that object. Should also display method prototypes when you hit '('. Saves many a doc lookup!
Now I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but really the best editor I've found with all of these features is MS Visual Studio. Especially the last one (MS calls it Intellisense). Live with it for a while, and then try living without it. I've yet to find any comparable one in Linux or Java.
Although please prove me wrong - I'd love to have a Java IDE with all of this stuff!
OpenGL is a triangle renderer. POV-Ray is a ray tracer. Two *entirely* different methods for generating graphics. Rays do look much better, but take exponentially longer.
I don't know if they have this or not (I don't use POV-Ray), but along these lines a good idea would be to have a OpenGL engine that could parse POV-Ray files for a quick preview. Although I suppose the modeller would do this for you. Unless of course you're using vi as your modeller, but then you're too hardcore to need previews... =)
Again, this isn't exactly what you want. But under Windows, running WinAmp, you can run a plugin called Pitchfork (it's in the 'Best Plugins' section on the winamp site). It lets you do what you want, but you need 2 sound cards. Cool thing, though - it's pretty powerful, does automatic beat matching and stuff.
MP3, as these tests show, is a pretty good audio standard. The problem comes in when you start to try to replace CDs by encoding them on your computer and hooking your computer up to a stereo. The problem here is the sound card.
There are no consumer sound cards on the market that even come close to the output quality of a halfway decent component CD player. One of the main reasons for this is tons of electromagnetic noise inside the case, but also just because sound card manufacturers like to make money. I can pretty much guarantee if you've got a halfway decent stereo hooked up to your computer the weak link is the sound card.
That said, the best way to try to improve sound quality is make sure you've got one of the better cards on the market. Some good tests can be found here.
128kbps is bad, I agree. However, there isn't too much reason to encode at 256kbps. A CD itself is only 172kbps - so an MP3 at 160 or 192 should be fine. I don't think you really add anything between 192 and 256.
They'll gain a bigger user base than they'll drop. Fewer and fewer companies are adding more 'closed-Unix' servers. They'll add more new customers than they'll lose by switching to Linux. And it's not like anyone is saying to drop support of their unix. Digital Unix is great, but Linux is moving faster -- why not just add Digital functionality to Linux and use that, getting all the current Linux momentum?
The BSD development model does several very good things over the Linux model - most significantly, adding a single point of review and audit for a higher level of security in the OS. This audit, in a peer-review fashion, is often the goal of the odd numbered "development" releases of Linux open-source projects, but it can't succeed nearly as well. Largely, this is due to developers working on Linux for fun or to add features to improve the OS for their use, without taking a longer view on OS security.
One thing the Linux development model does do a lot better is capture more people in writing code - which is very important to keep up with new hardware support. I'd love to try FreeBSD, or better yet, OpenBSD, to create a bulletproof server, but I'm running Linux because it's the only option that supports my hardware. It's pretty bulletproof, or at least a lot more bullet resistant than a fragile NT server, but the emphasis in Linux has never been as much about security as it has been to expand the capabilities of the system as quickly as possible.
Ultimately, BSD systems may prove to be more secure, but developers seem to have a harder time keeping up with support. BSD development has not scaled with the growth of the industry. Perhaps it is happy with this niche status.
As you said, BSD developers need to audit the whole system, and Linux development is only centrally audited by a few individuals (Linus, Cox). This is a far more daunting task for a lot fewer individuals.
Every current chipset supported bump mapping via crappy emboss algorithms. What it comes down to is image quality - we'll have to wait and see when some more pics come out of nVidia.
Microsoft may not have invented 3D, very obviously - but they did standardize it. As much as everyone would love it if games used OpenGL, for the most part, they don't (Quake being a notable exception). 3D gaming didn't take off until Direct3D brought 3D to the masses.
It's too bad we couldn't have made a solid, open 3D game API spec before MS gave the world its proprietary version. OpenGL is portable, but writing an OpenGL driver is pretty much a bitch. Direct3D may be annoying to program to, but the drivers supposedly aren't quite so hard to write.
It's really too bad we don't have something like Glide (really easy to program to), but open, not 'only 3dfx' crap.
There are all kinds of reasons why Nvidia is choosing not to support 3dfx's anti-aliasing and Matrox's bump mapping. The most significant of these is lack of a common API. To support bump mapping on a G400MAX, you write Matrox code. To support anti-aliasing for the Voodoo4 (which, btw, kills frame rates), you write 3dfx code.
Sound familiar? Back to the days of 3d-acceleration in games before DirectX?
...just most current web freemailers. Web-based email can be really convenient. With more and more web-only free public terminals around, it's becoming a more standard and easier way to read your email than telnet.
What's needed is a good, free, SECURE web-based freemail. There have been a number of such attempts, such as HushMail, etc. - but all are pretty lacking. A good overview of "secure" web-based mailers can be found at Counterpa ne.
It's time for people to start rejecting inherently insecure solutions.
Might have something to do with the way Visa & Mastercard are set up. If I remember correctly, Visa is a for-profit company, and Mastercard is a non-profit organization. The result of this is that the pay structure is different, and it often costs a little more to use Mastercard than Visa (one reason I think why Visa is a lot more accepted worldwide).
So it might be cheaper for them only to make a Mastercard.
Well, it really depends on how it all was implemented. If they modified existing GPL code, they'd have to give it away. On the other hand, if they wrote a bunch of new stuff that plugs in to the existing framework, they wouldn't necessarily. If it is enough separated to qualify as a separate program, they could release it under any license they wanted to.
Because if AMD starts making its own chipsets, that puts VIA out of the business of making chipsets - unless somebody (read: Cyrix) else should turn itself around and still needing Via chipsets.
I wonder if this could be related to the new AMD/Alpha Slot B architecture, for which (I believe) AMD was planning to produce the chipset.
Although Via would be able to make chipsets for Slot B - they'd be at a big disadvantage. Currently, if you buy a Super7 board, you're probably getting a Via. If you buy a Slot1 board, you're almost definitely getting an Intel chipset.
If Via has to compete against AMD like they have to compete against Intel for chipsets, they have reason to be scared. And reason to buy the only other real legitimate chip maker on the market - Cyrix.
Even Windows installs give you an 'advanced' or 'custom' option to select which packages you want (limited or no). This is the first Linux install I've seen without one - Caldera, give us the custom option!
Re: very difficult, kind of pointless
on
1GHz Alphas
·
· Score: 1
This would be a very tough thing to implement - even with standard motherboard design, the chipset and logic for these chips has still got to be really different.
It'd also be kind of pointless - probably cheaper to actually just have 2 boxes.
One of the primary differences between Pinker and Dennet is their writing styles. Pinker is a linguist, and writes like a cognitive scientist, lengthily explaining using visual examples.
On the other hand, Dennet writes like a philosopher, using a style very similair to Socrates, using logic to make his arguements.
Also, Dennet's books tend to be a much quicker read. =)
Slashdot Mirror
I guess there is nothing in there about publishing cost, though...
That was why they asked for public opinion in the first place - to assess the public's perception of the 'public good'.
Actually, there is no dialog box. You will merely get a security permission denial error.
.NET developer platform without having used it, and make assumptions based on previous M$ products.
I'm amazed how many people critize the
* Nice (customizable) code formatting, syntax coloring, with little niceties like showing you the first bracket when you end one.
* Great debugger, be able to step through code and graphically watch variables change, as well have a command mode for full 'probing' beyond what the GUI should reasonably do.
* Library knowledge. When you hit the '.' to access the members of an object, should pull up a list of all members of that object. Should also display method prototypes when you hit '('. Saves many a doc lookup!
Now I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but really the best editor I've found with all of these features is MS Visual Studio. Especially the last one (MS calls it Intellisense). Live with it for a while, and then try living without it. I've yet to find any comparable one in Linux or Java.
Although please prove me wrong - I'd love to have a Java IDE with all of this stuff!
I don't know if they have this or not (I don't use POV-Ray), but along these lines a good idea would be to have a OpenGL engine that could parse POV-Ray files for a quick preview. Although I suppose the modeller would do this for you. Unless of course you're using vi as your modeller, but then you're too hardcore to need previews... =)
With BootPart, the NT boot loader can load pretty much anything.
Again, this isn't exactly what you want. But under Windows, running WinAmp, you can run a plugin called Pitchfork (it's in the 'Best Plugins' section on the winamp site). It lets you do what you want, but you need 2 sound cards. Cool thing, though - it's pretty powerful, does automatic beat matching and stuff.
There are no consumer sound cards on the market that even come close to the output quality of a halfway decent component CD player. One of the main reasons for this is tons of electromagnetic noise inside the case, but also just because sound card manufacturers like to make money. I can pretty much guarantee if you've got a halfway decent stereo hooked up to your computer the weak link is the sound card.
That said, the best way to try to improve sound quality is make sure you've got one of the better cards on the market. Some good tests can be found here.
Also, for some Linux specific issues, the Audio-Quality-HOWTO is a good source.
128kbps is bad, I agree. However, there isn't too much reason to encode at 256kbps. A CD itself is only 172kbps - so an MP3 at 160 or 192 should be fine. I don't think you really add anything between 192 and 256.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't XML (already) supported as a standard file format in Office 2000?
That's what SGI is betting on!
One thing the Linux development model does do a lot better is capture more people in writing code - which is very important to keep up with new hardware support. I'd love to try FreeBSD, or better yet, OpenBSD, to create a bulletproof server, but I'm running Linux because it's the only option that supports my hardware. It's pretty bulletproof, or at least a lot more bullet resistant than a fragile NT server, but the emphasis in Linux has never been as much about security as it has been to expand the capabilities of the system as quickly as possible.
Ultimately, BSD systems may prove to be more secure, but developers seem to have a harder time keeping up with support. BSD development has not scaled with the growth of the industry. Perhaps it is happy with this niche status.
As you said, BSD developers need to audit the whole system, and Linux development is only centrally audited by a few individuals (Linus, Cox). This is a far more daunting task for a lot fewer individuals.
Every current chipset supported bump mapping via crappy emboss algorithms. What it comes down to is image quality - we'll have to wait and see when some more pics come out of nVidia.
It's too bad we couldn't have made a solid, open 3D game API spec before MS gave the world its proprietary version. OpenGL is portable, but writing an OpenGL driver is pretty much a bitch. Direct3D may be annoying to program to, but the drivers supposedly aren't quite so hard to write.
It's really too bad we don't have something like Glide (really easy to program to), but open, not 'only 3dfx' crap.
Sound familiar? Back to the days of 3d-acceleration in games before DirectX?
What's needed is a good, free, SECURE web-based freemail. There have been a number of such attempts, such as HushMail, etc. - but all are pretty lacking. A good overview of "secure" web-based mailers can be found at Counterpa ne.
It's time for people to start rejecting inherently insecure solutions.
So it might be cheaper for them only to make a Mastercard.
Well, it really depends on how it all was implemented. If they modified existing GPL code, they'd have to give it away. On the other hand, if they wrote a bunch of new stuff that plugs in to the existing framework, they wouldn't necessarily. If it is enough separated to qualify as a separate program, they could release it under any license they wanted to.
This is, of course, all wild speculation. =)
You can find some good stuff on this new K7/Alpha archicture here.
Although Via would be able to make chipsets for Slot B - they'd be at a big disadvantage. Currently, if you buy a Super7 board, you're probably getting a Via. If you buy a Slot1 board, you're almost definitely getting an Intel chipset.
If Via has to compete against AMD like they have to compete against Intel for chipsets, they have reason to be scared. And reason to buy the only other real legitimate chip maker on the market - Cyrix.
Even Windows installs give you an 'advanced' or 'custom' option to select which packages you want (limited or no). This is the first Linux install I've seen without one - Caldera, give us the custom option!
It'd also be kind of pointless - probably cheaper to actually just have 2 boxes.
On the other hand, Dennet writes like a philosopher, using a style very similair to Socrates, using logic to make his arguements.
Also, Dennet's books tend to be a much quicker read. =)