Nahh, unless Monsanto can create genetically modified humans (with patented genes) and then sue you for having a child with such a person, our world is not Orwellian enough. Monsanto, you 've got to try harder. The fact you can own all the seeds is not good enough. Go and bribe some senators a bit more so that they abolish that pesky law about not creating genetically modified humans.
Anyone thinks this terminator seed will become a reality again? Ever since Monsanto discovered they could own all the seeds by letting their genetically modified products mix with natural ones *in the wild* and then claim ownership of said genetically modified ones, they have no reason to go back.
Basically, all those neckbeards have spend untold manhours promoting Ubuntu in forums and real life (often with gross exaggerations and by not explaining to the unsuspecting users what this 'Ubuntu' or 'Linux' thing is), but now that Ubuntu is not one of "their" OSes anymore, they feel cheated.
But the really funny thing would be if Ubuntu wins (aka acheives something like 10% marketshare). The wrong Linux horse will have won the race (well, the wrong Linux horse has already won the race, it's called Android, but not on the desktop). If this happens, you will actually see neckbeards badmouthing a Linux. Priceless.
I am starting to have hopes about Ubuntu. They are pissing the neckbeards off, they must be doing something right. But I will wait till wayland before I dual boot it. Ok, flag me as trollbait now.
"Why aren't the U.S. and Europe exerting more diplomatic pressure on these tax havens that are effectively stealing from the U.S. and European treasuries by allowing profits that did not result from activities in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands to be recorded as occurring there?""
More effective measure: If your base is in our shores, pay us the tax.
"Schmidt also says that if you want a job in the future you'll have to learn to “outrace the robots,” "
This is why I tell people that leftist parties are the future. Once robots have taken all jobs, people will vote for leftist parties, because the problem of who's going to do the hard work (the problem capitalism solves) will have being solved. An I am no leftard. I just face the facts.
"I can already connect my phone to a TV with HDMI and pair a bluetooth game controller with it. How is this special?"
Maybe if they promote it right, it will bring games that will be able to actually use the bluetooth controller. As of now, I haven't found any controller that is supported by most Android games.
Can you tell me which computer to buy so that Ubuntu upgrades won't break?
(arguably the question most people who have been raped by ubuntu upgrade breakages want to ask).
Exactly. The difference is that in the case of the Nexuses, the OEM keeps most profits, so Google acts as a subcontractor to them. OEMs like that. Instead, MS got Apple-envy and is trying to compete with their OEMs. Also, MS has the advantage that they "pay royalties to themselves" for the OS royalties of the Surface, so other OEMs are in a competitive disadvantage. Especially if the rumors of 60$ royalties for Windows RT are true. Is it any wonder that most OEMs are jumping ship from Windows RT? Same thing will happen with Windows Phone.
"Remember that when windows encounters a problem like this, it is the driver/hardware's fault"
Yes, because Microsoft was smart enough to have the hardware vendors code the drivers, so what happens is (mostly) their fault. Linux kernel devs were dumb enough to put the drivers in the kernel, and hence under their responsibility (the ABI gets broken too often for proprietary drivers to be a realistic choice). Sure, theoretically the vendor could put their drivers in the kernel tree and still maintain them, but it doesn't work that way.The way companies think is "there, we openned our drivers, it's your responsibility now". And to make matters worse, GregHK even gave wild promises about drivers getting better if they are in the kernel tree in some blog post, as if most kernel devs will fix your driver instead of doing more important things.
So, the Linux kernel team has put itself in blame for all driver issues, just to advance FSF's politics that say all drivers should be in the kernel tree and GPLed.
Oh, and Microsoft has produced a "reference device" (Surface and Surface Pro). If it works on the Surface Pro, the problem is on your side. OS X has Macs. Android has the Nexuses. Desktop Linux has yet to produce a reference device, or even an HCL that doesn't get broken with it's release, because it's supposed to run everywhere perfectly (talks about overambitious goals)
Seriously, is anyone interested in this Google Wallet thing? How many times do you leave your home without your wallet but with your cellphone? Protip to Google: You must first find a way to create a false need, then you release the product that fills said false need.
So, you are concerned about security, and you bought a non-Nexus phone that you knew it was probably not going to receive updates (which include security fixes) fast enough or at all? And a phone from LG, which is THE worst company when it comes to upgrades? Please post your thought process, it should make an interesting read.
Also, HOW did you got hacked? Bluetooth and WiFi (assuming you connect to WPA networks only) don't have any known security holes in the standard. Was it some bug in Android? How unlucky you need to be to be near a person that wants to hack in your phone and posses that kind of obscure knowledge?
Opportunity for WP8 to implement a mini-Optimus which could use an ultra-basic graphics chip (just what's needed to render Metro) paired with the usual GPU (all packed in the same SoC with the CPU, as usual). This would make battery life skyrocket when non-gaming or non-H.264 tasks are executed.
In general, Android will get ruined by the Linux kernel eventually (and Linux's unstable ABI). Google were smart enough to not use X.org and PulseAudio, but not smart enough to not use the linux kernel. This is because Android was designed in the Symbian era, when smartphones weren't meant to be updated (beyond bugfixes). Now that the iPhone and Windows Phone are getting updates, the unstable ABI of the Linux kernel is showing. Ooops! Google could have bought QNX and have the most badass mobile OS outthere. But no, LinuxIsAwesomeForEmbedded.
PS: Read here for Motorola's efforts to upgrade their phones (read: re-write the drivers of the SoCs): http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57526994-94/android-users-outraged-over-motorolas-broken-promise/ All that FUD about how companies purposely don't upgrade their phones just got shot down in flames. It's not that they don't want, it's that they can't, because it involves significant rewriting of the drivers.
Wait, wait... An audio codec? For audio, the only format that matters is MP3. The hardware support is massive, open source tools exist, and despite some vague mumbling from the FSF about "submarine patents", nobody has ever paid any royalties to use MP3 (because the patents have expired) or has been patent trolled in any way. Sure, it's not as efficient as AAC or this new Opus thing, but it's "good enough".
IMO it may be too late even for a new video codec. MKV and MP4 (these two use the same mpeg4 avc codec) are spreading fast, and WebM barely has time to crack itself in.
"Because implementing the same system in other TV service would need licensing which would be money which would be skippable then. Time Warner customers are boned, but hey, better for the rest of us"
Tee hee... This is where the DMCA comes to play: Are you a company that makes DVRs/DVD recorders, and want your DVRs/DVD recorders to be able to work with Time Warner cable cards? We have a little contract you must sign. If you go ahead and provide compatibility with Time Warner cable cards without Time Warner's permission, it will be considered "circumvention" and the wrath of the US "justice system" will be onto you. See how the DVD Forum mandates CGMS-A detection in DVD recorders, and region lock, UOPs and CGMS-A+Macrovision output on DVD players for more info.
Unless some company/startup gets the balls and releases a libdvdcss DVD player in the US, so that a precedent of using "circumvention" for at least the purpose of viewing is enstablished, the landscape will be divided between the "free world" that has to pirate and the "stupid restrictions world" that has authorized access to media.
What surprises me is how little mention the EFF, Wikipedia and other organizations that supposedly care about user freedoms make about this. They 'll bang on about censorship and net neutrality, but when it comes to the fact you have to tolerate weird restrictions on legally purchased material, utter silence or very few mentions.
So, 5% of new PCs will experience borked upgrades in six months?
Sorry guys, but this is a real problem, and I can't believe everyone from the lowliest Linux fanboy, all the way up to Linux kernel devs and Shuttleworth keeps pretending it's not a problem. Because admiting it's a problem would require coming up with a stable ABI, so that upgrades don't break due to binary blobs
Can anyone tell me what’s this weird obsession with fonts? They are just fonts, dammit. This is like Lada contemplating what precise color their interiors will be. Any news on funding Wayland? Naaah. Any news on funding PulseAudio? Nope. Wait, there is a new SDK coming out? Bahaha! almost got you for a minute there! There is nothing.
Instead, let’s take out our crayon pencils and design new UIs and fonts first. Sure, UI and font design has it’s place, but after you have a working OS people can develop for. This is what most people don’t understand. When Microsoft announces a new API or a new SDK, it gets a quick mention in the press and then the press shifts focus on UIs and new gizmos, but the difference it makes for developers is huge. And people buy OSes depending on what apps they can run on.
"And Greece? They'll have the honor of having the world's first Kilobyte Tax"
I am a Greek, and I can say that this isn't as extreme as it sounds. We have the square meter tax (every square meter of real estate is taxed heavily in Greece, with 4 different taxes, I paid 200 euros for a 50 square meter house in a not-rich-by-not-bad neighbourhood, and I classify for only 1 of the 4 taxes, go figure), we have the 1euro per 1 litre of gasoline tax (yes, gasonline costs 1.84 euros per litre here), so, say, 1 cent per Kilobyte doesn't sound so extreme.
What happens when a company goes bankrupt? It can't find investors and goes belly up. What happens when a nation goes bankrupt? It sucks the citizens dry, without even promising to give anything back, so when the inevitable happens, citizens are in an even worse shape compared to if the nation had gone belly up from day 1.
+1
At least the company benefited by getting a fanatic of their backs. Can't people just use whatever software fits their needs? I understand people who reject things like the iPhone and WP7 because such platforms may prohibit them from loading software they want (see the Google Voice fiasco in iOS for more info), and they may not feel OK by having others decide for them even though they are the ones who pay for the device, but rejecting a piece of software because the author didn't chose to donate (yes, donate, it wasn't his obligation) the code under an OSI license? Also, is it just me, or most of the open source fanatics dream of working for a project like Fedora or Firefox, aka a project that allows them to give code to the community and get paid for it? Unfortunately most of the times "open source jobs" means either configuring some open source software for some corp, or maintaining some internal fork of some open source software, like Google does with Linux in their data center, and none of this benefits the community in any way.
PS: Anyway, here is a list stry_cat may be interested in (though i doubt he will read past the first sentence of my post) http://www.fsf.org/resources/jobs
Isn't every DirectX/OpenGL/Glide game supposed to be 3D-ready? I mean, the polygons are already there.
Sharp had once revealed the RD3D laptop which could do that very thing: Make DirectX and OpenGL games stereoscopic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Actius_RD3D_Notebook
Slashdot Mirror
of said genetically modified ones = of said "natural" ones
Nahh, unless Monsanto can create genetically modified humans (with patented genes) and then sue you for having a child with such a person, our world is not Orwellian enough. Monsanto, you 've got to try harder. The fact you can own all the seeds is not good enough. Go and bribe some senators a bit more so that they abolish that pesky law about not creating genetically modified humans. Anyone thinks this terminator seed will become a reality again? Ever since Monsanto discovered they could own all the seeds by letting their genetically modified products mix with natural ones *in the wild* and then claim ownership of said genetically modified ones, they have no reason to go back.
Basically, all those neckbeards have spend untold manhours promoting Ubuntu in forums and real life (often with gross exaggerations and by not explaining to the unsuspecting users what this 'Ubuntu' or 'Linux' thing is), but now that Ubuntu is not one of "their" OSes anymore, they feel cheated. But the really funny thing would be if Ubuntu wins (aka acheives something like 10% marketshare). The wrong Linux horse will have won the race (well, the wrong Linux horse has already won the race, it's called Android, but not on the desktop). If this happens, you will actually see neckbeards badmouthing a Linux. Priceless.
I am starting to have hopes about Ubuntu. They are pissing the neckbeards off, they must be doing something right. But I will wait till wayland before I dual boot it. Ok, flag me as trollbait now.
"Why aren't the U.S. and Europe exerting more diplomatic pressure on these tax havens that are effectively stealing from the U.S. and European treasuries by allowing profits that did not result from activities in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands to be recorded as occurring there?"" More effective measure: If your base is in our shores, pay us the tax.
"Schmidt also says that if you want a job in the future you'll have to learn to “outrace the robots,” " This is why I tell people that leftist parties are the future. Once robots have taken all jobs, people will vote for leftist parties, because the problem of who's going to do the hard work (the problem capitalism solves) will have being solved. An I am no leftard. I just face the facts.
"I can already connect my phone to a TV with HDMI and pair a bluetooth game controller with it. How is this special?" Maybe if they promote it right, it will bring games that will be able to actually use the bluetooth controller. As of now, I haven't found any controller that is supported by most Android games.
@MPAA Thnx for the linkz dude.
Can you tell me which computer to buy so that Ubuntu upgrades won't break? (arguably the question most people who have been raped by ubuntu upgrade breakages want to ask).
Exactly. The difference is that in the case of the Nexuses, the OEM keeps most profits, so Google acts as a subcontractor to them. OEMs like that. Instead, MS got Apple-envy and is trying to compete with their OEMs. Also, MS has the advantage that they "pay royalties to themselves" for the OS royalties of the Surface, so other OEMs are in a competitive disadvantage. Especially if the rumors of 60$ royalties for Windows RT are true. Is it any wonder that most OEMs are jumping ship from Windows RT? Same thing will happen with Windows Phone.
"Remember that when windows encounters a problem like this, it is the driver/hardware's fault" Yes, because Microsoft was smart enough to have the hardware vendors code the drivers, so what happens is (mostly) their fault. Linux kernel devs were dumb enough to put the drivers in the kernel, and hence under their responsibility (the ABI gets broken too often for proprietary drivers to be a realistic choice). Sure, theoretically the vendor could put their drivers in the kernel tree and still maintain them, but it doesn't work that way.The way companies think is "there, we openned our drivers, it's your responsibility now". And to make matters worse, GregHK even gave wild promises about drivers getting better if they are in the kernel tree in some blog post, as if most kernel devs will fix your driver instead of doing more important things. So, the Linux kernel team has put itself in blame for all driver issues, just to advance FSF's politics that say all drivers should be in the kernel tree and GPLed. Oh, and Microsoft has produced a "reference device" (Surface and Surface Pro). If it works on the Surface Pro, the problem is on your side. OS X has Macs. Android has the Nexuses. Desktop Linux has yet to produce a reference device, or even an HCL that doesn't get broken with it's release, because it's supposed to run everywhere perfectly (talks about overambitious goals)
Seriously, is anyone interested in this Google Wallet thing? How many times do you leave your home without your wallet but with your cellphone? Protip to Google: You must first find a way to create a false need, then you release the product that fills said false need.
So, you are concerned about security, and you bought a non-Nexus phone that you knew it was probably not going to receive updates (which include security fixes) fast enough or at all? And a phone from LG, which is THE worst company when it comes to upgrades? Please post your thought process, it should make an interesting read. Also, HOW did you got hacked? Bluetooth and WiFi (assuming you connect to WPA networks only) don't have any known security holes in the standard. Was it some bug in Android? How unlucky you need to be to be near a person that wants to hack in your phone and posses that kind of obscure knowledge?
Opportunity for WP8 to implement a mini-Optimus which could use an ultra-basic graphics chip (just what's needed to render Metro) paired with the usual GPU (all packed in the same SoC with the CPU, as usual). This would make battery life skyrocket when non-gaming or non-H.264 tasks are executed. In general, Android will get ruined by the Linux kernel eventually (and Linux's unstable ABI). Google were smart enough to not use X.org and PulseAudio, but not smart enough to not use the linux kernel. This is because Android was designed in the Symbian era, when smartphones weren't meant to be updated (beyond bugfixes). Now that the iPhone and Windows Phone are getting updates, the unstable ABI of the Linux kernel is showing. Ooops! Google could have bought QNX and have the most badass mobile OS outthere. But no, LinuxIsAwesomeForEmbedded. PS: Read here for Motorola's efforts to upgrade their phones (read: re-write the drivers of the SoCs): http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57526994-94/android-users-outraged-over-motorolas-broken-promise/ All that FUD about how companies purposely don't upgrade their phones just got shot down in flames. It's not that they don't want, it's that they can't, because it involves significant rewriting of the drivers.
Wait, wait... An audio codec? For audio, the only format that matters is MP3. The hardware support is massive, open source tools exist, and despite some vague mumbling from the FSF about "submarine patents", nobody has ever paid any royalties to use MP3 (because the patents have expired) or has been patent trolled in any way. Sure, it's not as efficient as AAC or this new Opus thing, but it's "good enough". IMO it may be too late even for a new video codec. MKV and MP4 (these two use the same mpeg4 avc codec) are spreading fast, and WebM barely has time to crack itself in.
"Because implementing the same system in other TV service would need licensing which would be money which would be skippable then. Time Warner customers are boned, but hey, better for the rest of us" Tee hee... This is where the DMCA comes to play: Are you a company that makes DVRs/DVD recorders, and want your DVRs/DVD recorders to be able to work with Time Warner cable cards? We have a little contract you must sign. If you go ahead and provide compatibility with Time Warner cable cards without Time Warner's permission, it will be considered "circumvention" and the wrath of the US "justice system" will be onto you. See how the DVD Forum mandates CGMS-A detection in DVD recorders, and region lock, UOPs and CGMS-A+Macrovision output on DVD players for more info. Unless some company/startup gets the balls and releases a libdvdcss DVD player in the US, so that a precedent of using "circumvention" for at least the purpose of viewing is enstablished, the landscape will be divided between the "free world" that has to pirate and the "stupid restrictions world" that has authorized access to media. What surprises me is how little mention the EFF, Wikipedia and other organizations that supposedly care about user freedoms make about this. They 'll bang on about censorship and net neutrality, but when it comes to the fact you have to tolerate weird restrictions on legally purchased material, utter silence or very few mentions.
Use OpenCL and not the H.264-specific APIs the vendor provides? Yes, GPU vendors cheat, I 've seen pictures. Now, how about x264 supporting OpenCL?
So, 5% of new PCs will experience borked upgrades in six months? Sorry guys, but this is a real problem, and I can't believe everyone from the lowliest Linux fanboy, all the way up to Linux kernel devs and Shuttleworth keeps pretending it's not a problem. Because admiting it's a problem would require coming up with a stable ABI, so that upgrades don't break due to binary blobs
Can anyone tell me what’s this weird obsession with fonts? They are just fonts, dammit. This is like Lada contemplating what precise color their interiors will be. Any news on funding Wayland? Naaah. Any news on funding PulseAudio? Nope. Wait, there is a new SDK coming out? Bahaha! almost got you for a minute there! There is nothing. Instead, let’s take out our crayon pencils and design new UIs and fonts first. Sure, UI and font design has it’s place, but after you have a working OS people can develop for. This is what most people don’t understand. When Microsoft announces a new API or a new SDK, it gets a quick mention in the press and then the press shifts focus on UIs and new gizmos, but the difference it makes for developers is huge. And people buy OSes depending on what apps they can run on.
"And Greece? They'll have the honor of having the world's first Kilobyte Tax" I am a Greek, and I can say that this isn't as extreme as it sounds. We have the square meter tax (every square meter of real estate is taxed heavily in Greece, with 4 different taxes, I paid 200 euros for a 50 square meter house in a not-rich-by-not-bad neighbourhood, and I classify for only 1 of the 4 taxes, go figure), we have the 1euro per 1 litre of gasoline tax (yes, gasonline costs 1.84 euros per litre here), so, say, 1 cent per Kilobyte doesn't sound so extreme. What happens when a company goes bankrupt? It can't find investors and goes belly up. What happens when a nation goes bankrupt? It sucks the citizens dry, without even promising to give anything back, so when the inevitable happens, citizens are in an even worse shape compared to if the nation had gone belly up from day 1.
+1 At least the company benefited by getting a fanatic of their backs. Can't people just use whatever software fits their needs? I understand people who reject things like the iPhone and WP7 because such platforms may prohibit them from loading software they want (see the Google Voice fiasco in iOS for more info), and they may not feel OK by having others decide for them even though they are the ones who pay for the device, but rejecting a piece of software because the author didn't chose to donate (yes, donate, it wasn't his obligation) the code under an OSI license? Also, is it just me, or most of the open source fanatics dream of working for a project like Fedora or Firefox, aka a project that allows them to give code to the community and get paid for it? Unfortunately most of the times "open source jobs" means either configuring some open source software for some corp, or maintaining some internal fork of some open source software, like Google does with Linux in their data center, and none of this benefits the community in any way. PS: Anyway, here is a list stry_cat may be interested in (though i doubt he will read past the first sentence of my post) http://www.fsf.org/resources/jobs
Isn't every DirectX/OpenGL/Glide game supposed to be 3D-ready? I mean, the polygons are already there. Sharp had once revealed the RD3D laptop which could do that very thing: Make DirectX and OpenGL games stereoscopic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Actius_RD3D_Notebook