On the other hand you can flirt with the Japanese immigration girls and they will just smile shyly at you:-)
On a more serious note, the many times I have been to Japan, both the immigration and customs process has been extremely courteous, much more so then in the US and Canada. In fact I can't say I've ever had a bad experience entering Japan (other than having to wait in a queue for 2 hours).
Umm, it's 2007. The majority of knowledge workers are purely laptop based. The question we should be asking is 'does physical infrastructure matter anymore'?
However in some places, tall buildings play havoc with low power GPS systems. In Manhattan for example, the GPS in Hertz cars never works... except for around central park.
So, you know, before bagging out this person for being a Microsoft shill (which he may be, I don't know) did any poster bother reading the OpenSocial API spec? Because I did, in fact, read it and I have to say, its really very bad. I mean, it reads like some marketroids gathered up some stuff Orkut is doing into a binder (which itself did not have much forethought), did a deal with some partners, and threw it out there with the word 'Open' in the title for the GOOG fanboys.
I am usually a fan of GOOG API's but this is pure competitive play that is weak technically and has little or no merit beyond who is supporting it.
If you define a new type Microsoft will not need to support it and the whole effort will be dead in the water. No one will write completely alternate code for less than 50% of the market. Microsoft, by virtue of its huge marketing and education budget will then be in a much stronger positions to promote a competing solution. In fact, the very presence of an alternative type will given Microsoft the justification to promote an alternative to Javascript.
On the other hand, if Javascript is 'extended', at least some of those extensions will be used by Javascript libraries which will, no doubt, offer 'workarounds' for features IE does not offer. IE will then still be able to run the code but it will be perceived as less functional which will force Microsoft to implement more Javascript features to stave off further erosion of IE markeshare and, more importantly, offer little or no justification for Microsoft to promote anything else.
The principal point of the argument is whether type='javascript' will encompass the changes Brendan is proposing or whether the new version will have it's own type. MS is arguing that backward compatibility will be much more difficult to achieve while Brendan is saying that this is, essentially, all about Microsoft trying to leverage their browser dominance to promote a competing language.
Brendan makes a very strong case and I think it is true that if Microsoft is not forced to implement ECMAScript V4 they won't and instead try to promote Silverlight and WPF instead, if for no other reason then to weaken Google and other web based application vendors.
It runs on Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X. The Linux version is an open source effort.
You do understand this is a Microsoft product and so is subject to 'no business case' discontinuation of versions for Mac OS X and Windows XP. Yes, Flex is not as good as Silverlight but at least Abobe does not have a vested interest in discontinuing versions of their product in an attempt to hurt competitors.
A user would pay the extremely high cost of a supercomputer - with it's proprietary memory architecture and interconnects - precisely because it can much more effectively scale up parallel processes then a cluster. If the benefit of that did not outweigh the cost of tailoring software to fit the device then these devices would never be made.
It's very simple. If you don't make money, you can do as you wish without fear of MSFT. If you make money you have to pay MSFT 0.4% of your EU revenue. It seems very reasonable to me.
In fact, it is so reasonable, that it makes me wonder if, should MSFT decide to take on OSS legally in the US, the software innovation pendulum would swing in-favor of the EU.
You mean future AI's won't place me in a jar and hook me up to the Matrix to farm me for electricity? WTF? Are you saying that was like 'science fiction' or something?
RIAA tries to take one case against a weak defendant, and then leverage that win in the courts against everyone else
Does not google mirror like 20+ years of Usenet. I don't think they would quietly take down their servers, if for no other reasons then because standing up to the RIAA would have huge street cred.
It's not a 'someone'. Microsoft has 80k employees. No doubt some of them would like to use any tool (even a chair) to beat you senseless and some who no doubt would share their source with you without a second though. The fact that Microsoft has enabled the latter is, at least somewhat, commendable.
So this is open source at it's best... He took the source for a bacterium, he forked it, and made a newer, cleaner version. He is about to start testing. His version does not yet actually do anything, but if all goes well it will be a great foundation for new and usefull stuff. ]{
1) He has not announced this. He is expected to annouce it. It's not actually been done yet, according to the article, although Venter is '100% confident'.
2) It was not him but his team.
3) His team has not actually created the life form in question, it's just a stripped down copy of an existing life form.
4) His team has only made a copy of the chromosome, the other parts of cellular machinary come from an existing organism.
So the summary should read...
Craig Venter is expected to announce that his team has created an artificial copy of a bacterium chomosome. The arficial chromosome, if all goes well, will be installed in a cell, and will take over its machinery, and effectivelly begin living.
You do know these sort of jokes are now considered a basis for indefinite incarceration while your subversive activities are investigated by highly skilled ('where is the Any key?') US government computer experts.
But don't worry, as the president says, 'We don't torture.', we just slap you around and drown you a bit, but it's just pretend.
It's not the infrastructure. Many US cities already have fiber in major streets. Moreover, if you look at modern city subdivisons, which have been entirelly rebuilt, you still don't find fiber to the home. We have an appartment in Seattle in a completelly new 'apartment community' and there is no fiber to the community, never mind the units, even though there is fiber in the street.
Why? Because the market (although free) is not competative. You simply cannot get more than 8mb (from the cable provider) and so no one has any incentive to deliver a faster service... you have no place to do if you don't like it.
In Japan the market is even less competative but the government works more closelly with the monopolies, effectivelly facilitating their continuation, in exchange for following through with government programs. It seems to work better. (Though I would never advocate this for the US.)
The good news is that in the US there is finally some competition (with the arival of FiOS) that has prompted others (like COMCAST) to start upgrading. FiOS annouced they would deliver a 15mb service to our appartment community, in 2008, and lo and behold Comcast came around just last week to assure us they would have 16mb 'before the summer'.
My parents in law get 24mb per second (actual speed test as they did not know what the theoretical was) in their home in Saitama (about 2 hours from Tokyo).
Alas, eBay is a public company. If they are going to sell Skype, possibly for less than they paid for it, they are going to have to explain that to their investors ahead of time, not after the fact.
This announcement is a prelude to eBay shopping Skype to the highest bidder. Even though it is not a cash cow Google, Microsoft and possibly Yahoo will be falling over themselves to buy for it's strategic value.
Personally, I hope whomever buys it, they open up the protocol as, if it does open, it could be THE voice platform.
The vast majority of Japanese spend a great deal of time on public transport, often (during rush hour) standing. Japan has a culture where it is considered bad manners to speak on your phone on public transport. Hence, to stay in touch with your friends, and to pass the time, you need a one handed device you can use to email, surf the web and whatnot.
Incidentally, the Japanese also have better wired internet access. The vast majority can get fiber to the home at a reasonable price.
Slashdot Mirror
On the other hand you can flirt with the Japanese immigration girls and they will just smile shyly at you :-)
On a more serious note, the many times I have been to Japan, both the immigration and customs process has been extremely courteous, much more so then in the US and Canada. In fact I can't say I've ever had a bad experience entering Japan (other than having to wait in a queue for 2 hours).
]{
Umm, it's 2007. The majority of knowledge workers are purely laptop based. The question we should be asking is 'does physical infrastructure matter anymore'?
]{
I have a patent on that so unless you pay me a royalty I'll see you in Marshall Texas. :-)
]{
However in some places, tall buildings play havoc with low power GPS systems. In Manhattan for example, the GPS in Hertz cars never works ... except for around central park.
]{
So, you know, before bagging out this person for being a Microsoft shill (which he may be, I don't know) did any poster bother reading the OpenSocial API spec? Because I did, in fact, read it and I have to say, its really very bad. I mean, it reads like some marketroids gathered up some stuff Orkut is doing into a binder (which itself did not have much forethought), did a deal with some partners, and threw it out there with the word 'Open' in the title for the GOOG fanboys.
I am usually a fan of GOOG API's but this is pure competitive play that is weak technically and has little or no merit beyond who is supporting it.
]{
If you define a new type Microsoft will not need to support it and the whole effort will be dead in the water. No one will write completely alternate code for less than 50% of the market. Microsoft, by virtue of its huge marketing and education budget will then be in a much stronger positions to promote a competing solution. In fact, the very presence of an alternative type will given Microsoft the justification to promote an alternative to Javascript.
On the other hand, if Javascript is 'extended', at least some of those extensions will be used by Javascript libraries which will, no doubt, offer 'workarounds' for features IE does not offer. IE will then still be able to run the code but it will be perceived as less functional which will force Microsoft to implement more Javascript features to stave off further erosion of IE markeshare and, more importantly, offer little or no justification for Microsoft to promote anything else.
]{
The principal point of the argument is whether type='javascript' will encompass the changes Brendan is proposing or whether the new version will have it's own type. MS is arguing that backward compatibility will be much more difficult to achieve while Brendan is saying that this is, essentially, all about Microsoft trying to leverage their browser dominance to promote a competing language.
Brendan makes a very strong case and I think it is true that if Microsoft is not forced to implement ECMAScript V4 they won't and instead try to promote Silverlight and WPF instead, if for no other reason then to weaken Google and other web based application vendors.
]{
But Silverlight works on all platforms.
It runs on Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X. The Linux version is an open source effort.
You do understand this is a Microsoft product and so is subject to 'no business case' discontinuation of versions for Mac OS X and Windows XP. Yes, Flex is not as good as Silverlight but at least Abobe does not have a vested interest in discontinuing versions of their product in an attempt to hurt competitors.
]{
A user would pay the extremely high cost of a supercomputer - with it's proprietary memory architecture and interconnects - precisely because it can much more effectively scale up parallel processes then a cluster. If the benefit of that did not outweigh the cost of tailoring software to fit the device then these devices would never be made.
]{
It's very simple. If you don't make money, you can do as you wish without fear of MSFT. If you make money you have to pay MSFT 0.4% of your EU revenue. It seems very reasonable to me.
In fact, it is so reasonable, that it makes me wonder if, should MSFT decide to take on OSS legally in the US, the software innovation pendulum would swing in-favor of the EU.
]{
Yes, well, if you pay TrollTech for QT you have a world wide license. The 0.4% only covers the EU so there is a bit of a difference.
]{
I am not sure how this makes sense given that each VM is actually running a monolithic kernel.
]{
Yes, yes and yes?
You mean future AI's won't place me in a jar and hook me up to the Matrix to farm me for electricity? WTF? Are you saying that was like 'science fiction' or something?
]{
RIAA tries to take one case against a weak defendant, and then leverage that win in the courts against everyone else
Does not google mirror like 20+ years of Usenet. I don't think they would quietly take down their servers, if for no other reasons then because standing up to the RIAA would have huge street cred.
]{
It's not a 'someone'. Microsoft has 80k employees. No doubt some of them would like to use any tool (even a chair) to beat you senseless and some who no doubt would share their source with you without a second though. The fact that Microsoft has enabled the latter is, at least somewhat, commendable.
]{
So this is open source at it's best ...
He took the source for a bacterium, he forked it, and made a newer, cleaner version. He is about to start testing. His version does not yet actually do anything, but if all goes well it will be a great foundation for new and usefull stuff.
]{
1) He has not announced this. He is expected to annouce it. It's not actually been done yet, according to the article, although Venter is '100% confident'.
...
2) It was not him but his team.
3) His team has not actually created the life form in question, it's just a stripped down copy of an existing life form.
4) His team has only made a copy of the chromosome, the other parts of cellular machinary come from an existing organism.
So the summary should read
Craig Venter is expected to announce that his team has created an artificial copy of a bacterium chomosome. The arficial chromosome, if all goes well, will be installed in a cell, and will take over its machinery, and effectivelly begin living.
]{
You do know these sort of jokes are now considered a basis for indefinite incarceration while your subversive activities are investigated by highly skilled ('where is the Any key?') US government computer experts.
But don't worry, as the president says, 'We don't torture.', we just slap you around and drown you a bit, but it's just pretend.
]{
It's not the infrastructure. Many US cities already have fiber in major streets. Moreover, if you look at modern city subdivisons, which have been entirelly rebuilt, you still don't find fiber to the home. We have an appartment in Seattle in a completelly new 'apartment community' and there is no fiber to the community, never mind the units, even though there is fiber in the street.
... you have no place to do if you don't like it.
Why? Because the market (although free) is not competative. You simply cannot get more than 8mb (from the cable provider) and so no one has any incentive to deliver a faster service
In Japan the market is even less competative but the government works more closelly with the monopolies, effectivelly facilitating their continuation, in exchange for following through with government programs. It seems to work better. (Though I would never advocate this for the US.)
The good news is that in the US there is finally some competition (with the arival of FiOS) that has prompted others (like COMCAST) to start upgrading. FiOS annouced they would deliver a 15mb service to our appartment community, in 2008, and lo and behold Comcast came around just last week to assure us they would have 16mb 'before the summer'.
]{
My parents in law get 24mb per second (actual speed test as they did not know what the theoretical was) in their home in Saitama (about 2 hours from Tokyo).
]{
Alas, eBay is a public company. If they are going to sell Skype, possibly for less than they paid for it, they are going to have to explain that to their investors ahead of time, not after the fact.
]{
This announcement is a prelude to eBay shopping Skype to the highest bidder. Even though it is not a cash cow Google, Microsoft and possibly Yahoo will be falling over themselves to buy for it's strategic value.
Personally, I hope whomever buys it, they open up the protocol as, if it does open, it could be THE voice platform.
]{
Actually David Cutler lead the development of NT and he is still at Microsoft.
However, he no longer works on the OS so your argument is essentially true (that none of the original NT engineers are still working on NT).
]{
The vast majority of Japanese spend a great deal of time on public transport, often (during rush hour) standing. Japan has a culture where it is considered bad manners to speak on your phone on public transport. Hence, to stay in touch with your friends, and to pass the time, you need a one handed device you can use to email, surf the web and whatnot.
Incidentally, the Japanese also have better wired internet access. The vast majority can get fiber to the home at a reasonable price.
]{