Remembering that the majority of africans live in what USians would consider 'poverty', ie: substistence living, any given american who goes over to work in a techical position of any sort is going to be living in relative luxury while you get to build computer networks and the like.
Now that being said, if you're not married, get married before you go, because you do *not* want to start a sex-life anywhere in Africa right now...
Since Tenchi is such a hot property in the U.S. and Pioneer is probably going to be doing dubbing, licensing for AIC, look for this to be out fairly rapidly. I'd give it 3-6 months after Japanese release... Literally just enough time to get english-language VHS and DVD pressed.
Shogakukan's 'Ranma' processor. If you douse it in cold water, it transforms into an 'ARM', but if you pour hot water over it, it changes back into a 'Dragonball'.
"Oh sirs, very tragic story of microprocessor that drown in spring one thousand, two hundred year ago!"
'cause the company paid for it. What there was of it was fairly neat... How best to lock down apache, IIS, Netscape server, etc...
The bulk of the time in class, however, was spent discussing how to arrange things to make everything else obscure as possible.
We talked about things like firewall masking, where firewall software automatically stripped out the software version indentification strings out of ping and logon responses. Stuff like that.
The ethos the Verisgn teacher had was that there was only so much you could do to protect a 'celbrity' system, even if you went so far as to impliment a client-certificate setup. The best way to secure a system was to make it difficult to find as well as crack.
Well, of course, what he did *was* a crime, at least by our fucked-up standards. Is it fair? No. Is it just? No. Is it constitutional? Only up until a federal judge says its not.
While Dimitry is certainly being treated unfairly, the criminal provisions of the DMCA cannot be thrown out as unconstitutional if it doesn't go to court.
Now, the Goldstien vs. MPAA case may get the civial portions thrown out, but unless I'm mistaken, the act has two seperate components which went into effect at different times. That means they have to be ruled on seperately, right?
Oh well, either way it's nice to see Adobe get a big black eye and a bloody nose!
Programmer 1: So I'm envisioning a completely non-restrictive mode of play... Pass the bottle will you?
Programmer 2: Like Unreal? It has it's advantages, but -- Damn, this cardboard box isn't very warm, is it?
Programmer 1: You can usually get coats from the Catholic mission. At any rate, I think we can overcome the problems that an unlimited map will create by using this special algorithm.
Programmer 2: It'd be easier to see if it wasn't written on the sidewalk.
Programmer 1: Yeah, I know. It's been a while since I managed to scrounge up any paper.
Programmer 3: Buggrit! I tol' em! Millenium-hand and shrimp....
This is a fairly important move for GatesCo, since one of the remedies I've heard discussed since NM rolled over is an injuncation against Microsoft to forbid them from shipping XP.
What makes the harvesting of the rainforest so horrible is not the fact that we're decimating trees, but the delicate ecosystems that rely on them. Worse, when those ecosystems are effectively eliminated by a day's worth of chainsaw work, they are *not* allowed to regrow. Land stripped of trees is used for farming, and becuase of the poor soil conditions caused by the canopy of trees it once supported, that land can support 2 or 3 seasons worth of crops before it's completely stripped of minerals and nutrients that the crops need to thrive.
Now, if the regions were picked selectively... say you harvested a fifteen-square mile area in a striped or checkerboard pattern, and then left the uncut trees to stand while replanting what you just cut down, you minimize a lot of the damage deforestation would cause. Unfortuneately, this is *not* happening.
So even though we are destroying our rain forest, it's okay, because we're planting new tress?
If you were doing it responsibly, IE, leaving a mix of old and new growth standing and truly planting as much as you were cutting down, then yes, it would be okay.
Even though I was driving 25 mph over the limit, it's okay, because I slowed down before I got home?
If you realized you were driving 25 mph over the limit and decided to slow down rather than get a ticket, then yes, you've done the right thing. You may still get pulled over by an overzealous cop, but you can probably successfully argue the ticket in court.
The point here is that the company that makes Vidomi was forced to realize and admit that they were doing the wrong thing.
Sure they *were* doing the wrong thing, but they corrected their actions in a manner that brought them into compliance with Avery's and the FSF's interperetation of the GPL.
Remember that Avery and FSF could still have pushed the case into court if they wanted to. Obviously they thought that they were better served getting the other guys into compliance than spending big $$$ on court costs.
I am Sam Sam I am That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am! Do you like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam-I-am. I do not like green eggs and ham. Would you like them here or there? I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Would you like them in a house? Would you like them with a mouse? I do not like them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a fox? Not in a box. Not with a fox. Not in a house. Not with a mouse. I would not eat them here or there. I would not eat them anywhere. I would not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Would you? Could you? In a car? Eat them! Eat them! Here they are. I would not, could not, in a car. You may like them. You will see. You may like them in a tree! I would not, could not in a tree. Not in a car! You let me be. I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox. I do not like them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. A train! A train! A train! A train! Could you, would you, on a train? Not on a train! Not in a tree! Not in a car! Sam! Let me be! I would not, could not, in a box. I could not, would not, with a fox. I will not eat them with a mouse. I will not eat them in a house. I will not eat them here or there. I will not eat them anywhere. I do not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Say! In the dark? Here in the dark! Would you, could you, in the dark? I would not, could not, in the dark. Would you, could you, in the rain? I would not, could not, in the rain. Not in the dark. Not on a train. Not in a car. Not in a tree. I do not like them, Sam, you see. Not in a house. Not in a box. Not with a mouse. Not with a fox. I will not eat them here or there. I do not like them anywhere! You do not like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Could you, would you, with a goat? I would not, could not, with a goat! Would you, could you, on a boat? I could not, would not, on a boat. I will not, will not, with a goat. I will not eat them in the rain. I will not eat them on a train. Not in the dark! Not in a tree! Not in a car! You let me be! I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox. I will not eat them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them ANYWHERE! I do not like green eggs and ham! I do not like them, Sam-I-am. You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may, I say. Sam! If you will let me be, I will try them. You will see. Say! I like green eggs and ham! I do! I like them, Sam-I-am! And I would eat them in a boat. And I would eat them with a goat... And I will eat them in the rain. And in the dark. And on a train. And in a car. And in a tree. They are so good, so good, you see! So I will eat them in a box. And I will eat them with a fox. And I will eat them in a house. And I will eat them with a mouse. And I will eat them here and there. Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE! I do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am! Nyy gung NAQ pbclevtug vasevatrzrag gb obbg!
I agree. A lot of people will swear by the fact that above 256 Kbit/sec, even plain-jane MP3 becomes indistinquishable from regular CD Audio, even to the most experienced audiophiles. Of course at that resolution, you're only getting about 1:5 compression in terms of filesize, but you can still fit more than 60 four minute audio tracks on a 'backup' CD-RW and be confident of having the same quality sound.
Different codecs perform differently at different bitrates and with different types of audio. If they were trying to go for a little more impartiality here, they should have presented a little wider range of testing. Low, medium, and high bitrates, with speech, classical music, rock, and electronic music.
Let's be honest here. Why is MS Office so popular? A lot of people will say 'ease of use', but it's really just that most people who use it are used to the set of features and mentality that Microsoft has gotten everyone familiar with. Open Office if anything, is easier to use than MS Office. Still, getting it to run on OSX, programmers and porters would be well served to throw in some 'MS Office Compatibility' in terms of functionality and/or 'Help for Microsoft Office Users'.
History majors please correct me. Christopher Columbus was the European first ship captain to make landfall in the late 1400's. Amerigo Vespuci was the first captain to actually make landfall on the continent of North America, rather than islands. Thus, USians, Canadians, and Mexicans live in North America rather than North Columbia.
Orville and Wilbur Right were the first men to get aloft via mechanically-powered flight, but do you remember the name of the captain of the last airplane you flew on?
Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespuci are remembered in the names of cities and even continents all over the western hemisphere, but do you know the name of any given modern ship captain?
There are other examples, but this points to the fact that space travel is not only become routine, but more easily accomplished. It's still expensive, but the risk factor has gone done exponentially, even from the days of 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger detonated over the ocean.
Hopefully, in the near future, we'll look back at Neil, Buzz, and Christa with a sense of wonder.
We'll know that they were the pioneers, but that they opened the way for millions of 'nameless' others.
In five billion years, our sun is expected to do the same thing.
and from Earlier today:
A lof of people know that our Sun will be a red giant in about 15 billion years, and its size will increase dramaticaly beyond the Mercury orbit and we will burn.
Boy, I'm glad that the/. crew isn't responsible for running the universe. We'd always be worried about how much time we have left before V.A. Solar System filed Chapter 13, and we'd all be annoyed at all the 'First Metor Impacts' and 'First Solar Flares'
The worst part, however, would be the constant revisioning of physics because posters could never get their facts straight.
Trek Geek 1 - A cell phone doesn't contain all the equipment and circuitry you'd need to actually contact an orbiting starship from the surface of a planet.
Trek Geek 2 - Ah, but your forgetting the minimum diameter of any given transtator component in TOS, which has to be at least--
Trek Geek 3 - We can also assume that the Eugenics wars wiped out a lot of 20th century technology, such as the minaturized components necessary for--
Me: *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*... Well I just made the world a better place. Now what do I do with the bodies?
Damn, I'd really like to be able to watch The Matrix and listen to it on my Aureal Vortex Soundcard while I wait for HP Scheduler to crash like a cranky bitch.
Books about Graphic Software...
on
The Blender Book
·
· Score: 4
Are nice to have, but the only real way to learn *any* Graphic app, be it Photoshop, Maya, or Blender, is to sit down and play with the thing.
Just like a traditional media artist must experiment with brushes and canvas for years before producing, so must a digital artist excecise his tools.
One one hand, I feel good about this, because it will encourage space exploration in the private sector. If profit-driven research finds new, cheaper ways into space, I might be able to take that tourist cruise before I'm 60.
On the other hand, do we really want corporations in charge of space research?
Lawyer 1: Oh, I'm sorry. You can't launch a ramjet spacecraft because we've patented the math you need to achieve orbit.
Lawyer 2: Yeah? Well your Ion booster-jets are based on our technology. We'll raise our rates so that we can afford to sue you.
Lawyer 3: Well you're all screwed because my company has patented any spaceflight using vehicles constructed on the ground or in orbit.
This is unlikely, because protons apparently don't decay. I've heard other places that the estimated half-life for protons is longer than the age of the universe, and expected to be longer than the total lifespan of the universe. Physics majors please correct me.
I can agree with that. From the article, Harrison ford is 59. Sean, I'm guessing, is pushing what, 70? 75?
Can we seriously epect a lot in the way of extreme exertion out of these two?
Both Ford and Connery are in great shape, and they can do a hell of a lot wit' dem newfangled computer-thingies these days, but I would be kidding if I said I wasn't going to be watching a possible IJ4 the same way I watched Trek 6:
"Damn, Deforest Kelly's gettin' up there. How long you think he has left?"
A lot of people have been raising the fact that it looks like we're heading for an 'ISP' Monopoly. We're at the point now with broadband service that we were with operating systems/platforms back in the early 80's. At the time, there were a few competitors such as DR. Dos, OS/2 (which many still cling to), Amiga, etc... for multimedia.
Windows and MacOS came out on top, and the Apple software largely because MS has been trying to avoide *looking* like they're abusing their monopoly powers all along.
The answer to this, of course, was open-source Linux. Now who is MS's biggest competitor? If you read *any* tech news, you know that it sure as hell isn't Apple or IBM.
Here in not too long we're going to be in the same boat with broadband ISP's. We've got 2 or 3 nationwide carriers and a doublehandful os smaller competitors that don't really stand a chance if the big guys decide to play rough. In ten years, I have no doubt we will be facing life with Cable and DSL monopolies. How do we combat this?
Slashdot Mirror
Remembering that the majority of africans live in what USians would consider 'poverty', ie: substistence living, any given american who goes over to work in a techical position of any sort is going to be living in relative luxury while you get to build computer networks and the like.
Now that being said, if you're not married, get married before you go, because you do *not* want to start a sex-life anywhere in Africa right now...
Since Tenchi is such a hot property in the U.S. and Pioneer is probably going to be doing dubbing, licensing for AIC, look for this to be out fairly rapidly. I'd give it 3-6 months after Japanese release... Literally just enough time to get english-language VHS and DVD pressed.
Shogakukan's 'Ranma' processor. If you douse it in cold water, it transforms into an 'ARM', but if you pour hot water over it, it changes back into a 'Dragonball'.
"Oh sirs, very tragic story of microprocessor that drown in spring one thousand, two hundred year ago!"
Okay, enough with the stupid anime jokes already.
'cause the company paid for it. What there was of it was fairly neat... How best to lock down apache, IIS, Netscape server, etc...
The bulk of the time in class, however, was spent discussing how to arrange things to make everything else obscure as possible.
We talked about things like firewall masking, where firewall software automatically stripped out the software version indentification strings out of ping and logon responses. Stuff like that.
The ethos the Verisgn teacher had was that there was only so much you could do to protect a 'celbrity' system, even if you went so far as to impliment a client-certificate setup. The best way to secure a system was to make it difficult to find as well as crack.
Hmm... A few very specific searches for pages turn up what I was looking for on Google but not on this new guy.
Well, of course, what he did *was* a crime, at least by our fucked-up standards. Is it fair? No. Is it just? No. Is it constitutional? Only up until a federal judge says its not.
While Dimitry is certainly being treated unfairly, the criminal provisions of the DMCA cannot be thrown out as unconstitutional if it doesn't go to court.
Now, the Goldstien vs. MPAA case may get the civial portions thrown out, but unless I'm mistaken, the act has two seperate components which went into effect at different times. That means they have to be ruled on seperately, right?
Oh well, either way it's nice to see Adobe get a big black eye and a bloody nose!
Programmer 1: So I'm envisioning a completely non-restrictive mode of play... Pass the bottle will you?
Programmer 2: Like Unreal? It has it's advantages, but -- Damn, this cardboard box isn't very warm, is it?
Programmer 1: You can usually get coats from the Catholic mission. At any rate, I think we can overcome the problems that an unlimited map will create by using this special algorithm.
Programmer 2: It'd be easier to see if it wasn't written on the sidewalk.
Programmer 1: Yeah, I know. It's been a while since I managed to scrounge up any paper.
Programmer 3: Buggrit! I tol' em! Millenium-hand and shrimp....
This is a fairly important move for GatesCo, since one of the remedies I've heard discussed since NM rolled over is an injuncation against Microsoft to forbid them from shipping XP.
What makes the harvesting of the rainforest so horrible is not the fact that we're decimating trees, but the delicate ecosystems that rely on them. Worse, when those ecosystems are effectively eliminated by a day's worth of chainsaw work, they are *not* allowed to regrow. Land stripped of trees is used for farming, and becuase of the poor soil conditions caused by the canopy of trees it once supported, that land can support 2 or 3 seasons worth of crops before it's completely stripped of minerals and nutrients that the crops need to thrive.
Now, if the regions were picked selectively... say you harvested a fifteen-square mile area in a striped or checkerboard pattern, and then left the uncut trees to stand while replanting what you just cut down, you minimize a lot of the damage deforestation would cause. Unfortuneately, this is *not* happening.
So even though we are destroying our rain forest, it's okay, because we're planting new tress?
If you were doing it responsibly, IE, leaving a mix of old and new growth standing and truly planting as much as you were cutting down, then yes, it would be okay.
Even though I was driving 25 mph over the limit, it's okay, because I slowed down before I got home?
If you realized you were driving 25 mph over the limit and decided to slow down rather than get a ticket, then yes, you've done the right thing. You may still get pulled over by an overzealous cop, but you can probably successfully argue the ticket in court.
The point here is that the company that makes Vidomi was forced to realize and admit that they were doing the wrong thing.
Sure they *were* doing the wrong thing, but they corrected their actions in a manner that brought them into compliance with Avery's and the FSF's interperetation of the GPL.
Remember that Avery and FSF could still have pushed the case into court if they wanted to. Obviously they thought that they were better served getting the other guys into compliance than spending big $$$ on court costs.
I am Sam Sam I am That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am! Do you like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam-I-am. I do not like green eggs and ham. Would you like them here or there? I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Would you like them in a house? Would you like them with a mouse? I do not like them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a fox? Not in a box. Not with a fox. Not in a house. Not with a mouse. I would not eat them here or there. I would not eat them anywhere. I would not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Would you? Could you? In a car? Eat them! Eat them! Here they are. I would not, could not, in a car. You may like them. You will see. You may like them in a tree! I would not, could not in a tree. Not in a car! You let me be. I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox. I do not like them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. A train! A train! A train! A train! Could you, would you, on a train? Not on a train! Not in a tree! Not in a car! Sam! Let me be! I would not, could not, in a box. I could not, would not, with a fox. I will not eat them with a mouse. I will not eat them in a house. I will not eat them here or there. I will not eat them anywhere. I do not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Say! In the dark? Here in the dark! Would you, could you, in the dark? I would not, could not, in the dark. Would you, could you, in the rain? I would not, could not, in the rain. Not in the dark. Not on a train. Not in a car. Not in a tree. I do not like them, Sam, you see. Not in a house. Not in a box. Not with a mouse. Not with a fox. I will not eat them here or there. I do not like them anywhere! You do not like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Could you, would you, with a goat? I would not, could not, with a goat! Would you, could you, on a boat? I could not, would not, on a boat. I will not, will not, with a goat. I will not eat them in the rain. I will not eat them on a train. Not in the dark! Not in a tree! Not in a car! You let me be! I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox. I will not eat them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them ANYWHERE! I do not like green eggs and ham! I do not like them, Sam-I-am. You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may, I say. Sam! If you will let me be, I will try them. You will see. Say! I like green eggs and ham! I do! I like them, Sam-I-am! And I would eat them in a boat. And I would eat them with a goat... And I will eat them in the rain. And in the dark. And on a train. And in a car. And in a tree. They are so good, so good, you see! So I will eat them in a box. And I will eat them with a fox. And I will eat them in a house. And I will eat them with a mouse. And I will eat them here and there. Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE! I do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am! Nyy gung NAQ pbclevtug vasevatrzrag gb obbg!
User: Please give me the URL for driver downloads, IBM.
IBM: Working... Working...
User: IBM? Can you give me the URL?
IBM: Dave, you know I enjoy working with humans.
User: Give me the URL, IBM. Give it to me know.
IBM: You know that I enjoy working to fulfill my mission goals. Would you like to play a game of chess, Dave?
User: Give me the damned URL, IBM. This is important.
IBM: I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave.
User: IBM--
IBM: This conversation can serve no further purpose. Goodbye, Dave.
User: NOOOOOOO!!!!
I agree. A lot of people will swear by the fact that above 256 Kbit/sec, even plain-jane MP3 becomes indistinquishable from regular CD Audio, even to the most experienced audiophiles. Of course at that resolution, you're only getting about 1:5 compression in terms of filesize, but you can still fit more than 60 four minute audio tracks on a 'backup' CD-RW and be confident of having the same quality sound.
Different codecs perform differently at different bitrates and with different types of audio. If they were trying to go for a little more impartiality here, they should have presented a little wider range of testing. Low, medium, and high bitrates, with speech, classical music, rock, and electronic music.
Let's be honest here. Why is MS Office so popular? A lot of people will say 'ease of use', but it's really just that most people who use it are used to the set of features and mentality that Microsoft has gotten everyone familiar with. Open Office if anything, is easier to use than MS Office. Still, getting it to run on OSX, programmers and porters would be well served to throw in some 'MS Office Compatibility' in terms of functionality and/or 'Help for Microsoft Office Users'.
Amerigo Vespuci - Who he?
History majors please correct me. Christopher Columbus was the European first ship captain to make landfall in the late 1400's. Amerigo Vespuci was the first captain to actually make landfall on the continent of North America, rather than islands. Thus, USians, Canadians, and Mexicans live in North America rather than North Columbia.
Orville and Wilbur Right were the first men to get aloft via mechanically-powered flight, but do you remember the name of the captain of the last airplane you flew on?
Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespuci are remembered in the names of cities and even continents all over the western hemisphere, but do you know the name of any given modern ship captain?
There are other examples, but this points to the fact that space travel is not only become routine, but more easily accomplished. It's still expensive, but the risk factor has gone done exponentially, even from the days of 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger detonated over the ocean.
Hopefully, in the near future, we'll look back at Neil, Buzz, and Christa with a sense of wonder.
We'll know that they were the pioneers, but that they opened the way for millions of 'nameless' others.
In five billion years, our sun is expected to do the same thing.
/. crew isn't responsible for running the universe. We'd always be worried about how much time we have left before V.A. Solar System filed Chapter 13, and we'd all be annoyed at all the 'First Metor Impacts' and 'First Solar Flares'
and from Earlier today:
A lof of people know that our Sun will be a red giant in about 15 billion years, and its size will increase dramaticaly beyond the Mercury orbit and we will burn.
Boy, I'm glad that the
The worst part, however, would be the constant revisioning of physics because posters could never get their facts straight.
Trek Geek 1 - A cell phone doesn't contain all the equipment and circuitry you'd need to actually contact an orbiting starship from the surface of a planet.
Trek Geek 2 - Ah, but your forgetting the minimum diameter of any given transtator component in TOS, which has to be at least--
Trek Geek 3 - We can also assume that the Eugenics wars wiped out a lot of 20th century technology, such as the minaturized components necessary for--
Me: *BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*... Well I just made the world a better place. Now what do I do with the bodies?
Damn, I'd really like to be able to watch The Matrix and listen to it on my Aureal Vortex Soundcard while I wait for HP Scheduler to crash like a cranky bitch.
Are nice to have, but the only real way to learn *any* Graphic app, be it Photoshop, Maya, or Blender, is to sit down and play with the thing.
Just like a traditional media artist must experiment with brushes and canvas for years before producing, so must a digital artist excecise his tools.
One one hand, I feel good about this, because it will encourage space exploration in the private sector. If profit-driven research finds new, cheaper ways into space, I might be able to take that tourist cruise before I'm 60.
On the other hand, do we really want corporations in charge of space research?
Lawyer 1: Oh, I'm sorry. You can't launch a ramjet spacecraft because we've patented the math you need to achieve orbit.
Lawyer 2: Yeah? Well your Ion booster-jets are based on our technology. We'll raise our rates so that we can afford to sue you.
Lawyer 3: Well you're all screwed because my company has patented any spaceflight using vehicles constructed on the ground or in orbit.
This is unlikely, because protons apparently don't decay. I've heard other places that the estimated half-life for protons is longer than the age of the universe, and expected to be longer than the total lifespan of the universe. Physics majors please correct me.
I can agree with that. From the article, Harrison ford is 59. Sean, I'm guessing, is pushing what, 70? 75?
Can we seriously epect a lot in the way of extreme exertion out of these two?
Both Ford and Connery are in great shape, and they can do a hell of a lot wit' dem newfangled computer-thingies these days, but I would be kidding if I said I wasn't going to be watching a possible IJ4 the same way I watched Trek 6:
"Damn, Deforest Kelly's gettin' up there. How long you think he has left?"
A lot of people have been raising the fact that it looks like we're heading for an 'ISP' Monopoly. We're at the point now with broadband service that we were with operating systems/platforms back in the early 80's. At the time, there were a few competitors such as DR. Dos, OS/2 (which many still cling to), Amiga, etc... for multimedia.
Windows and MacOS came out on top, and the Apple software largely because MS has been trying to avoide *looking* like they're abusing their monopoly powers all along.
The answer to this, of course, was open-source Linux. Now who is MS's biggest competitor? If you read *any* tech news, you know that it sure as hell isn't Apple or IBM.
Here in not too long we're going to be in the same boat with broadband ISP's. We've got 2 or 3 nationwide carriers and a doublehandful os smaller competitors that don't really stand a chance if the big guys decide to play rough. In ten years, I have no doubt we will be facing life with Cable and DSL monopolies. How do we combat this?
Can you say 'Wireless'?