there are lots of minorities in the Netherlands, and plenty of controversion, but people have simply not taken it out on the journalist writing about it.
I'm sorry, I couldn't let this slide. Doesn't the name Theo van Gogh ring a bell?
I disagree with my right-wing fellow countrymen that his death was part of a grander conspiracy to silence anti-Islam writers, but even if Mohammed Bouyeri killed him out of personal affront only, the fact remains that Theo was murdered for his provocative, controversial writings on Islam.
While google is only displaying excerpts, they are making digital copies of the entire book to drive their searches. And those copies are likely dupicated multiple times within their infrastructure.
No problems there. In order to scan the book, they have to buy it. In my understanding, after buying a copyrighted work, I can do with it whatever I please, under what is called the First Sale Doctrine in the US.
Of course, copyright disallows me to redistribute my personal copy, but that is not what Google is doing, they are providing excerpts, which is covered under Fair Use.
To make this even hairier, the Fair Use defense is just that, a defense. It is brought against an otherwise valid claim of copyright infringement. In other words, Fair Use is copyright infringement, but it is an allowed infringement.
While I am all for Free Speech, there is a limit when someone starts actually calling for murdering specific persons. According to TFA, the perpetrator posted in response to the killing of Anthony Walker, a black teenager:
Martin suggested that white people should celebrate the murder, that Anthony's family should be burned and made references to slavery and a "banana boat".
That's incitement to murder, hardly a category of protected speech.
And yet you clicked on the story, and spent enough time reading it that your little whine ended up on page three of the discussion.
Grow up. Slashdot stories are like TV programmes: don't like 'em, don't tune in. But don't whine, it makes you sound like one of those Puritanical 'TV is full of smut that must be prohibited' idiots.
It would seem rather onerous to hold the CEO of a corporation with literally thousands of employees [criminally] responsible for the actions of all of those employees
Why would this seem rather onerous, if we accept their claim that they deserve hundreds of millions recompense for the positive actions of those thousands of employees? I say, you want to be compensated for their successes, then you take the responsibility for their failures as well.
I always use to say "There is no 'yes, but...'. There is 'No, because...'". Stop horsing around pretending you'll hurt my feelings by merely disagreeing. Give me reasons, then we can see whether or not your disagreement stands up to the facts. "Yes, but..." expressions only serve to suborn the other's point while at the same time avoiding discussion.
Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are two examples that even if something is tested to be almost idiot proof, someone will invent a better operator.
This is pure technophobia. Three mile island is a non issue. Even the laughable 'cell phones cause teh cancer' nonsense is of more concern than that. Chernobyl was the result of a dying government, rather than the technology itself.
Actually, this is not so farfetched. For 50 years the nuclear power lobby has been reassuring the public that nuclear power is perfectly safe due to all the safety measures in place. As it turns out, in the hands of energy corporations who'll do anything to meet their quarterly numbers, a frightening amount of those safety measures are not operated correctly, just to save a buck. When you have to put your faith in human infallibility to stay safe, it is rather justified to be a bit sceptical.
Same with GM food. I trust the testing fields of our local agricultural university (Wageningen) to be operated sanely and safely, but I don't trust this technology in the hands of a corporate moloch who has every reason to downplay the risks, as this means they won't have to use such stringent safety measures anymore.
But of course it is easier to insult those who are sceptical than to sit back and think for yourself, isn't it?
You may disagree with my opinion, but that does not mean I have no idea what I'm talking about.
If your opinion is in blatant opposition to the observed facts, then yes, you have no idea what you are talking about.
As other posters rightly pointed out, despite Apples and Unix workstations dominating the lives of the younger generation at home and in school in the late eighties and early nineties, there was a massive adoption of the PC to run business software like dBase and Lotus 1-2-3. These days the dominant microcomputer species is a derivative of that PC, not an Apple or a Unix workstation. Ergo, you are wrong.
the only other vendor I know besides Samsung that has tried to support ogg is iRiver, and only on a select few of their devices at that.
Try something by Cowon, who sell their devices under the iAudio name. All of them support anything you can throw at it, with no format being a second class citizen. Vorbis, Flac, Wav, Windows Media, MP3, it doesn't matter, it'll play.
I own an iAudio M5 myself, and it's a lovely little device. I am really interested in the Cowon A2 to replace it, a widescreen video capable multimedia player, running on a modified Linux kernel.
Last I recalled, sp2 for XP had been out long enough even most corporations' IT departments to have tested and OKed it by now.
It's not quite that simple. If you have a corporate install of several tens of thousands PCs using the same base OS package, then the base package must be compatible with all applications that are to be deployed upon it. Now, XP SP2 breaks several applications, this is a known fact. Therefore, it may be more trouble rolling out SP2 on short notice instead of keeping up with hotfixes and using other measures (firewalls, anti-virus, IDS) to keep on top of security vulnerabilities in the SP1 base package.
Corporate installs are thus more likely to be one or more Service Packs behind. This has been common practice since NT4 times.
It [Windows] was, however, the first OS that the business world latched on to and has never let go of since.
Before you start questioning my IT knowledge and experience, you would do better not to give away that you are barely a teenager, or someone who doesn't know jack about history of the PC for other reasons. Windows was not the first OS the business world latched onto. I even named the first widespread commercial multiplatform OS used in business in the post you were replying to.
Windows only seems to be of decisive importance to people who have never known anything but Windows. Those of us with more experience in IT have a little more knowledge of other platforms and the history of computing to take you seriously.
Jeez, you really have drunk the Kool-Aid, haven't you?
What does Windows actually do? A bare Windows install is not capable of doing any useful computing at all, it is an Operating System. It is applications that do actual useful computing.
Granted, most applications are written to run on the Windows OS, but that does not make Windows the driver of computing for the masses, it is still the applications.
For business adoption, this was software like Lotus 1-2-3, dBase and WordPerfect. For home use? Games. Face it, most home users on this forum when discussing leaving Windows cite games as the factor keeping them on the platform.
The history of the microcomputer shows that is applications that drove adoption. The early 8-bit machines were sold to hobbyists who used them in little projects, and the generation of the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64 sold to families as replacements for the games console, with a little productivity on the side. Meanwhile, 8080 and Z-80 based machines sold to small businesses for WordStar and dBase II on CP/M, and when the IBM PC came and evolved, businesses upgraded to it and the new software available for the platform. It didn't hurt that the IBM name finally gave the microcomputer enough status to be treated seriously by more than SME's. Mac adoption started really heating up with its use in DTP, and Unix workstations sold on the strength of the high-end engineering and science applications that ran on them.
As the PC architecture became more versatile and powerful, and Windows started being more than just a DOS Shell, these separate markets slowly collapsed into one market, that of the Windows-driven Intel architecture, with lone holdouts in the Unix and Mac sectors. But a good objective look at history shows that it was not Windows that created this market. Microsoft merely rode the wave of success of the PC platform, and due to its massive install base was able to provide the most common API for application developers.
Windows being responsible for the whole microcomputer revolution is too silly to be taken seriously by anyone but Microsoft itself.
Lotus 1-2-3, dBase and WordPerfect drove computing as a trend, giving businesses the software to justify buying PCs. MS-DOS came with the computer that was necessary to run the software, and Windows merely capitalised on the huge existing install base of MS-DOS.
I'm getting sick and tired of this Microsoft revisionist bullshit.
But it seems to me we've created another target with the same characteristics - the hundreds of people standing in a queue to go through the screening machines.
Indeed. I live in the Netherlands, which is one of the densest populated countries in the Western world. On a regular day, while visiting the town centre, or on my daily commute, I see at least four or five points that are unguarded, and a nice target for a few blocks of C4 to create mayhem and kill or injure 100s of people.
Railway bridges are a nice example. How hard is it to rig one to collapse just as a train is passing over it? We have several of those bridges in the floodplains of the Rhine/Meuse rivers. Or how about the HST tunnel that's being built to run from Rotterdam to Amsterdam? Blow up the tracks just as a train is running 200-300 kph through that tunnel...
Or Dam Square in Amsterdam in the midst of tourist season. Four or five suicide bombers strategically placed: instant carnage, and international terror.
Of course, pulling [surgically implanting explosives] off requires considerable technical skill in medicine, surgery, post-op care, anesthesia, as well as explosives, not to mention the resources of a modern operating room (at least at the level of a battlefield one). I doubt it would be easy to pull all the together.
Given that the world's #1 terrorist suspect manages to avoid capture and to get sophisticated medical care at the same time, I don't think it is wise to just assume that this is outside the realm of possibility. If Osama is capable of finding sympathetic surgeons to help him with his kidney problem, how hard can it be to find equally capable surgeons to do the explosives implantantion mentioned?
My experience with PostgreSQL some time back was much worse than any experience I had with SQL Server. The online documentation failed to match anything resembling the actually installation that existed.
That's weird. Every PostgreSQL point release I've seen, the PG team updated the documentation at release time. Whoever did the install for you fscked up, as the docu for the installed version should be available. If it's a source install, someone forgot to download the current docs, and if it's a distro package, someone forgot to install the documentation package.
Yeah. The suspend-on-close is a really good feature, especially with the fast wake up time. Also, my DS can keep up that cycle for about two-three days, depending on how much gaming I actually do, before it has to be recharged.
What irks me is that game reviewers appear not to know of this feature. I've seen several game reviews already that complain about the game not having a pause function. Wel d'oh! that's what you use the suspend for. Just close the shell, wham! instant pause, and lowered power consumption to boot.
It doesn't state anywhere whether the fine applies only to business days, or also to weekends and holidays. I've assumed it also applies to weekends and holidays since the laws are just as applicable on these days as on any other day.
Bad assumption, I think.
Most EU countries calculate these things on a theoretical year of 360 days. That does include most holidays, so your calculation is not very far off though.
Now, support for old hardware is no longer important (XP does not support my old tv-card and modem, and I didn't hear anyone complain)
Where were you in October 2001, when the howls rose up from the web fora from people who found out that their peripherals no longer were supported in XP and manufacturers refused to update their drivers?
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sorry, I couldn't let this slide. Doesn't the name Theo van Gogh ring a bell?
I disagree with my right-wing fellow countrymen that his death was part of a grander conspiracy to silence anti-Islam writers, but even if Mohammed Bouyeri killed him out of personal affront only, the fact remains that Theo was murdered for his provocative, controversial writings on Islam.
Mart- What mouse sold in the past 5 years or so does not come with a scrollwheel that doubles as a middle mouse button?
- Option "Emulate3Buttons" "True". Now press left&right button simultaneously.
MartNo problems there. In order to scan the book, they have to buy it. In my understanding, after buying a copyrighted work, I can do with it whatever I please, under what is called the First Sale Doctrine in the US.
Of course, copyright disallows me to redistribute my personal copy, but that is not what Google is doing, they are providing excerpts, which is covered under Fair Use.
To make this even hairier, the Fair Use defense is just that, a defense. It is brought against an otherwise valid claim of copyright infringement. In other words, Fair Use is copyright infringement, but it is an allowed infringement.
MartWhile I am all for Free Speech, there is a limit when someone starts actually calling for murdering specific persons. According to TFA, the perpetrator posted in response to the killing of Anthony Walker, a black teenager:
That's incitement to murder, hardly a category of protected speech.
And yet you clicked on the story, and spent enough time reading it that your little whine ended up on page three of the discussion.
Grow up. Slashdot stories are like TV programmes: don't like 'em, don't tune in. But don't whine, it makes you sound like one of those Puritanical 'TV is full of smut that must be prohibited' idiots.
MartWhy would this seem rather onerous, if we accept their claim that they deserve hundreds of millions recompense for the positive actions of those thousands of employees? I say, you want to be compensated for their successes, then you take the responsibility for their failures as well.
MartExactly!
I always use to say "There is no 'yes, but...'. There is 'No, because...'". Stop horsing around pretending you'll hurt my feelings by merely disagreeing. Give me reasons, then we can see whether or not your disagreement stands up to the facts. "Yes, but..." expressions only serve to suborn the other's point while at the same time avoiding discussion.
MartWhat about the 700+ day agony of listening to Gentoo fanboys?
MartAnd yet I give arguments for my position. Arguments you refuse to refute, while accusing me of blindly accepting things.
Your post makes it abundantly clear who is thinking here and who is just taking the marketing spin of the biocorps as Gospel Truth.
Heck, my browser of choice (Galeon) has this as a standard button. Am I now an Evil Hacker?
MartActually, this is not so farfetched. For 50 years the nuclear power lobby has been reassuring the public that nuclear power is perfectly safe due to all the safety measures in place. As it turns out, in the hands of energy corporations who'll do anything to meet their quarterly numbers, a frightening amount of those safety measures are not operated correctly, just to save a buck. When you have to put your faith in human infallibility to stay safe, it is rather justified to be a bit sceptical.
Same with GM food. I trust the testing fields of our local agricultural university (Wageningen) to be operated sanely and safely, but I don't trust this technology in the hands of a corporate moloch who has every reason to downplay the risks, as this means they won't have to use such stringent safety measures anymore.
But of course it is easier to insult those who are sceptical than to sit back and think for yourself, isn't it?
MartBut he is using a singular pronoun. The use of 'they' as neutral singular pronoun dates back to the 14th century in English.
Before you start berating someone, please assure yourself you have your own facts right. Otherwise you just look stupid.
MartIf your opinion is in blatant opposition to the observed facts, then yes, you have no idea what you are talking about.
As other posters rightly pointed out, despite Apples and Unix workstations dominating the lives of the younger generation at home and in school in the late eighties and early nineties, there was a massive adoption of the PC to run business software like dBase and Lotus 1-2-3. These days the dominant microcomputer species is a derivative of that PC, not an Apple or a Unix workstation. Ergo, you are wrong.
MartTry something by Cowon, who sell their devices under the iAudio name. All of them support anything you can throw at it, with no format being a second class citizen. Vorbis, Flac, Wav, Windows Media, MP3, it doesn't matter, it'll play.
I own an iAudio M5 myself, and it's a lovely little device. I am really interested in the Cowon A2 to replace it, a widescreen video capable multimedia player, running on a modified Linux kernel.
MartIt's not quite that simple. If you have a corporate install of several tens of thousands PCs using the same base OS package, then the base package must be compatible with all applications that are to be deployed upon it. Now, XP SP2 breaks several applications, this is a known fact. Therefore, it may be more trouble rolling out SP2 on short notice instead of keeping up with hotfixes and using other measures (firewalls, anti-virus, IDS) to keep on top of security vulnerabilities in the SP1 base package.
Corporate installs are thus more likely to be one or more Service Packs behind. This has been common practice since NT4 times.
MartBefore you start questioning my IT knowledge and experience, you would do better not to give away that you are barely a teenager, or someone who doesn't know jack about history of the PC for other reasons. Windows was not the first OS the business world latched onto. I even named the first widespread commercial multiplatform OS used in business in the post you were replying to.
Windows only seems to be of decisive importance to people who have never known anything but Windows. Those of us with more experience in IT have a little more knowledge of other platforms and the history of computing to take you seriously.
MartJeez, you really have drunk the Kool-Aid, haven't you?
What does Windows actually do? A bare Windows install is not capable of doing any useful computing at all, it is an Operating System. It is applications that do actual useful computing.
Granted, most applications are written to run on the Windows OS, but that does not make Windows the driver of computing for the masses, it is still the applications.
For business adoption, this was software like Lotus 1-2-3, dBase and WordPerfect. For home use? Games. Face it, most home users on this forum when discussing leaving Windows cite games as the factor keeping them on the platform.
The history of the microcomputer shows that is applications that drove adoption. The early 8-bit machines were sold to hobbyists who used them in little projects, and the generation of the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64 sold to families as replacements for the games console, with a little productivity on the side. Meanwhile, 8080 and Z-80 based machines sold to small businesses for WordStar and dBase II on CP/M, and when the IBM PC came and evolved, businesses upgraded to it and the new software available for the platform. It didn't hurt that the IBM name finally gave the microcomputer enough status to be treated seriously by more than SME's. Mac adoption started really heating up with its use in DTP, and Unix workstations sold on the strength of the high-end engineering and science applications that ran on them.
As the PC architecture became more versatile and powerful, and Windows started being more than just a DOS Shell, these separate markets slowly collapsed into one market, that of the Windows-driven Intel architecture, with lone holdouts in the Unix and Mac sectors. But a good objective look at history shows that it was not Windows that created this market. Microsoft merely rode the wave of success of the PC platform, and due to its massive install base was able to provide the most common API for application developers.
Windows being responsible for the whole microcomputer revolution is too silly to be taken seriously by anyone but Microsoft itself.
MartNo, Windows didin't drive computing as a trend.
Lotus 1-2-3, dBase and WordPerfect drove computing as a trend, giving businesses the software to justify buying PCs. MS-DOS came with the computer that was necessary to run the software, and Windows merely capitalised on the huge existing install base of MS-DOS.
I'm getting sick and tired of this Microsoft revisionist bullshit.
MartIndeed. I live in the Netherlands, which is one of the densest populated countries in the Western world. On a regular day, while visiting the town centre, or on my daily commute, I see at least four or five points that are unguarded, and a nice target for a few blocks of C4 to create mayhem and kill or injure 100s of people.
Railway bridges are a nice example. How hard is it to rig one to collapse just as a train is passing over it? We have several of those bridges in the floodplains of the Rhine/Meuse rivers. Or how about the HST tunnel that's being built to run from Rotterdam to Amsterdam? Blow up the tracks just as a train is running 200-300 kph through that tunnel...
Or Dam Square in Amsterdam in the midst of tourist season. Four or five suicide bombers strategically placed: instant carnage, and international terror.
MartGiven that the world's #1 terrorist suspect manages to avoid capture and to get sophisticated medical care at the same time, I don't think it is wise to just assume that this is outside the realm of possibility. If Osama is capable of finding sympathetic surgeons to help him with his kidney problem, how hard can it be to find equally capable surgeons to do the explosives implantantion mentioned?
MartThat's weird. Every PostgreSQL point release I've seen, the PG team updated the documentation at release time. Whoever did the install for you fscked up, as the docu for the installed version should be available. If it's a source install, someone forgot to download the current docs, and if it's a distro package, someone forgot to install the documentation package.
Mart-- Winston Churchill
Yeah. The suspend-on-close is a really good feature, especially with the fast wake up time. Also, my DS can keep up that cycle for about two-three days, depending on how much gaming I actually do, before it has to be recharged.
What irks me is that game reviewers appear not to know of this feature. I've seen several game reviews already that complain about the game not having a pause function. Wel d'oh! that's what you use the suspend for. Just close the shell, wham! instant pause, and lowered power consumption to boot.
MartBad assumption, I think.
Most EU countries calculate these things on a theoretical year of 360 days. That does include most holidays, so your calculation is not very far off though.
MartWhere were you in October 2001, when the howls rose up from the web fora from people who found out that their peripherals no longer were supported in XP and manufacturers refused to update their drivers?
Mart