The OPs analogy was perfect. the 10.2.x updates you describe are hotfixes, and the 10.x are service packs.
No, I disagree.
Microsoft's updates can be catagorized into three things: 1) Service Packs, 2) Critical Updates (such as the latest IE bugfixes), 3) Non-critical updates (such as improved foreign language support, Media Player Upgrades, etc)
Apple's updates can be similarly catagorized: 1) Mac OS X Updates (i.e, 10.2.x), 2) Security Updates (such as the one I received on 8/14), and 3) Non-critical updates (such as the Java 1.4.1 update)
There is a direct correlation between the two in their catagorization. The only difference is in how they express their version numbering; Microsoft tends to be slightly more liberal in their updates of the major version. Just because Microsoft didn't refer to Windows XP as "Windows 5.1", are they more justified in charging for a periodic upgrade than Apple progressing from 10.2 to 10.3?
The difference being that even the big bad evil MS doesn't charge for service packs; and if they did, they'd be tarred and feathered here. But it's OK for Apple to charge for them.
If there's one thing to be learned from the 10.2.8 update, it's that Slashdot won't hesitate to gang up on Apple for doing something stupid. Unlike other companies, however, Apple doesn't make a business out of it.
This whole debate strikes me as quite similar to the old Avoirdupois vs. Troy measurement debate. The ratios are even comparable: The Troy ounce is about 1.1 Avoirdupolis ounces. The same potential for consumer confusion also exists: if someone was used to dealing with Troy ounces, and purchased gold from someone who chose to use Avoirdupolis ounces, it would appear that they were getting far more for their money than they actually were.
This situation was finally resolved by making it clear in what context each measurement would be used. Gold is measured in Troy ounces; most other things are measured in Avoirdupolis ounces. Some threshhold cases might cause confusion (say, consumers buying a gold watch...), but the default case is to assume Avoirdupolis when units aren't measured, except when dealing with gold directly.
I think we could apply this to the Kilobit problem. Clearly, the general public doesn't need to know about the 2^10 notation. On the other hand, that notation is far too convenient for computer people to abandon it (or to start trying to use politically correct units). So I support the above poster's suggestion of "Long" and "Short" kilobytes (as proposed by Donald Knuth, see http://www-cs-staff.stanford.edu/~knuth/news99.htm l). Every day users will probably use short kilobytes without specifying 'short'; computer designers will probably use long kilobytes without specifying 'long'; and the threshhold cases can specify which are being used. (While new hard drives may not need to say "160 short gigabytes" prominently on the front, they could include that information in the footnotes.
THIS CD IS ENHANCED WITH MEDIAMAX SOFTWARE. Windows Compatible Instructions: Insert disc into CD-ROM drive. Software will automatically install. If it doesn't, click on "LaunchCd.exe." MacOS Instructions: Insert disc into CD-ROM drive. Click on "Start."
This is what gets me: they already seem to have recognized the autorun vulnerability. How do I know? Because they're asking me to take steps to install their CD-breaking system in the event that the software doesn't automatically start! They might as well say,
Software will automatically deprive you of your fair use rights. If it doesn't, click on "LaunchCd.exe."
That's why there's Swiss [myfonts.com] from Bitstream and Arial [myfonts.com] from Monotype, both Linotype Helvetica [myfonts.com] clones, Book Antiqua [myfonts.com] from Monotype, a Linotype Palatino [myfonts.com] clone, and hundreds of others.
IIRC, this was the motivation behind the naming of Apple's fonts. Rather than paying royalties to Linotype for their fonts, Apple created their own, and mimiced the names. Thus, Geneva from Helvetica, New York from Times, etc.
I was using NLS to collaborate on a paper using my SDS 940, and it was like beep beep beep beep beep...and then, like half my paper was gone! It was a really good paper!
So I tried uisng my IBM 360, but it was like unngh...so I got on the ARPAnet, and started downloading things for like an hour. Who wants to sit on Christmas afternoon and download OS/360 drivers?
It was kind of...a bummer.
My name is Douglas Engelbart, and I invented the mouse. (Though mine had 3 buttons...)
Several months ago I discovered a similar fluke (which no longer seems to work the same way):
When using an unfamiar computer, I would often find myself typing in 'google' in the Internet Explorer address bar. Rather than assuming I meant 'google.com' (a la Opera), IE would do an MSN search on the term. What was the number one result? "MSN Search", of course. (Google.com didn't show up until #9)
I'm not sure which is more disturbing...the fact that they assumed I meant "MSN Search" when I said "Google", or the fact that searching for a search engine found the search engine I was searching with instead of the site I was searching for.
Can any opera users confirm if the style sheets are still messed up ?
Yep. MSN.com still displays the same back-shifted margins for me. Unlike Opera's test screenshots, though, I am able to read the improperly aligned text.
It was 17 years last Tuesday (January 28) that Challenger (Columbia's sister shuttle) exploded. And 36 years last Monday that the Apollo 1 astronauts died on the launch pad.
The *previous* mission to this one (STS 113) picked up where Challenger had failed, by carrying Christa McAuliffe's backup for the Challenger flight.
This is a sad day day for the world, for America, and especially for the American Space Program.
I just returned from spending my Christmas break in Ukraine, and I just think it's unbelievable for the recording industry to claim the amount of losses it does from piracy in Ukraine.
When a University professor makes $700 a year, do they really expect anyone to pay $200 for a copy of Windows? A single legitimate DVD is roughly equivilent to a month's salary for most people. I'm not sure how you can get $300 million dollars in lost revenue when most people can't even afford a computer.
Although I'm not adept enough with my Pickett slide rule to rely on it entirely (especially in classes where 3 decimal precision is considered essential, and time is limited), there is one situation where I have found it quite useful - classes where a calculator is not allowed. Most teachers only make such a restriction to keep students from using built-in cheat functions on some calculators to skip difficult problems, and having my slide rule helps me to do the simple math that I am supposed to have learned by now. Plus it's great for impressing girls.
Just a couple of thoughts I had that might be helpful examples in the DeCSS case:
1) As far as an example of the use of source code, etc. as art, I am reminded of The Story of Mel. While to Mel, his programming style may not have necessarilly been intentionally artistic, it can easilly be seen as such now, just as Stonehenge or the Mandlebrot Set are forms of art.
2) Programming itself provides an excellent example of when unfettered access is necessary. An imperfect duplicate of a program is nearly always completely useless.
I hope this helps someone out. Good luck to everyone involved in the trial!
Well, I'm impressed. This is really clever. I'm sure that the recording industry will find a way around it (they always seem to), but in the meantime, it certainly is fun to see someone using their own guidelines as a shield. Good luck, Aimster. I hope you can pull this thing off.
Apparently, (according to the article), "Data collected in Shell exploration surveys will be fed into the computer, which will then analyze it."
What an incredible idea!
I suppose it will run better then the Micros~1 'equivilent', in which "Data collected in Shell exploration surveys will be fed into the computer, which will then crash."
-Peter Sahlstrom
I am failing chemistry
Yeah...however, as I recall, IBM did a good bit of the programming as well...MS just ended up having to rewrite it (imagine Micro$oft having to fix someone else's buggy code!) And that, of course, finalized the MS-IBM divorce...
But also, unless things have changed in the terms of the divorce settlement, I believe MS still has the option to release 1 new version of OS/2 (version 1.3, I believe...someone help me, I'm not terribly familiar with the recent history of this OS). Wouldn't that be fun...
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, when they said it might be arriving late, they weren't kidding!
They forgot BSD!
Microsoft's updates can be catagorized into three things: 1) Service Packs, 2) Critical Updates (such as the latest IE bugfixes), 3) Non-critical updates (such as improved foreign language support, Media Player Upgrades, etc)
Apple's updates can be similarly catagorized: 1) Mac OS X Updates (i.e, 10.2.x), 2) Security Updates (such as the one I received on 8/14), and 3) Non-critical updates (such as the Java 1.4.1 update)
There is a direct correlation between the two in their catagorization. The only difference is in how they express their version numbering; Microsoft tends to be slightly more liberal in their updates of the major version. Just because Microsoft didn't refer to Windows XP as "Windows 5.1", are they more justified in charging for a periodic upgrade than Apple progressing from 10.2 to 10.3?
If there's one thing to be learned from the 10.2.8 update, it's that Slashdot won't hesitate to gang up on Apple for doing something stupid. Unlike other companies, however, Apple doesn't make a business out of it.
This whole debate strikes me as quite similar to the old Avoirdupois vs. Troy measurement debate. The ratios are even comparable: The Troy ounce is about 1.1 Avoirdupolis ounces. The same potential for consumer confusion also exists: if someone was used to dealing with Troy ounces, and purchased gold from someone who chose to use Avoirdupolis ounces, it would appear that they were getting far more for their money than they actually were.
m l). Every day users will probably use short kilobytes without specifying 'short'; computer designers will probably use long kilobytes without specifying 'long'; and the threshhold cases can specify which are being used. (While new hard drives may not need to say "160 short gigabytes" prominently on the front, they could include that information in the footnotes.
This situation was finally resolved by making it clear in what context each measurement would be used. Gold is measured in Troy ounces; most other things are measured in Avoirdupolis ounces. Some threshhold cases might cause confusion (say, consumers buying a gold watch...), but the default case is to assume Avoirdupolis when units aren't measured, except when dealing with gold directly.
I think we could apply this to the Kilobit problem. Clearly, the general public doesn't need to know about the 2^10 notation. On the other hand, that notation is far too convenient for computer people to abandon it (or to start trying to use politically correct units). So I support the above poster's suggestion of "Long" and "Short" kilobytes (as proposed by Donald Knuth, see http://www-cs-staff.stanford.edu/~knuth/news99.ht
This is what gets me: they already seem to have recognized the autorun vulnerability. How do I know? Because they're asking me to take steps to install their CD-breaking system in the event that the software doesn't automatically start! They might as well say,
Too bad she didn't settle this via GoogleFight.
Results:
riaa: 1 630 000 results
versus
12 year old girl: 2 840 000 results
The winner is: 12 year old girl
IIRC, this was the motivation behind the naming of Apple's fonts. Rather than paying royalties to Linotype for their fonts, Apple created their own, and mimiced the names. Thus, Geneva from Helvetica, New York from Times, etc.
I was using NLS to collaborate on a paper using my SDS 940, and it was like beep beep beep beep beep...and then, like half my paper was gone! It was a really good paper!
So I tried uisng my IBM 360, but it was like unngh...so I got on the ARPAnet, and started downloading things for like an hour. Who wants to sit on Christmas afternoon and download OS/360 drivers?
It was kind of...a bummer.
My name is Douglas Engelbart, and I invented the mouse. (Though mine had 3 buttons...)
Besides the more mainstream stuff, there are also some really interesting oddball things hanging around. For instance, John F. Kennedy's Favorite Waffle Recipe. Or a letter from a 12-year-old Fidel Castro to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Or, most essential of all, When Nixon met Elvis.
Although I'm a little confused about what exactly the big news is...I've been browsing the NARA website for about 5 years now.
Several months ago I discovered a similar fluke (which no longer seems to work the same way):
When using an unfamiar computer, I would often find myself typing in 'google' in the Internet Explorer address bar. Rather than assuming I meant 'google.com' (a la Opera), IE would do an MSN search on the term. What was the number one result? "MSN Search", of course. (Google.com didn't show up until #9)
I'm not sure which is more disturbing...the fact that they assumed I meant "MSN Search" when I said "Google", or the fact that searching for a search engine found the search engine I was searching with instead of the site I was searching for.
Yes, but can it filter my Spam?
...don't buy Beta.
It was 17 years last Tuesday (January 28) that Challenger (Columbia's sister shuttle) exploded. And 36 years last Monday that the Apollo 1 astronauts died on the launch pad.
The *previous* mission to this one (STS 113) picked up where Challenger had failed, by carrying Christa McAuliffe's backup for the Challenger flight.
This is a sad day day for the world, for America, and especially for the American Space Program.
When a University professor makes $700 a year, do they really expect anyone to pay $200 for a copy of Windows? A single legitimate DVD is roughly equivilent to a month's salary for most people. I'm not sure how you can get $300 million dollars in lost revenue when most people can't even afford a computer.
"At about 6:30 EST this evening, many meteors broke apart and headed south coming from Canada."
Just another example on why we need tighter controls on our Canadian border. Keep the meteors in Canada, where they belong!
Although I'm not adept enough with my Pickett slide rule to rely on it entirely (especially in classes where 3 decimal precision is considered essential, and time is limited), there is one situation where I have found it quite useful - classes where a calculator is not allowed. Most teachers only make such a restriction to keep students from using built-in cheat functions on some calculators to skip difficult problems, and having my slide rule helps me to do the simple math that I am supposed to have learned by now. Plus it's great for impressing girls.
Just a couple of thoughts I had that might be helpful examples in the DeCSS case:
1) As far as an example of the use of source code, etc. as art, I am reminded of The Story of Mel. While to Mel, his programming style may not have necessarilly been intentionally artistic, it can easilly be seen as such now, just as Stonehenge or the Mandlebrot Set are forms of art.
2) Programming itself provides an excellent example of when unfettered access is necessary. An imperfect duplicate of a program is nearly always completely useless.
I hope this helps someone out. Good luck to everyone involved in the trial!
Well, I'm impressed. This is really clever. I'm sure that the recording industry will find a way around it (they always seem to), but in the meantime, it certainly is fun to see someone using their own guidelines as a shield. Good luck, Aimster. I hope you can pull this thing off.
-Peter
Apparently, (according to the article), "Data collected in Shell exploration surveys will be fed into the computer, which will then analyze it." What an incredible idea! I suppose it will run better then the Micros~1 'equivilent', in which "Data collected in Shell exploration surveys will be fed into the computer, which will then crash." -Peter Sahlstrom I am failing chemistry
But also, unless things have changed in the terms of the divorce settlement, I believe MS still has the option to release 1 new version of OS/2 (version 1.3, I believe...someone help me, I'm not terribly familiar with the recent history of this OS). Wouldn't that be fun...
-Peter Sahlstrom
"clones are people two"