The algorithms are simple enough so most implementers can understand them, and they are complicated enough so most people who can't understand them will want somebody else to figure it out for them. It has this nice property of being both elegant and relevant.
Using your example, if you've implemented your new process properly, you should have a BIG leg up on the competition -- even if they do copy your innovation. While you're selling your cheaper-to-produce widget (either undercutting your competition, or reaping higher margins), they are scrambling to work the new business process into their existing assembly lines, figuring out how to pay for it, etc.
You say that "the idea of renting DVDs over the Internet does not seem unique to me" -- to which I say, a streamlines manufacturing process to produce widgets does not seem unique to me. You're still producing the exact same widget as your competitor, albeit at a lower cost.
I could see patenting a method of creating a widget with the same functionality, but using different components. But I'd have to drink an awful lot to be convinced of the merits of patents on business processes.
Black and white solutions rarely work as well as was intended, but this is one place where I think a gray area may be a killer.
.Net has now almost vanished from Microsoft's vocabulary
(quote from the article)
What, is he basing this on the rename of the "next" server OS to Windows Server 2003?
Like it or not,.NET is squarely in the middle of EVERYTHING microsoft is offering in the forseeable future. Even if they're not blathering about it in every sentence.
...claiming something is "hack-proof", or claiming that something like the 9/11 attacks will never happen again.
The reality is that people are [still] regularly getting contraband through security checkpoints. Great, there are bars on the cockpit doors now, but I'm not willing to bet thousands of lives on that alone.
I personally doubt anyone will TRY this type of attack in the near future, but to claim it will never work again seems pretty bold.
They're proposing relying on a database/collection of no-fly zones -- is the implication here that these folks have found some way to make a given collection of information 100%, completely, totally, un-hackable? If so, I think they probably would have some other opportunites far more lucrative than in aircraft software...
Maybe you'd have to physically be aboard the plane to hack this system, but that in itself does not make it hack-proof.
1) Sales/marketing talk to some clients, find out what they want.
2) Sales/marketing sign up clients for the beta.
3) Sales/marketing finally gets around to communicating to the dev team what they have promised the clients.
4) Sales/marketing blames the developers when they can't deliver what the client was promised.
This is actually not a joke. On one of that last projects I worked on, I was handed the "specification", which was basically a collection of photoshop mockups, and told that clients were going to be beta testing in 30 days....wheee!
I buy a cup of coffee, made by running BOILING or near-boiling water through coffee grounds, and I get to sue someone when I spill it on myself?
I clearly understand that McDonald's coffee was hotter than others, that people had been burned by it before. But for fuck's sake people, it's MADE WITH BOILING WATER, it's SUPPOSED to be hot enough to burn you.
What's next? Cold pizza because we might burn the roof of our mouths on the cheese? Dry water because we might dump a glass in something electrical and zap ourselves?
Personal responsibility seems to be a dead concept in this country. Normally I am not remotely this much of an asshole, but goddammit, if you spill coffee on yourself, it is NOT the fault of the person who sold it to you.
Print out the forms for phone and snail mail, fill them out, mail them in, and wait 3 months.
Seriously, this really works -- my wife and I were to the point where we just turned the ringer on our phone off. Shortly after the 3 month mark, calls dropped off dramatically (like, from 10-20+ per day to 1 per week), and mail fell off shortly thereafter. The only people that spam my phone now are the fucking politicians...
However, I was pleasantly surprised that the last time I moved, I got a confirmation letter -- one to each address. I don't know if that is a local thing (Boston area), or new policy.
then type the last name of the president of the united states in the second box from the left
If half the populace can't even identify their home state on a map (or whatever that stat is...), I think it is totally unfair to assume they would know the name of the president!
It's all about short term profits, as long term planning leads to short term revenue loss and thusly perceived financial stupidity.
It's somewhat amusing to me to read this, as I just finished a book on the "crash" of 1929, written by John Galbraith in ~1950. He noted in the conclusion that this was likely one of the contributing factors to the crash/depression, and predicted that this phenomenon would not go away any time soon. 53 years later...
(Found the book...it is entitled "The Great Crash 1929")
Unfortunately, they were generally selling for $15-20 last time I checked, but I'd rather pay that for a good keyboard than buy a [new] $6.99 piece of crap.
I'm down to one now, though -- stepped on one (don't ask), the cat dumped a glass of beer in another one (again, don't ask, please...).
Yes, that's just a _mite_ suspicious there...I would not have bothered with my reply had you included that in the parent;)
Selling 50+ of widget X in a month doesn't strike me in itself as suspicious, however, given that there seem to be a LOT of folks who do their business almost exclusively via eBay.
But add the two together, and I'll certainly concede the point.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's probably not on the up and up.
Oh, I don't know, perhaps he runs a stereo shop? Maybe buys out large lots at bankruptcy auctions?
I saw some guy selling about 100 of the exact same piece of computer hardware. Therefore he must have stolen a large shipment of said hardware, right? Right?!?!?
Do you perchance work in the US Attorney General's office? If not, with deductive skills like yours, I'm sure they have an open position with your name on it.
I don't read German, so I suppose it could be, but for many people, "drivers that some guy built" just don't cut it, even if he is associated with ATI in some way.
As far as I can tell, there has been NO crime comitted here, thus there can't possibly be a hate crime.
Sure, I would never have such a handle myself, but it's ludicrous to suggest that he has committed an act of anti-semitism merely by creating the nickname.
I know the answer to this question, as I am here posting on slashdot as well, but couldn't you find a more productive use of your time?
Amazing how much leaving out Windows saves you
on
More Cheap Linux PCs
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Hell, the OS alone will cost more than the hardware required to run it soon, at this rate. That's certainly the case with the Windows Server versions (although frankly if you spend more on licensing than hardware, you're going to be unhappy...).
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The algorithms are simple enough so most implementers can understand them, and they are complicated enough so most people who can't understand them will want somebody else to figure it out for them. It has this nice property of being both elegant and relevant.
...than a half-assed attempt (see DCMA, Patriot Act, etc).
*choke*
*wheeze*
bwahahahahahahahahahahahah
*gasp*
Wait, these things are already in use?!?
*thud*
Using your example, if you've implemented your new process properly, you should have a BIG leg up on the competition -- even if they do copy your innovation. While you're selling your cheaper-to-produce widget (either undercutting your competition, or reaping higher margins), they are scrambling to work the new business process into their existing assembly lines, figuring out how to pay for it, etc.
You say that "the idea of renting DVDs over the Internet does not seem unique to me" -- to which I say, a streamlines manufacturing process to produce widgets does not seem unique to me. You're still producing the exact same widget as your competitor, albeit at a lower cost.
I could see patenting a method of creating a widget with the same functionality, but using different components. But I'd have to drink an awful lot to be convinced of the merits of patents on business processes.
Black and white solutions rarely work as well as was intended, but this is one place where I think a gray area may be a killer.
I thought it was pretty tame, all things considered.
.Net has now almost vanished from Microsoft's vocabulary
.NET is squarely in the middle of EVERYTHING microsoft is offering in the forseeable future. Even if they're not blathering about it in every sentence.
(quote from the article)
What, is he basing this on the rename of the "next" server OS to Windows Server 2003?
Like it or not,
...claiming something is "hack-proof", or claiming that something like the 9/11 attacks will never happen again.
The reality is that people are [still] regularly getting contraband through security checkpoints. Great, there are bars on the cockpit doors now, but I'm not willing to bet thousands of lives on that alone.
I personally doubt anyone will TRY this type of attack in the near future, but to claim it will never work again seems pretty bold.
They're proposing relying on a database/collection of no-fly zones -- is the implication here that these folks have found some way to make a given collection of information 100%, completely, totally, un-hackable? If so, I think they probably would have some other opportunites far more lucrative than in aircraft software...
Maybe you'd have to physically be aboard the plane to hack this system, but that in itself does not make it hack-proof.
3.5) Developers firmly tell sales/marketing no and why not, cc owner
Alas, when the COO wants it, and the beta clients are his buddies, no amount of firm disagreement from the developers makes a difference...
1) Sales/marketing talk to some clients, find out what they want.
2) Sales/marketing sign up clients for the beta.
3) Sales/marketing finally gets around to communicating to the dev team what they have promised the clients.
4) Sales/marketing blames the developers when they can't deliver what the client was promised.
This is actually not a joke. On one of that last projects I worked on, I was handed the "specification", which was basically a collection of photoshop mockups, and told that clients were going to be beta testing in 30 days....wheee!
I buy a cup of coffee, made by running BOILING or near-boiling water through coffee grounds, and I get to sue someone when I spill it on myself?
I clearly understand that McDonald's coffee was hotter than others, that people had been burned by it before. But for fuck's sake people, it's MADE WITH BOILING WATER, it's SUPPOSED to be hot enough to burn you.
What's next? Cold pizza because we might burn the roof of our mouths on the cheese? Dry water because we might dump a glass in something electrical and zap ourselves?
Personal responsibility seems to be a dead concept in this country. Normally I am not remotely this much of an asshole, but goddammit, if you spill coffee on yourself, it is NOT the fault of the person who sold it to you.
Print out the forms for phone and snail mail, fill them out, mail them in, and wait 3 months.
Seriously, this really works -- my wife and I were to the point where we just turned the ringer on our phone off. Shortly after the 3 month mark, calls dropped off dramatically (like, from 10-20+ per day to 1 per week), and mail fell off shortly thereafter. The only people that spam my phone now are the fucking politicians...
However, I was pleasantly surprised that the last time I moved, I got a confirmation letter -- one to each address. I don't know if that is a local thing (Boston area), or new policy.
From the article about bullet proof "cloth":
The fibre's toughness probably results from structural changes during stretching
Looks like it does stretch to me. Which was the entire point of my post.
then type the last name of the president of the united states in the second box from the left
If half the populace can't even identify their home state on a map (or whatever that stat is...), I think it is totally unfair to assume they would know the name of the president!
</sarcasm>
It's all about short term profits, as long term planning leads to short term revenue loss and thusly perceived financial stupidity.
It's somewhat amusing to me to read this, as I just finished a book on the "crash" of 1929, written by John Galbraith in ~1950. He noted in the conclusion that this was likely one of the contributing factors to the crash/depression, and predicted that this phenomenon would not go away any time soon. 53 years later...
(Found the book...it is entitled "The Great Crash 1929")
If the cloth didn't stretch (at all), and was perfectly skin tight, then yes, it would have to tear in order to pierce your skin.
I am not a physicist, but I can't think of any material you could make a shirt out of, that would not stretch at least a little bit.
Unfortunately, they were generally selling for $15-20 last time I checked, but I'd rather pay that for a good keyboard than buy a [new] $6.99 piece of crap.
I'm down to one now, though -- stepped on one (don't ask), the cat dumped a glass of beer in another one (again, don't ask, please...).
"slightly damaged, no wires"
;)
Yes, that's just a _mite_ suspicious there...I would not have bothered with my reply had you included that in the parent
Selling 50+ of widget X in a month doesn't strike me in itself as suspicious, however, given that there seem to be a LOT of folks who do their business almost exclusively via eBay.
But add the two together, and I'll certainly concede the point.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's probably not on the up and up.
Oh, I don't know, perhaps he runs a stereo shop? Maybe buys out large lots at bankruptcy auctions?
I saw some guy selling about 100 of the exact same piece of computer hardware. Therefore he must have stolen a large shipment of said hardware, right? Right?!?!?
Do you perchance work in the US Attorney General's office? If not, with deductive skills like yours, I'm sure they have an open position with your name on it.
Gimme a fukin break already.
No, actually, I don't anymore.
When you can buy fully supported commercial Linux distros, I don't think its unreasonable to assume you could do the same with drivers at some point.
I don't read German, so I suppose it could be, but for many people, "drivers that some guy built" just don't cut it, even if he is associated with ATI in some way.
As far as I can tell, there has been NO crime comitted here, thus there can't possibly be a hate crime.
Sure, I would never have such a handle myself, but it's ludicrous to suggest that he has committed an act of anti-semitism merely by creating the nickname.
I know the answer to this question, as I am here posting on slashdot as well, but couldn't you find a more productive use of your time?
Hell, the OS alone will cost more than the hardware required to run it soon, at this rate. That's certainly the case with the Windows Server versions (although frankly if you spend more on licensing than hardware, you're going to be unhappy...).
Anyone who's followed the computer industry for more than a couple minutes knows that there are lies, damned lies, and benchmarks.
Go use a machine, for tasks you'd typically perform -- that's the only benchmark that matters.
But if you must assign a number to the size of your virtual phallus, by all means, benchmark away...