Anyone know where I can find an old Northgate keyboard? I had one forever, but ended up giving it away with an old pc. It had a simmilar feel to an old IBM, but was less spongy and was even more overbuilt (if you can believe it). The letters were injection molded into the keycaps, too, so the labels didn't wear off the keys. As I recall, it could work on a PC, MAC and even on some dumb terminals thanks to a set of dip switches under the northgate label.
Why am I not surprised. The protect it, crack it cycle has been going on since Lotus dropped copy protection on 1-2-3. Funny part is that the vendor almost always looses.
Thank God, something to stop cruelty to plants!
on
Lab-Grown Steak
·
· Score: 2
I'm glad to see that science has found a way to end the wholesale exploitation and cruel treatment of plants. Of course, this simply moves our cruel need to eat something to animals or at least animal tissue. Perhaps the time has come for man to stop eating all togather so that no other species, plant, animal or fungi will face the cruel and futile life of an agricultural product!
When I'm between jobs I sometimes will volunteer for a charity... It's a great way to network and do something good.
They call a company that makes money off investors a scam. A company that makes money for investors by selling something to customers a business.
I don't like the idea of working for a company that will pay me if they get funded... I'd rather work (especially if I'm not being paid) for a company that will pay if we get orders from customers. Businesses should seek to generate INCOME not INVESTMENT. Investors should put their money into companies that can MAKE MONEY. So what about R/D or new concepts? Sometimes they pay off... but most have a 10% chance of surviving the first year.
LOL! People can take the fun out of anything by simply going overboard on the technology. Doesn't matter if it's roller-coasters, movies, music or sex. I sold stereo gear when I was in college and used to get a huge kick out of audiophiles who would come in and while I was working with another customer and drop a nerd factoid and my customer and I. Usually it would be about RCA connectors or cables or my personal favorite, the "accuacy of a loudspeaker." I'd just wait for the nerd attack to end, thank Mr. Audiophile for enhancing my knowledge and say to my customer, "What's important is how it sounds to you. All the specs in the world can't replace your ears. If it doesn't sound good to you, just don't buy it." They bought more than they didn't.
All I have to say is: Try sales. Why? You get to solve incredibly complex problems for customers, find new applications for technology, and most importantly, your pay is viewed by management as being directly related to revenues coming in the door. You also get all the perks, you can travel if you want, and most importantly, you get paid mad jack. It's as rewarding as programming was (I used to be a C/x86 assembler guy) and the hours are much better.
There is a downside: salespeople are accountable. Slow/no sales = you are fired.
Dan - HotNeedle isn't what is wrong with engineering in the US at all. Fact is, US engineers are pretty good all around. Almost every non-degree engineer I've known has been amazingly competent. Nondegree engineers learn the hard way and usually have more experience in their little finger than their degreed counterparts. Nondegreed engineers are invaluable in many cases because they "worked their way up" by showing creativity, initiative and because of their experience were able to find solutions to problems that were overlooked by their degreed counterparts. Reality is that diversity in the engineering profession is a good thing.
Guns, like software have many uses, most of which do not involve crime. Here are several examples:
1) Firing ropelines - a high-power rifle can be used to accurately fire a rope from one ship to another enabling underway replenshment... on land can be used to start a rope bridge...
2)Law enforcement. Stop or I'll whack you with this club just doesn't quite work any more...
3) Entertainment/recreation - target shooting is a sport enjoyed by many.
4) Try boating a mako shark before you shoot it. You'll likely get a pegleg as a prize.
I'm ok with some drugs being controlled substances and others not. Getting high isn't the problem. Substances that are dangerous or addictive are. Some drugs can literally enslave the user at a level that alcohol and currently legal controlled substances can't (nicotine is close). Take heroin for example.
What is problematic about drugs is that some of them clearly aren't addictive or would be very beneficial to users if they were over the counter consumer products. Others, though are dangerous or addictive and should be controlled.
The purpose of allowing citizens to "keep and bear arms" (notice that that isn't limited to guns, as the word arms means weapons of all kinds) is to 1) provide a ballance against tyranical government. 2) Ensure that citizens can defend themselves even against the government, should that be necessary. 3) Make it more difficult for a foreign power to conquer and occupy the US.
Must be hard being an anarchist supporting the rule of law.
I'll grant you that copyright violation is not the same as violent crime. Regardless, the principal of gun ban and the banning of software simply because it MIGHT be used to commit a crime by any given user is the same. You can dress it up in shades of gray, but at the end of the day, the justification of taking rights away from citizens is the same:
You shouldn't have _______ (fill in the right) because it could be used to ____________ (name the crime).
You missed the point of my original post - the horse is already out of the barn. People already have guns. Banninging them several hundered years later is ridiculous. Also - do you think someone who is about to commit a crime is worried about the legality of owning/possessing/using a firearm of any kind?
Go ahead and shut the door now that the horse has left the barn. Gun control is the EXACT same concept as banning DeCSS or P2P technology. It all could be used to commit a crime. The difference is, unlike DeCSS and P2P, guns can also be used to prevent crime.
Thanks for your honest answers. It's good to see someone just answer the questions as asked for a change. I also appreciate that with all you've been through you still have a sense of humor.
The record companies have behaved such that their customers would rather *scoff* the law than pay. I find it hard to believe that millions of people are at wrong by downloading a copyright work. Intellectual property is not an inaleinable right. It's an abridgement of liberty that was made to foster invention when the pace of invention was much slower. Frankly, the current version of copyright law encorages limited innovation and stifles invention completely. Personally, I think IP is on a collision course with a plurality... that wants it's rights back.
I don't like the trend towards scare tactics in advertising. Pharmacutical companies with the "Every year 10s of thousands of people die a slow and painful death from _____... Ask your doctor if the _____ is right for you..." pitch... "Your PC is broadcasting an IP Address... hackers can use it to gain access to your computer click here for magic solution..."
It's got to stop. Using fear to generate business is just one shade of grey from coersion. I hope the lawyers clean their clocks.
I don't know when they are going to get it, but all this drm this and watermark that is way complicated for music. Try this: I put in the plastic and I get my tracks in mp3 format. And charge less than a buck for three minutes of entertainment.
I don't really like the part where the custoemer HAS to pay the maintenance fees. Or what? You'll shut their business down? What's the customer getting for the maintenance fee? Support? Bugfixes?
Software development is a market you can't corner. The cost of entry is too low. You might be cheaper for a while, but eventually demand and supply cause the pricing to go up. Also, the cost of coders is relative - I've seen $125/hour people be a better deal than $10/hour people because of situational or specific knowledge.
As for "Indians are by far the most skilled coders", that is a cheap troll.
I don't mind if RIAA and MPAA win the battle. In doing so they will give up the war. Intellectual property is a tolerated infringement on individual rights. Always has been. When IP laws go to far, the people will act because they are being oppressed. Right now, it's not all that bad. I think most of the community on Slashdot can see it becoming that way.
Once things go to far, Politicians will be unelected. Judges will be appointed to force reversals of decisions. Constitutions and charters will be ammended. And IP laws will go the way of slavery, debtor's prisons, jim crow laws, and voting literacy tests in a rather permanent way.
Of course, I'd like it better if RIAA and MPAA and others simply backed off. Of course, some people don't realize the horse has been out of the barn for a long time...
The only thin revolutionary about the Segway is that someone has found a way to create a gadget that does what a scateboard/scooter does(price $25), isn't as fast as a bicycle, and is priced like a motorcycle.
I'm looking forward to a segway scooter chase seen in the next action movie spoof that hollywood cranks out... It will rank right up there with the 60's style "peoplemover" chase in austin powers for visual stupidity.
I'd pay for an MP3... BUT I'd prefer to buy CDs... I'm just not paying (or letting my kids pay) $13-$20 for the latest greatest CDs.
Back in the day when cassette tapes were king and CDs were new, I never understood why the CD was $14.99 and the cassette was $6.99. They had the SAME DAMN SONGS on them!
I don't thing the problem is the musicians... It's the greedy bastard record companies...
A buddy of mine pointed something out: at least the movie people are adding content and features to DVDs to make them WORTH the extra $5-$7 over the VHS version. The music industry occasionally will put one "bonus track" or a prettier booklet with the CD... It's isn't worth $5.00-$7.00 more, though!
What I find interesting is the assumption that consumers have to buy music, and especially buy it on a compact disc. Last I looked, buying music on a CD is an option.
Besides, what this is all about is the music. And when I buy a CD, I'm buying the right to personally use the music.
Slashdot Mirror
This is off-topic... but...
Anyone know where I can find an old Northgate keyboard? I had one forever, but ended up giving it away with an old pc. It had a simmilar feel to an old IBM, but was less spongy and was even more overbuilt (if you can believe it). The letters were injection molded into the keycaps, too, so the labels didn't wear off the keys. As I recall, it could work on a PC, MAC and even on some dumb terminals thanks to a set of dip switches under the northgate label.
$G
Why am I not surprised. The protect it, crack it cycle has been going on since Lotus dropped copy protection on 1-2-3. Funny part is that the vendor almost always looses.
I'm glad to see that science has found a way to end the wholesale exploitation and cruel treatment of plants. Of course, this simply moves our cruel need to eat something to animals or at least animal tissue. Perhaps the time has come for man to stop eating all togather so that no other species, plant, animal or fungi will face the cruel and futile life of an agricultural product!
$G
When I'm between jobs I sometimes will volunteer for a charity... It's a great way to network and do something good.
They call a company that makes money off investors a scam. A company that makes money for investors by selling something to customers a business.
I don't like the idea of working for a company that will pay me if they get funded... I'd rather work (especially if I'm not being paid) for a company that will pay if we get orders from customers. Businesses should seek to generate INCOME not INVESTMENT. Investors should put their money into companies that can MAKE MONEY. So what about R/D or new concepts? Sometimes they pay off... but most have a 10% chance of surviving the first year.
LOL! People can take the fun out of anything by simply going overboard on the technology. Doesn't matter if it's roller-coasters, movies, music or sex. I sold stereo gear when I was in college and used to get a huge kick out of audiophiles who would come in and while I was working with another customer and drop a nerd factoid and my customer and I. Usually it would be about RCA connectors or cables or my personal favorite, the "accuacy of a loudspeaker." I'd just wait for the nerd attack to end, thank Mr. Audiophile for enhancing my knowledge and say to my customer, "What's important is how it sounds to you. All the specs in the world can't replace your ears. If it doesn't sound good to you, just don't buy it." They bought more than they didn't.
$G
All I have to say is: Try sales. Why? You get to solve incredibly complex problems for customers, find new applications for technology, and most importantly, your pay is viewed by management as being directly related to revenues coming in the door. You also get all the perks, you can travel if you want, and most importantly, you get paid mad jack. It's as rewarding as programming was (I used to be a C/x86 assembler guy) and the hours are much better.
There is a downside: salespeople are accountable. Slow/no sales = you are fired.
Dan - HotNeedle isn't what is wrong with engineering in the US at all. Fact is, US engineers are pretty good all around. Almost every non-degree engineer I've known has been amazingly competent. Nondegree engineers learn the hard way and usually have more experience in their little finger than their degreed counterparts. Nondegreed engineers are invaluable in many cases because they "worked their way up" by showing creativity, initiative and because of their experience were able to find solutions to problems that were overlooked by their degreed counterparts. Reality is that diversity in the engineering profession is a good thing.
$G
Personally, I'd actually click on a pop-up ad that read:
Click here to never see a pop-up add again.
$G
Guns, like software have many uses, most of which do not involve crime. Here are several examples:
1) Firing ropelines - a high-power rifle can be used to accurately fire a rope from one ship to another enabling underway replenshment... on land can be used to start a rope bridge...
2)Law enforcement. Stop or I'll whack you with this club just doesn't quite work any more...
3) Entertainment/recreation - target shooting is a sport enjoyed by many.
4) Try boating a mako shark before you shoot it. You'll likely get a pegleg as a prize.
$G
I'm ok with some drugs being controlled substances and others not. Getting high isn't the problem. Substances that are dangerous or addictive are. Some drugs can literally enslave the user at a level that alcohol and currently legal controlled substances can't (nicotine is close). Take heroin for example.
What is problematic about drugs is that some of them clearly aren't addictive or would be very beneficial to users if they were over the counter consumer products. Others, though are dangerous or addictive and should be controlled.
The purpose of allowing citizens to "keep and bear arms" (notice that that isn't limited to guns, as the word arms means weapons of all kinds) is to 1) provide a ballance against tyranical government. 2) Ensure that citizens can defend themselves even against the government, should that be necessary. 3) Make it more difficult for a foreign power to conquer and occupy the US.
Must be hard being an anarchist supporting the rule of law.
I'll grant you that copyright violation is not the same as violent crime. Regardless, the principal of gun ban and the banning of software simply because it MIGHT be used to commit a crime by any given user is the same. You can dress it up in shades of gray, but at the end of the day, the justification of taking rights away from citizens is the same:
You shouldn't have _______ (fill in the right) because it could be used to ____________ (name the crime).
You missed the point of my original post - the horse is already out of the barn. People already have guns. Banninging them several hundered years later is ridiculous. Also - do you think someone who is about to commit a crime is worried about the legality of owning/possessing/using a firearm of any kind?
$G
Go ahead and shut the door now that the horse has left the barn. Gun control is the EXACT same concept as banning DeCSS or P2P technology. It all could be used to commit a crime. The difference is, unlike DeCSS and P2P, guns can also be used to prevent crime.
$G
Thanks for your honest answers. It's good to see someone just answer the questions as asked for a change. I also appreciate that with all you've been through you still have a sense of humor.
$G
The record companies have behaved such that their customers would rather *scoff* the law than pay. I find it hard to believe that millions of people are at wrong by downloading a copyright work. Intellectual property is not an inaleinable right. It's an abridgement of liberty that was made to foster invention when the pace of invention was much slower. Frankly, the current version of copyright law encorages limited innovation and stifles invention completely. Personally, I think IP is on a collision course with a plurality... that wants it's rights back.
$G
I don't like the trend towards scare tactics in advertising. Pharmacutical companies with the "Every year 10s of thousands of people die a slow and painful death from _____... Ask your doctor if the _____ is right for you..." pitch... "Your PC is broadcasting an IP Address... hackers can use it to gain access to your computer click here for magic solution..."
It's got to stop. Using fear to generate business is just one shade of grey from coersion. I hope the lawyers clean their clocks.
$G
Spending money on exploration of the unknown is always a good investment.
I don't know when they are going to get it, but all this drm this and watermark that is way complicated for music. Try this: I put in the plastic and I get my tracks in mp3 format. And charge less than a buck for three minutes of entertainment.
I don't really like the part where the custoemer HAS to pay the maintenance fees. Or what? You'll shut their business down? What's the customer getting for the maintenance fee? Support? Bugfixes?
Software development is a market you can't corner. The cost of entry is too low. You might be cheaper for a while, but eventually demand and supply cause the pricing to go up. Also, the cost of coders is relative - I've seen $125/hour people be a better deal than $10/hour people because of situational or specific knowledge.
As for "Indians are by far the most skilled coders", that is a cheap troll.
$G
I don't mind if RIAA and MPAA win the battle. In doing so they will give up the war. Intellectual property is a tolerated infringement on individual rights. Always has been. When IP laws go to far, the people will act because they are being oppressed. Right now, it's not all that bad. I think most of the community on Slashdot can see it becoming that way.
Once things go to far, Politicians will be unelected. Judges will be appointed to force reversals of decisions. Constitutions and charters will be ammended. And IP laws will go the way of slavery, debtor's prisons, jim crow laws, and voting literacy tests in a rather permanent way.
Of course, I'd like it better if RIAA and MPAA and others simply backed off. Of course, some people don't realize the horse has been out of the barn for a long time...
$G
I've been to a few COMDEX shows. The industry is changing forever.
* Usually there are revolutionary small vendors with products or software that will be the next big thing.
* The big guys give out a lot of free stuff... but don't really do anything other than brand building.
* I usually make business relationships that pay for the entire show within 60 days of the event.
I'd hate to see Comdex go... but it is not as it was in the early and late 90s.
$G
The only thin revolutionary about the Segway is that someone has found a way to create a gadget that does what a scateboard/scooter does(price $25), isn't as fast as a bicycle, and is priced like a motorcycle.
I'm looking forward to a segway scooter chase seen in the next action movie spoof that hollywood cranks out... It will rank right up there with the 60's style "peoplemover" chase in austin powers for visual stupidity.
$G
I'd pay for an MP3... BUT I'd prefer to buy CDs... I'm just not paying (or letting my kids pay) $13-$20 for the latest greatest CDs.
Back in the day when cassette tapes were king and CDs were new, I never understood why the CD was $14.99 and the cassette was $6.99. They had the SAME DAMN SONGS on them!
I don't thing the problem is the musicians... It's the greedy bastard record companies...
A buddy of mine pointed something out: at least the movie people are adding content and features to DVDs to make them WORTH the extra $5-$7 over the VHS version. The music industry occasionally will put one "bonus track" or a prettier booklet with the CD... It's isn't worth $5.00-$7.00 more, though!
$G
So my question is, what is Santa going to do if the north pole moves?
What I find interesting is the assumption that consumers have to buy music, and especially buy it on a compact disc. Last I looked, buying music on a CD is an option.
Besides, what this is all about is the music. And when I buy a CD, I'm buying the right to personally use the music.