Shouldn't Palm at least be checking to see if the apps are malware?
Mama's gonna check out all your applications for you. Mama's not going to let anything dirty get through. Mama's gonna wait up until you sign in. Mama's going to always find out where you've been. Mama's gonna keep baby healthy and clean.
Do you think your statistical hand-waving means anything? You don't even know how many people are in the typical household, much less how many are financially independent. But never let reality get in the way of a good fanboy rationalization. (Mac owners tainted with sin! No! It can't be! That's impossible!)
Why would they leave out Card and Heinlein if their goal was liberal indoctrination? The philosophy Starship Troopers is so easy to destroy the average middle schooler could do it. And practically every novel Card has ever written contains a sympathetic gay character who is persecuted, and yet, is content with that persecution. You could write a dissertation on that man's self-hating closet conservatism.
80s-90s represent: Greg Bear, David Brin, Gregory Benford, Vernor Vinge, Robert Charles Wilson, Michael Swanwick, Dan Simmons, Charles Sheffield, Nancy Kress, Kim Stanley Robinson
The worldwide economy nearly collapsed due to ridiculously stupid real estate investment. Where is this "modern aversion to risk" that you speak of?
People don't invest in space because there is little possibility of a return in their lifetimes. Stop pretending that prudence is cowardice. There is no shortage of dreamers willing to die in space on someone else's money.
Even if it were actually good, don't watch it. Or have you forgotten?
"The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular."
By watching anything on that channel, or, at least, encouraging those who possess Nielsen boxes to watch it, you are giving money to hucksters in suits who hold you in contempt and are incapable of distinguishing your interests from pro wrestling and ghost hunting.
That's a very hypothetical argument. For it to be persuasive, this must not only come to pass but happen with sufficient regularity to outweigh the benefits of the patent system.
And yet no one credible has demonstrated the benefits of the patent system with regard to software patents. You are dealing in hypotheticals. You are claiming God exists and demanding the rest of us believe you unless we can prove he doesn't.
Even those with the most to gain from it, i.e., large corporations, are demanding reform, and they treat the subject like a dangerous minefield fit only for their lawyers to navigate. It does nothing to advance the state of the art. The state of the art moves on its own, and patents are produced only to use as defensive weapons against those who use the system offensively.
Furthermore, I would suggest that the faster an area of technology moves, the less it matters how long the patent term is. A patent in such an area will quickly become obsolete. It's actually stagnant technology where a long patent term on a rare innovation is most valuable.
A patent is a wall in front of progress. The faster the progress, the more the wall arrests. The whole point of patents is to encourage people to invent things so valuable that others would rather pay to be let through that wall than have to go around it.
Software patents are like being surrounded by walls, as if in maze with no guaranteed exit, and all the walls have blurry edges, and some of them will solidify to a razor's edge for sole purpose of cutting you as travel along a path that has been clear for decades.
Now before you say anything about not being able to do this or that with your Blu-Rays or HD DVDs, you must remember that without the DRM you wouldn't be able to do anything with those formats on your computer at all.
And without the police conducting random searches, beating protesters, and generally treating everyone as if they were already criminal, we wouldn't have the freedom we currently enjoy. Freedom is a gift, given to you by those in control.
Enemy soldiers want to kill you back, and that makes all the difference in the world. No so with civilians or allies.
What is tragic is not that these instincts are natural, they are quite rational when understood in their proper context, but they are exploited by politicians to wage immoral and unnecessary wars. The enemy is the enemy is the enemy, never mind the fact that until some demagogue gave the marching orders, the enemy was just another guy who loves his country and wants to protect his family. Our hostility should be directed toward generals, politicians, and religious leaders, not the guys on the ground.
Slashdot's headline "Porn Surfing Rampant" is exactly the kind of exaggeration that the Washington Times was hoping secondary media would slap on this story.
More open devices like the old Palms and Windows Mobile may seem more consumer-friendly at first, but when you take a closer look, you'll see that Apple's approach is *far* more consumer-friendly.
If only Microsoft had done this with Windows, then people would not have cried about a monopoly. They would have praised Microsoft for all the value that monopoly provides!
Damn straight. Take it further: there's no such thing as a good architect who can't code. It's a false dichotomy, one that serves the interests of the incompetent, both the charlatan who talks the talk and rakes in the consultancy fees, and the ditch-digger who got his CS degree from a diploma mill and doesn't understand how a compiler works.
This stuff reminds me a lot of right-wing politics. It's all about propping up people's self-esteem, placating status anxiety. One the one hand, pundits excuse the graft of the talking class by promoting the myth of their superior leadership, and on the other, they praise the folk-wisdom of the common man and the nobility of their get-r-done attitude, but misdirect their justifiable anger by laying all blame on those who are merely affluent, educated, and skilled professionals.
Architect astronaut... sounds like limousine liberal to me. Duct tape programmer is the Real American. I was wrong, Joel isn't Dvorak, he's the Glenn Beck of programming.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow... it really *is* fun making absolutist statements without any backing for your claims!
I know! And you completely don't understand it like the other guy! Here, I'll give you a hint: why does Microsoft promise not to hurt you?
Shouldn't Palm at least be checking to see if the apps are malware?
Mama's gonna check out all your applications for you. Mama's not going to let anything dirty get through. Mama's gonna wait up until you sign in. Mama's going to always find out where you've been. Mama's gonna keep baby healthy and clean.
What, exactly, is misleading about that?
Do you think your statistical hand-waving means anything? You don't even know how many people are in the typical household, much less how many are financially independent. But never let reality get in the way of a good fanboy rationalization. (Mac owners tainted with sin! No! It can't be! That's impossible!)
Not really. You're just as likely to run afoul of a MS patent (even one relating to the .NET project) while working with Java or C.
That is comically wrong.
I was looking for that! All I found was that Bud Foote died. :-(
Why would they leave out Card and Heinlein if their goal was liberal indoctrination? The philosophy Starship Troopers is so easy to destroy the average middle schooler could do it. And practically every novel Card has ever written contains a sympathetic gay character who is persecuted, and yet, is content with that persecution. You could write a dissertation on that man's self-hating closet conservatism.
80s-90s represent: Greg Bear, David Brin, Gregory Benford, Vernor Vinge, Robert Charles Wilson, Michael Swanwick, Dan Simmons, Charles Sheffield, Nancy Kress, Kim Stanley Robinson
The worldwide economy nearly collapsed due to ridiculously stupid real estate investment. Where is this "modern aversion to risk" that you speak of?
People don't invest in space because there is little possibility of a return in their lifetimes. Stop pretending that prudence is cowardice. There is no shortage of dreamers willing to die in space on someone else's money.
Troll? For defending the honor of geekdom? You fanboys are more uptight than the Teal'c at the Vagina Monologues.
Even if it were actually good, don't watch it. Or have you forgotten?
By watching anything on that channel, or, at least, encouraging those who possess Nielsen boxes to watch it, you are giving money to hucksters in suits who hold you in contempt and are incapable of distinguishing your interests from pro wrestling and ghost hunting.
That's a very hypothetical argument. For it to be persuasive, this must not only come to pass but happen with sufficient regularity to outweigh the benefits of the patent system.
And yet no one credible has demonstrated the benefits of the patent system with regard to software patents. You are dealing in hypotheticals. You are claiming God exists and demanding the rest of us believe you unless we can prove he doesn't.
Even those with the most to gain from it, i.e., large corporations, are demanding reform, and they treat the subject like a dangerous minefield fit only for their lawyers to navigate. It does nothing to advance the state of the art. The state of the art moves on its own, and patents are produced only to use as defensive weapons against those who use the system offensively.
Furthermore, I would suggest that the faster an area of technology moves, the less it matters how long the patent term is. A patent in such an area will quickly become obsolete. It's actually stagnant technology where a long patent term on a rare innovation is most valuable.
A patent is a wall in front of progress. The faster the progress, the more the wall arrests. The whole point of patents is to encourage people to invent things so valuable that others would rather pay to be let through that wall than have to go around it.
Software patents are like being surrounded by walls, as if in maze with no guaranteed exit, and all the walls have blurry edges, and some of them will solidify to a razor's edge for sole purpose of cutting you as travel along a path that has been clear for decades.
Now before you say anything about not being able to do this or that with your Blu-Rays or HD DVDs, you must remember that without the DRM you wouldn't be able to do anything with those formats on your computer at all.
And without the police conducting random searches, beating protesters, and generally treating everyone as if they were already criminal, we wouldn't have the freedom we currently enjoy. Freedom is a gift, given to you by those in control.
where little is taken from the book other than the name
There's nothing wrong with that. It improved Starship Troopers considerably.
AOL-TW was a victim of bad timing, merging just prior to an economic meltdown
Well, that, and the fact that Time Warner executives have shit for brains.
Its just gotten much more virulent now that Apple is acting like the Microsoft.
Fixed that for you.
Enemy soldiers want to kill you back, and that makes all the difference in the world. No so with civilians or allies.
What is tragic is not that these instincts are natural, they are quite rational when understood in their proper context, but they are exploited by politicians to wage immoral and unnecessary wars. The enemy is the enemy is the enemy, never mind the fact that until some demagogue gave the marching orders, the enemy was just another guy who loves his country and wants to protect his family. Our hostility should be directed toward generals, politicians, and religious leaders, not the guys on the ground.
Slashdot's headline "Porn Surfing Rampant" is exactly the kind of exaggeration that the Washington Times was hoping secondary media would slap on this story.
Aren't you an editor?
More open devices like the old Palms and Windows Mobile may seem more consumer-friendly at first, but when you take a closer look, you'll see that Apple's approach is *far* more consumer-friendly.
If only Microsoft had done this with Windows, then people would not have cried about a monopoly. They would have praised Microsoft for all the value that monopoly provides!
Anyone who subscribes to Slashdot is immediately ruled out of the "opinion worth listening to" category.
Fixed that for you.
Damn straight. Take it further: there's no such thing as a good architect who can't code. It's a false dichotomy, one that serves the interests of the incompetent, both the charlatan who talks the talk and rakes in the consultancy fees, and the ditch-digger who got his CS degree from a diploma mill and doesn't understand how a compiler works.
This stuff reminds me a lot of right-wing politics. It's all about propping up people's self-esteem, placating status anxiety. One the one hand, pundits excuse the graft of the talking class by promoting the myth of their superior leadership, and on the other, they praise the folk-wisdom of the common man and the nobility of their get-r-done attitude, but misdirect their justifiable anger by laying all blame on those who are merely affluent, educated, and skilled professionals.
Architect astronaut... sounds like limousine liberal to me. Duct tape programmer is the Real American. I was wrong, Joel isn't Dvorak, he's the Glenn Beck of programming.
People who know better don't listen to Joel Spolsky. He's the John Dvorak of programming.
Uh, what? How do you know? No life as we know it. Life as we don't know it still might form an industrial civilization and make radios &c.
When you have a plausible scenario for how life can form without water, you let us know, ok?
I'm not even 30 yet, and quite frankly I've grown sick of the self-assured, hipster posers who think this trash is edgy and avant-garde.
I think there's some kids on your lawn. You'd better go shake your fist and scare them off!
Dude, did you know the government puts fluoride in the drinking water? It's true!