The irony of the situation is that one can patent font systems, but one cannot patent the individual fonts.
For example, someone mentioned to me that Corel, when in need of fonts, simply wrote a font-copier, and created a whole new set of fonts with different names.
Great irony would exist if we could have all the fonts in the world, but have to pay money to look at them. Apple walks a tightrope with this one, and they know it.
In reality, they cannot truely block the usage of truetype fonts, or block the software necessary for using it. One can post source code, and indicate that it's usage may be illegal in any particular country; Apple condemning such code's existence would simply put it into the outreaches of the law.
They are, in effect, powerless to really do anything against those who really want truetype fonts. But for those who are not willing to go around the world searching for a TT renderer, Apple could detriment it's usage in, for example, XFree86 4.
The best Apple can do is destroy the mainstream distribution. But the possibility does not exist that they can even dent the background distribution of covert software, in my humble but correct opinion. Those that will pay for Apple's restrictions, should they be placed on Truetype, would be the users just starting with Linux.
It is also a concern as to how Corel will play a part in this, being a font giant itself, and self proclaimed Linux advocate.
I say, how fast does an unburdened swallow fly? Well, I guess that depends, do you mean the eastern European or the African swallow? Well, how the hell should I know?...
Sometime back a few years, 1976 as I recall, there was a National Geographic discussing the possibility of life on Jupiter. It makes perfect sense, when you think about it, as a planet of that size would have a thick layer capable of supporting life.
One of the probes (Voyager 2?) we sent out apparently returned information to the effect that the giant red eye of Jupiter was in fact largely composed of amino acids. If there are amino acids, then there is the possibility for more complex forms of existence.
Personally, I believe that life originated in the incubation-like atmosphere of comets, and that microbacteria in the comets made it to earth. (Some terran straph/strep bacteria is currently on the moon, surviving, as I recall from one of the NASA reports, but I can't remember which.) It is likely then, that any place in this solar system where life could survive, it has, and will. That's what life does best. (Up to the point where it reaches something like us.:) )
If someone would like to know what issue of Nat. Geo. was, I'm sure I could dig it out and let you know. (email bmh@canada.com)
OK, kid, before you get too carried away with your own brilliance, tell me why practical geneticists - the people who develop new breeds of animals and new varieties of plants - cross offspring with parents and with each other when trying to get a trait to breed true. I took the original poster to mean "They are increasing one trait, but they are doing it through inbreeding, so eventuallky they will be a bunch of musclebound hemophiliac morons".
Thank you. I'm glad that not only somebody was listening, but that somebody understood. lol. The whole point is not in the seriousness of the analogy, as comparing billygoats to multibillion dollar corporations lacks the implicit parallelism necessary for a good analogy (for obvious reasons), and should be taken only on a whimsical note, with a sense of humour. The analogy I meant to bring out was between that of the animal kingdom and that of the competitive corporate market.
Albeit possible that I sorely failed in this, I'm sure that some of the messages intended were blatently obvious, whereas others were a little more subtle. I'm quite glad that you understood, and brought out, this one.
Strange how it is generally the anonymous coward that tends to miss the really interesting points, only to harp on what is (often inaccurately) obviously wrong. lol.
We need only look to animals to understand this phenomenon. It is the ritualistic king of the hill. In terms of the analogy, let's go with billy goats. They wander in herds. And think of Microsoft as being a pack of unsavory billy goats, at the top of the mountain. They are big goats, and genetically they are becoming more and more superior (through inbreeding...), and claiming more of the terrain around them.
Nature provides two forces against these kings of the hill: better billygoats, who can sneak past the big buggers, and the slow grinding away of the hill upon which they sit, which is so difficult to climb because of a steep monopoly. These may be thought of as Linux and the erosion of the computer operating system monopoly mountain-peak. Together, the mountain is getting harder to defend against something like Linux, and the faster, nimbler billygoats are winning more of the battles for the hilltop.
The inevitable conclusion is undetermined as of yet; the smaller, nimbler billygoats may yet force the hefty one off the top, the hefty kings of the hill may yet defend their mountain, or while the dual continues against each other, the mountain may just dissappear, and we all buy appliances.
To make the analogy more fun, we must look at what happens to the hefty billygoats. They do not control one mountain; they have a say in several mountains -- from software through to webTV to all kinds of fertile grazing lands. These mountains do not all dissappear, and so the hefty billygoats, with their limited company immortality, can cling to many unconnected lands.
One can see the faults in the billygoats at the top of the hillside, where they are forced to give way to things like Apache for MSN and HotMail. They are not superior. Just in greater numbers, and more aggressive. Outside of the analogy, one might think that the sun shines brighter on the Microsoft soil, because their lands are so fertile. It's more likely that it's fertilized with perfume-smelling dung to bring the birds and the bees. It's still dung, though, where it would not normally be fertile land.
SMS vs BO2K arguments are one field on the mountain range that must be debated. BO2K does not possess the awe of the Open Source billygoats, but does have the potential to offset the balance in yet another area controlled by a bloated pack of oversized goats.
Packs of animals are forced to maintain a certain size to compete. Microsoft is well beyond this size, and, outside the analogy, their interdependancy may be the end of them.
The lesson? Polygomy and inbreeding will not necessarily lead to better goats.
Last time I checked, the latest study on cellular radiation showed that people who used cell phones were more imaginative and intellectual than those who did not.
That's somewhat interesting, but I've never seen the case study myself, and wonder what kind of control group they used -- maybe people who use cellular phones are simply more intelligent and imaginative and use phones because of that. My interpretation of what I was told (by an MD) was that the cellular radiation stimulates activity in regions of the brain where without the cell phones there would be none.
However, the nice conclusion exists, given this premise, that microwave radiation that misses the target and haphazardly strikes people will benefit the overall IQ level of the country. Maybe we should target some high schools and examine the effects.
Note: It has never been conclusively shown that cellular radiation increases the chances of brain tumours. I worked in a nuclear power plant -- the fear of radiation is greatly exaggerated, I assure you. Live in the average Ukranian basement for 8 months and you'll exceed legal Canadian doses of radiation (legal, not lethal:P).
Radiation becomes a problem when it is in the form is acute doses -- high exposures in a short period of time. Just for the sake of a story: a fellow came into the plant (the Nuclear Power Plant) a few years back and set off the alarms on the way in. It was surprising to discover that the source of the radiation that set off the alarms was in his belly -- a result of him eating Caribou meat over the weekend when he went hunting. The Caribou were eating lichen off rocks, and rocks are radioactive, and hence the Caribou meat was releasing enough radioactivity to set off the alarms at our wonderful Nuclear Power Plant.
There may be several islands, one of which is under Lead, although I cannot remember the particular element number.
Perhaps the most interesting possibility is that subatomic structures may permit the existence of something of a buckyball-like structure; a hollow yet stable element structure. It remains to be seen whether such a beast could exist.
One could examine a neutron star, and should "hallows" exist in the star's structure, then it is likely that a single structure, likely unique, would be atomically extremely heavy, yet stable. How to create something like this remains a mystery, but it is possible that if it is particularly stable, there may be remnants from the early times in the universe.
Nortel has several terabit fiberoptic line as well. The speed just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And I've got to ask, what will we do with it all?
I've a several megabit ADSL connection to the internet at home, and a T1 at work, and I still spend most of my bandwidth at home reading news and sending email, and using local do-dads at work. The entire system is computer-centric. But the underlying philosophy is person centric and while we look at what we have for each computer, we often forget what we have for each person.
And the successiful in the future will be looking at what we will have in the future, which will be computer-independent, yet entirely person centric.
Someday, not so far off as many would hope, fear, wish, or believe, that which we will look at in a computer will not be what we value now, but rather the speed at which we communicate with others.
That is a step in the right direction. Next we must change how and what we communicate. Therein you will find the true leaders of this technological era.
Quite right, but it's nonetheless interesting to think about the Feynmann diagrams in temporal terms, if for nothing else than acknowledging the possibility that a single electron might compose the entirety of the univese around us (and that at any given moment there are equivalently the same number of positrons out there).
It might be quite difficult to prove that the universe is flat because it is defined with much non-Euclidian geometry.
I'm not entirely sure what flat means: in Newtonian flat or coplanar (Euclidian) flat
Where when one looks at the universe as a whole, a Newtonian physics world would apply, or simply Euclidian geometrics but not necessarily adhering strictly to the Newtonian physics.
Objects far apart having more energy than objects closer together strikes me as quirksome, because it is possible, however unlikely, that there exists an anti-verse out there, where instead of electrons floating around protons & neutrons, it's positrons floating around anti-protons & anti-neutrons.
Then is it possible, should an inside-out universe exist, that anti-gravity would also be plausible? And hence be propelled away from gravitational bodies, and having more energy when closer to a gravitational body, and less energy as it gets further away? (Negating the energy used to bring them together)
But that's a bit off topic from warp drives, however interesting a question it might be.
None of this is surprising. ZDNet must come to its senses, and start bashing Microsoft like everyone else or they'll end up with the short-end of the stick on ratings.
Newsflash: There is no good news about Microsoft that people will believe. Their products are overrated and underused, yet bloated and overpriced.
This is a rediculous situation, where they are producing inferior products, and we have no choice but to use them.
Can't wait for Windows 2000 Lite, the predicted new version of Win2000, for free. The eventual realization will be that the operating system market is dead by Microsoft's hand, and yet in the death and waste they left behind, we see Linux thriving.
The energy that would be required for warp travel is irrelevent; energy is abundant at this time in the universe. (And worse come to worst, we sacrifice some matter.) Much of the physics we are dealing with is not conventional, and we will soon see a new relevation to change the entire perspective on the reality surrounding us. Warp drives, so cliche as that may be, can exist. Indeed, it is likely that they do. Just to throw you for a loop, it is possible and even probable that the entire universe is composed of a single electron in a parallel time frame for each instance (near infinite). Interesting, no? I say this because a positron, the electron's positive energitic counterpart, is mathematically described as an electron travelling back in time (i.e. negative time). Still, much work is to be done on this yet. The reality constraining us is not what it used to be. We should not forget what we have overcome, lest we fail to overcome the barriers before us now.
Now that's a level of ignorance you don't see every day. Hypocritical immaturity; the arguments are thin and invalid, covering a subjective topic, of course. But thin and invalid, nonetheless. We all have the basic right to be treated as a human by our fellow members. Take that away from few of the many cohorts, and the few rebel. Also, you really shouldn't have to SHOUT to get your points across. I can read. Use clear sentences. Not loud words. Perhaps sometime in your life of ignorance and bliss, try and comprehend what it is to be on the devil's plate, looking up to those who do nothing but look down. Much like you are looking down now, I can imagine. People are thinking no better of you as you are of them right now. Only one side is justified The other is ignorant.
It's all about the shareholders - since many of them are employees of Microsoft (stock options -- many employees of Microsoft are receiving good stock options, as opposed to great pay), it'd be devastating if their stock went to shit. The employees would be furious, and/or leave.
They'd do anything to get people to demand their stock. They even split it the other day. It might even be surmisable to perceive the possibility that the latest drop in stocks is accountable to Microsoft (et. al) selling shares elsewhere in the stock market, and buying up their own.
With the DOJ trial, press happy Linux, and the relative freedom of major vendors, I would not want to own Microsoft stock right now. To keep the price up, to keep investors from worrying (the slow/dumb ones worry, the smart ones have already moved on), Microsoft provides the billion $ buffer to keep the stocks from dropping a penny.
The buffer doesn't last forever. Serious consumer contempt exists, as does corporate distrust, for MS. You can't take their history of nearly pure corporate evil (in my humble, but correct, opinion), and turn it around on a dime. If it ever happens, it'll be down the road.
The method one finds out about new music is largely irrelevent in the end. There will always be a new way to find out about new music, but I highly doubt it will have anything to do with Radio in the long run.
Too expensive, too much capitol, too much overhead. And difficult to distribute mainstream.
Although the channels of distribution may follow through the internet, there will probably always be a niche market for wireless technology. Radio or otherwise.
CD's are of lower quality than the highest quality MPEG Layer 3. We dub audio on a $5000 PSB system, and there is a difference. Negligible in the low end, but in the >19kHz range there is measurable data loss when conforming to the CD standard.
Please try and get the facts right before stating them.
Slashdot Mirror
For example, someone mentioned to me that Corel, when in need of fonts, simply wrote a font-copier, and created a whole new set of fonts with different names.
Great irony would exist if we could have all the fonts in the world, but have to pay money to look at them. Apple walks a tightrope with this one, and they know it.
In reality, they cannot truely block the usage of truetype fonts, or block the software necessary for using it. One can post source code, and indicate that it's usage may be illegal in any particular country; Apple condemning such code's existence would simply put it into the outreaches of the law.
They are, in effect, powerless to really do anything against those who really want truetype fonts. But for those who are not willing to go around the world searching for a TT renderer, Apple could detriment it's usage in, for example, XFree86 4.
The best Apple can do is destroy the mainstream distribution. But the possibility does not exist that they can even dent the background distribution of covert software, in my humble but correct opinion. Those that will pay for Apple's restrictions, should they be placed on Truetype, would be the users just starting with Linux.
It is also a concern as to how Corel will play a part in this, being a font giant itself, and self proclaimed Linux advocate.
I say, how fast does an unburdened swallow fly? Well, I guess that depends, do you mean the eastern European or the African swallow? Well, how the hell should I know? ...
One of the probes (Voyager 2?) we sent out apparently returned information to the effect that the giant red eye of Jupiter was in fact largely composed of amino acids. If there are amino acids, then there is the possibility for more complex forms of existence.
Personally, I believe that life originated in the incubation-like atmosphere of comets, and that microbacteria in the comets made it to earth. (Some terran straph/strep bacteria is currently on the moon, surviving, as I recall from one of the NASA reports, but I can't remember which.) It is likely then, that any place in this solar system where life could survive, it has, and will. That's what life does best. (Up to the point where it reaches something like us. :) )
If someone would like to know what issue of Nat. Geo. was, I'm sure I could dig it out and let you know.
(email bmh@canada.com)
Thank you. I'm glad that not only somebody was listening, but that somebody understood. lol. The whole point is not in the seriousness of the analogy, as comparing billygoats to multibillion dollar corporations lacks the implicit parallelism necessary for a good analogy (for obvious reasons), and should be taken only on a whimsical note, with a sense of humour. The analogy I meant to bring out was between that of the animal kingdom and that of the competitive corporate market.
Albeit possible that I sorely failed in this, I'm sure that some of the messages intended were blatently obvious, whereas others were a little more subtle. I'm quite glad that you understood, and brought out, this one.
Strange how it is generally the anonymous coward that tends to miss the really interesting points, only to harp on what is (often inaccurately) obviously wrong. lol.
It takes all kinds ...
Nature provides two forces against these kings of the hill: better billygoats, who can sneak past the big buggers, and the slow grinding away of the hill upon which they sit, which is so difficult to climb because of a steep monopoly. These may be thought of as Linux and the erosion of the computer operating system monopoly mountain-peak. Together, the mountain is getting harder to defend against something like Linux, and the faster, nimbler billygoats are winning more of the battles for the hilltop.
The inevitable conclusion is undetermined as of yet; the smaller, nimbler billygoats may yet force the hefty one off the top, the hefty kings of the hill may yet defend their mountain, or while the dual continues against each other, the mountain may just dissappear, and we all buy appliances.
To make the analogy more fun, we must look at what happens to the hefty billygoats. They do not control one mountain; they have a say in several mountains -- from software through to webTV to all kinds of fertile grazing lands. These mountains do not all dissappear, and so the hefty billygoats, with their limited company immortality, can cling to many unconnected lands.
One can see the faults in the billygoats at the top of the hillside, where they are forced to give way to things like Apache for MSN and HotMail. They are not superior. Just in greater numbers, and more aggressive. Outside of the analogy, one might think that the sun shines brighter on the Microsoft soil, because their lands are so fertile. It's more likely that it's fertilized with perfume-smelling dung to bring the birds and the bees. It's still dung, though, where it would not normally be fertile land.
SMS vs BO2K arguments are one field on the mountain range that must be debated. BO2K does not possess the awe of the Open Source billygoats, but does have the potential to offset the balance in yet another area controlled by a bloated pack of oversized goats.
Packs of animals are forced to maintain a certain size to compete. Microsoft is well beyond this size, and, outside the analogy, their interdependancy may be the end of them.
The lesson? Polygomy and inbreeding will not necessarily lead to better goats.
That's somewhat interesting, but I've never seen the case study myself, and wonder what kind of control group they used -- maybe people who use cellular phones are simply more intelligent and imaginative and use phones because of that. My interpretation of what I was told (by an MD) was that the cellular radiation stimulates activity in regions of the brain where without the cell phones there would be none.
However, the nice conclusion exists, given this premise, that microwave radiation that misses the target and haphazardly strikes people will benefit the overall IQ level of the country. Maybe we should target some high schools and examine the effects.
Note: It has never been conclusively shown that cellular radiation increases the chances of brain tumours. I worked in a nuclear power plant -- the fear of radiation is greatly exaggerated, I assure you. Live in the average Ukranian basement for 8 months and you'll exceed legal Canadian doses of radiation (legal, not lethal :P).
Radiation becomes a problem when it is in the form is acute doses -- high exposures in a short period of time. Just for the sake of a story: a fellow came into the plant (the Nuclear Power Plant) a few years back and set off the alarms on the way in. It was surprising to discover that the source of the radiation that set off the alarms was in his belly -- a result of him eating Caribou meat over the weekend when he went hunting. The Caribou were eating lichen off rocks, and rocks are radioactive, and hence the Caribou meat was releasing enough radioactivity to set off the alarms at our wonderful Nuclear Power Plant.
The only suggestion that has viable merit is to disable the ease at which a user can destroy and propagate malicious code.
Implementing that is a whole other arena.
Perhaps the most interesting possibility is that subatomic structures may permit the existence of something of a buckyball-like structure; a hollow yet stable element structure. It remains to be seen whether such a beast could exist.
One could examine a neutron star, and should "hallows" exist in the star's structure, then it is likely that a single structure, likely unique, would be atomically extremely heavy, yet stable. How to create something like this remains a mystery, but it is possible that if it is particularly stable, there may be remnants from the early times in the universe.
On the way to warm fuzzy gas, it's all good.
I've a several megabit ADSL connection to the internet at home, and a T1 at work, and I still spend most of my bandwidth at home reading news and sending email, and using local do-dads at work. The entire system is computer-centric. But the underlying philosophy is person centric and while we look at what we have for each computer, we often forget what we have for each person.
And the successiful in the future will be looking at what we will have in the future, which will be computer-independent, yet entirely person centric.
Someday, not so far off as many would hope, fear, wish, or believe, that which we will look at in a computer will not be what we value now, but rather the speed at which we communicate with others.
That is a step in the right direction. Next we must change how and what we communicate. Therein you will find the true leaders of this technological era.
Quite right, but it's nonetheless interesting to think about the Feynmann diagrams in temporal terms, if for nothing else than acknowledging the possibility that a single electron might compose the entirety of the univese around us (and that at any given moment there are equivalently the same number of positrons out there).
I'm not entirely sure what flat means:
in Newtonian flat
or coplanar (Euclidian) flat
Where when one looks at the universe as a whole, a Newtonian physics world would apply, or simply Euclidian geometrics but not necessarily adhering strictly to the Newtonian physics.
Objects far apart having more energy than objects closer together strikes me as quirksome, because it is possible, however unlikely, that there exists an anti-verse out there, where instead of electrons floating around protons & neutrons, it's positrons floating around anti-protons & anti-neutrons.
Then is it possible, should an inside-out universe exist, that anti-gravity would also be plausible? And hence be propelled away from gravitational bodies, and having more energy when closer to a gravitational body, and less energy as it gets further away? (Negating the energy used to bring them together)
But that's a bit off topic from warp drives, however interesting a question it might be.
None of this is surprising. ZDNet must come to its senses, and start bashing Microsoft like everyone else or they'll end up with the short-end of the stick on ratings.
Newsflash: There is no good news about Microsoft that people will believe. Their products are overrated and underused, yet bloated and overpriced.
This is a rediculous situation, where they are producing inferior products, and we have no choice but to use them.
Can't wait for Windows 2000 Lite, the predicted new version of Win2000, for free. The eventual realization will be that the operating system market is dead by Microsoft's hand, and yet in the death and waste they left behind, we see Linux thriving.
The energy that would be required for warp travel is irrelevent; energy is abundant at this time in the universe. (And worse come to worst, we sacrifice some matter.) Much of the physics we are dealing with is not conventional, and we will soon see a new relevation to change the entire perspective on the reality surrounding us. Warp drives, so cliche as that may be, can exist. Indeed, it is likely that they do. Just to throw you for a loop, it is possible and even probable that the entire universe is composed of a single electron in a parallel time frame for each instance (near infinite). Interesting, no? I say this because a positron, the electron's positive energitic counterpart, is mathematically described as an electron travelling back in time (i.e. negative time). Still, much work is to be done on this yet. The reality constraining us is not what it used to be. We should not forget what we have overcome, lest we fail to overcome the barriers before us now.
"Windows people" is somewhat of a misnomer.
"Windows drones" is far more appropriate.
:)
Now that's a level of ignorance you don't see every day.
Hypocritical immaturity; the arguments are thin and invalid, covering a subjective topic, of course. But thin and invalid, nonetheless.
We all have the basic right to be treated as a human by our fellow members. Take that away from few of the many cohorts, and the few rebel.
Also, you really shouldn't have to SHOUT to get your points across. I can read. Use clear sentences. Not loud words.
Perhaps sometime in your life of ignorance and bliss, try and comprehend what it is to be on the devil's plate, looking up to those who do nothing but look down.
Much like you are looking down now, I can imagine. People are thinking no better of you as you are of them right now. Only one side is justified
The other is ignorant.
It's all about the shareholders - since many of them are employees of Microsoft (stock options -- many employees of Microsoft are receiving good stock options, as opposed to great pay), it'd be devastating if their stock went to shit. The employees would be furious, and/or leave.
They'd do anything to get people to demand their stock. They even split it the other day. It might even be surmisable to perceive the possibility that the latest drop in stocks is accountable to Microsoft (et. al) selling shares elsewhere in the stock market, and buying up their own.
With the DOJ trial, press happy Linux, and the relative freedom of major vendors, I would not want to own Microsoft stock right now. To keep the price up, to keep investors from worrying (the slow/dumb ones worry, the smart ones have already moved on), Microsoft provides the billion $ buffer to keep the stocks from dropping a penny.
The buffer doesn't last forever. Serious consumer contempt exists, as does corporate distrust, for MS. You can't take their history of nearly pure corporate evil (in my humble, but correct, opinion), and turn it around on a dime. If it ever happens, it'll be down the road.
The method one finds out about new music is largely irrelevent in the end. There will always be a new way to find out about new music, but I highly doubt it will have anything to do with Radio in the long run.
Too expensive, too much capitol, too much overhead. And difficult to distribute mainstream.
Although the channels of distribution may follow through the internet, there will probably always be a niche market for wireless technology. Radio or otherwise.
CD's are of lower quality than the highest quality MPEG Layer 3. We dub audio on a $5000 PSB system, and there is a difference. Negligible in the low end, but in the >19kHz range there is measurable data loss when conforming to the CD standard.
Please try and get the facts right before stating them.
Get an Empeg car. 35 odd hours of music you really want to listen to. No commercials. No static. CD quality. And it's running Linux. See empeg.com.