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User: Alain+Williams

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  1. This won't make me use Oracle for a project ... on Oracle To Offer A Free Database · · Score: 1
    Think about it: start a project, oh - it works, great -- oh it is incredibly successful -- better put it on some bigger hardware --- whooops it no longer works because of some licensing restriction !

    No: I might choose Oracle because of some features, but this sort of ploy will not tempt me - I don't like surprises when I try to scale.

  2. Few comments on MA Lawmakers Question Move to OpenOffice · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Romney administration wants documents stored in a particular format that would allow the records to be read by a variety of software packages -- except Microsoft Office.
    Wrong: the format can be read by several packages; it cannot (currently) be read by several other packages -- one of which happens to be MS Office. The point is that this initiative is NOT against MS Office, but a move to a stable/published document format. Is MS wants to join in (as it looks that it might), no one will complain.

    Pacheco wants to know whether Quinn has the authority to make a major change in the state's records management policies without input from Galvin.
    That is a really good point. However it occurs to me: has MS the authority to make a major change in the state's records management policies - as they have done several times in the updates from MS Office 95, 98, 2000, 2003, ... ? The point is that this is a change that will then prevent future changes causing backwards compatibility problems.

    blind and other visually impaired state workers raised concerns ...
    There is (deliberate) confusion between document format and implementation. Office suites that support OpenDocument format will improve their support for blind/... people, that support will be implemented in a short time compared to the long time that the OpenDocument format is expected to survive.

    It strikes me that some of the feedback/discussion on /. ought to be fed back to the Romney administration - help them to defend their position. Can someone in the USA/Massachusetts do that please.

  3. How many times should we pay for our music ? on How Many Times Should We Pay For Our Software? · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Much the same thing with the music pirates: I have some albums on: vinyl, cassette and CD. That means that I have paid 3 times for a 'license to listen/play/...' the same music.

    There must be something wrong here - Yes I should pay for the new medium, but as we all know that forms a small part of the cost of producing an album.

    I suppose it just shows that I am a mug who is willing to be ripped off by the music pirates^h^h^h^h^h^h^hdistributors.

  4. Re:In other news... on Google Terror Threat · · Score: 1
    Simialrly in more paranoid places tourists who take snaps of bridges or just about any public building can lose their cameras and get in trouble

    In the UK the paranoia is now extreme, at the recent labour confernece a labour MP had his camera stolen from him and pictures deleted without his permission and little apparent explanation. This is the same conference where an 80 year old man was manhandled out for uttering one word if dissent during a speech. This is from the party of the prime minister who lied to take us to war in Iraq.

    From now on: you can only do anything as long as we kow tow to the powers that be.

  5. Re:Some things you might want to keep private. on You Need Not Be Paranoid To Fear RFID · · Score: 1
    Imagine your wife getting ads for the wrong brand of tampon at just the right time.

    Imagine going to a store on the way home to get some tampons for your wife ... the store computer knows that your wife's period is coming up soon[**] and confusing you with ads for rival tampons -- wow, that could get you into a hell of a lot of trouble at just the wrong time of month!

    [**] They know from her buying habits what her cycle is, they can probably work out that you are married to her.

  6. Smaller components for smaller cars on Ford, Boeing and NU Form Nanotech Alliance · · Score: 4, Interesting
    By making batteries and other components smaller, it opens up space for more features that consumers want in their vehicles

    Given the size of the typical US vehicle it has never struck me that space would be at a premium. Let us hope that this technology will be used to make smaller & more fuel efficient cars -- we all need to drive those to mitigate the causes of climate change -- especially cars made in the USA.

  7. DNS is 1/2 the problem on The Fracturing of the Internet · · Score: 0, Troll
    Doleing out new top level (country) domains is 1/2 the story, we in the democratic world simply use non USA top level domain servers ... so we can see Iraq (or whoever it is that the USA is invading up this week).

    The problem comes with the assigning of IP addresses. If the USA refuses to recognise some that the rest of the world has given to Iraq/... and then gives them to someone else - we end up with two places having the same IP address. Chaos would ensue 'till BGP/... was fixed to hide the ''illegal'' USA duplicate addresses -- yuck!!

    Admission: the UK government's use of lies to take us to was makes me ashamed to be British.

  8. Certification is the point on Red Hat Seeks to Deliver Most Secure Linux · · Score: 1
    They are talking about certification. This is non trivial to achieve. The result will be that large/goverment organisations will feel safe buying RH because of the certificate sticker on the box.

    This will be good for Red Hat, I applaud them for the hard work.

    However, a certifcate does not guarantee a secure system, just one that, properly managed, is capable of being secure ... or (strictly) pass certain security tests.

    This will be good for other distributions, since they will be perceived to be secure since they are related to Red Hat; however to get the certification they will need to jump through the hoops to be tested ... that is a lot of work. Closely related distribitions such as Centos may be able to short circuit some of that work, but not all of it -- this is not a free lunch.

    This will give Red Hat a marketing advantage (into some customer types) that will not be cheap/easy for others to follow. Good luck on them for their initiative ... let it raise the competitive bar and raise linux standards in general.

  9. A DNA print does NOT uniquely identify on Federal Agencies To Collect Genetic Info · · Score: 2, Informative
    Typically, DNA is taken from suspects via a swab of saliva. A DNA "profile" -- or unique numeric signature -- is generated, which can be stored without including private genetic information.

    There is a mistaken belief that a DNA test will uniquely identify someone, that is not true. The technology is a sampling one, it does not compare everything in someone's DNA against the test DNA. The main value is in excluding people who cannot match the DNA profile.

    The public belief is that these tests are 100% accurate and that when the police scientist says it is a match then it is an absolute match.

    Fingerprints have similar problems, see this article.

  10. Is a computer like a dog or a cat ? on Mothers Taking the Fight to the RIAA · · Score: 5, Interesting
    When I first got my computer set up almost three years ago, I had a friend set it up for me since I did not know how to do it. She had put Kaaza Lite on there and told me what it was. I never used it and had no interest in doing so. I deleted it since I had no use for it.

    It looks possible that Kaaza was on her machine, but that she was unaware that it was there and what it was doing, for the purpose of this comment I shall assume that this was the case. (I am a Brit and so from an understanding of UK law).

    Several independent points:

    1. Should not the RIAA go after the friend who installed Kaaza, since it was she that caused the computer to ''perform illegal activities'' ?
    2. There is a notion in law of ''intent'', ie you need to intend to do something to he held liable. So should Ms Andersen be liable for something that was performed by her computer when it was not her intent that the computer do this ?
    3. If my dog causes you some damage I am, as it's owner and the dog being under my control, liable for that and responsible for putting it right (ie paying). However: if my cat causes the same damage I am not liable since the law recognises that a cat cannot be controlled.

      Can we make an analogy in law between liability of pet activity and liability of computer activity ?

      In theory a computer is completely under its owner's control, but many people lack sufficient understanding of their machines to control it properly; what is the situation when a computer is hijacked by some malware that (unknown to the owner) causes damage (needless to say this happens frequently) ?

    I think that the last 2 points are very important, I am not aware that they have discussed -- now is the time to debate this very important issue.

    I would love to know what the law decides: is a computer like a dog or a cat ?

  11. So we know how it all works then .... on Dell Releases First Consumer Product with Mandriva · · Score: 5, Insightful
    One of the big pains with a laptop is getting everything to work, ie include power management& stuff. Dell would have made sure that this all works, so pretty soon $YourFavouriteDistro will support everything on these Dell machines.

    Whatever you think of Dell, this is good for Linux.

  12. Return it - demand a refund on TiVo OS Update Adds Content Protection · · Score: 1
    In the UK something that is sold has to do what it claims to do, if it does not you can take it back and get a refund. If it later fails to perform you can also take it back (usually limited to the first year). It is the retailer who is responsible, they cannot make you deal with the manufacturer.

    Everyone who is upset about their machine no longer doing what they bought it for - should take it back to the shop that you bought it from and demand your money back. Either TiVo refund the shop or the shop will stop stocking TiVo.

    Consumers: use the power of your wallets!

  13. Weapons of war ... on Controlling Hurricanes? · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This property gives rise to the proveriable butterfly flapping it's wings in China could cause a hurricane in the US.

    You got the butterfly's location wrong:
    In other news: Bin-laden claims that a specially bred butterfly raised on a farm in Afghanistan caused the hurricane as part of his war against the West. He warns: Blair & Chirac that he is breeding British & French varients.

  14. What is the energy cost ? on Controlling Hurricanes? · · Score: 1, Insightful
    The energy cost of some of these seems solutions would just add to the global warming problem.

    Far better to build houses that aren't so badly affected by a hurrcane - rebuilding New Orleans somewhere else that was not at flood risk would be a good start.

  15. Re:This brings up a good question on RNA May 'Run' Genetic Coding · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It is years since I read that book, but AFIR it is as much about ''how we did it'' as the science. The science in the book is still correct today, but remember that much more has been discovered since that ''enhances'' what they knew at the time.

    Do read it, it is a good book.

  16. Kyoto on Too Many People in Nature's Way · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Although not the absolute cause of this, global warming is making things worse, and it will get even more of a problem. The warming of the sea imparts more energy to these tornadoes. Global warming is a global problem - the USA refuses to accept that it plays a large part in this -- it's 5% of the world's population uses 25% of the world's energy.

    We need to act NOW, we should have started to act a loooong time ago. In the UK one of the reasons that petrol prices are so high is to discourage use, there are all sorts of other action being taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- it is not enough, but at least we are trying. The USA is doing nothing just in case it hurt's it's economy ... using the excuse that this or that effect is not 100% proven -- sorry: the big picture is well understood, the risks are so huge that to argue over uncertainties is irresponsible.

    Sorry guys: time to wisen up; take a hit on your economy today or face many, many more things like this ... which will end up costing much, much more.

    No: this is not a troll. My view is shared by many people in Europe. I know that citizens of the USA don't want to think about it, but the problem won't go away just because you shut your eyes to it.

    Lobby your senator to ratify the kyoto agreement.

  17. How the Govt can reduce the cost on Cost of Secrecy Continues to Increase · · Score: 1, Interesting
    Take note of the recent decision in Massachusetts that MS Word format documents may not be readable in the future. Realise that if everyone stays running on MS Windows 95 and ancient versions of MS Word, that there are no upgrade fees due.

    Put the two together: You don't pay for the old/bought software and no one can read the file formats that it produced ... perfect, cheap secrecy.

  18. Re:Socialism != Charity on Vietnam Medic Makes Homemade Endoscope · · Score: 1
    Socialism - compelled confiscation

    I thought that is what taxation was.

  19. Time to reverse engineer it on Flash EULA Doesn't Fit the Times · · Score: 1
    The flash players/creators that I found all seem to be based on the macromedia libraries. Macromedia do document the file format by the licence on that documentation includes:
    This license does not permit the usage of the specification to create software which supports SWF file playback.
    It seems evident that, at some stage, they hope to generate income through player licencing.

    I also hate any licence that gives someone else permission to look at anything on my PC - who knows what else they will take away!

    We need a project to write a set of flash compatible read/write libraries that the various flash related products can use.

  20. Re:why? on Report Claims Men More Intelligent Than Women · · Score: 1
    And, following divorce, you haven't been kept away from your kids because the courts back up every lunatic thing that your ex wife says ....

    Point being: we (male/female) could both bitch about things that are unjust against your sex. Some of these are current, some are historic.

  21. What to do with all that silicon ? on Intel and Laptop RAID? · · Score: 1
    Now that they can't increase clock speeds by much Intel have to find other ways to make their chips look better than AMD. They can still put more transistors onto the chip which is why we have seen hyper-threading (great for servers, any more than 2 highly doubtful for a personal computer), what else to burn those transistors on ... ???

    Integration of extra functionality is a good and will lead to smaller, cheaper, more energy efficient computers; although I can't see the sanity on a RAID controller for your average laptop - where I would prefer a smaller & more energy efficient CPU.

    What next to integrate: ethernet subsystem; video controller; ... ?

    Any bets that they have a patent on ''integrating RAID on a CPU chip'' -- further keep AMD out.

  22. Sample of data on Building Secure Computers? · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please send me a sample of the data that you are trying to keep secret - this will enable me to best work out how to keep it secure ....

  23. What question ? on Microsoft Proposes Cooperative Research With OSDL · · Score: 1
    If they are going to ask independent researchers to look into something they will have to set up terms of reference (ie tell them what they want to know). The point is that you get different answers depending on how you ask the question ... MS is very good at getting the right question asked so that it gets the answers that it wants.

    Do they think that they can hoodwink ODSL into agreeing to a bent question to get a warped answer ?

    Also:

    Taylor said "because I want to know the facts. I want people to see the facts for how they truly are ..."
    Errrm: does this mean that the MS "get the facts campaign" has been done before they did the research to know the facts ?
  24. Windows only I am afraid on Google Releases GDS 2.0 · · Score: 1

    Pity - looks worth spending a few minutes playing with ...

  25. Win a Gold in the corruption event on Businesses To Be Censored on Use of Olympics · · Score: 1
    The UK/London is going to vie with previous olympic venues to try to make these the most corrupt games ever - generating as much money as possible to the various corporations and the back pockets of those on the supposedly independent olympic committee.

    The olympics are about money, the big lie is to pretend that it is about sport.