Then you're choosing FreeBSD, not Linux. That basically invalidates my entire point tying it to the Linux kernel. You lose some 3D acceleration and some 2D acceleration, but note that the rest of your FreeBSD system runs fine. The original post I was responding to made it sound like a single binary driver invalidated the utility of every other piece of software on the system.
FreeBSD compatability is a completely different point, but not one I'd be too annoyed at NVidia about.
Yes, this memo says that Linux is "the" threat. However, look at the cases where it's a supposed threat. Apparently this particular representative of Microsoft feels that it's manifest destiny for the good old boys at Redmond to take over the server market where heavier solutions like HPUX, AIX, and other backbone systems have traditionally dwelled.
To me, this is a world apart from the traditionally eye-candy desktop toy that Windows has been in the past. NT foundation or not, Windows still has had a background of the desktop, and its ventures into the world of webservers and database backends apparently has been taken for granted by some parties.
Linux has stepped up because it's a familiar platform. Apparently that's the only marketing ploy according to Microsoft. If anything, Linux advocates need to show the technical superiority and ease of use/support that is possible, reasons why Windows may be encroaching into the traditional server world.
I haven't checked recently, but can anyone attest to the speed and stability of the new ATi drivers for Linux? I know they've made leaps and bounds beyond what I've seen in the past, but from this post it seems like the new drivers are "upcoming."
ATi's drivers for Windows have recently been a lot better, but in recent memory they've been pretty dodgy. My roommate has a well-utilized Radeon, and he's come across quite a few driver issues. Most have been resolved by this point, but it's taken a while.
Yes, ideally these issues would be fixed quickly with an open source driver. But, would they? Some drivers tend to fall by the wayside, or end up with just as many crashes as so-called "unprotected, unknown and undebuggable closed source solutions."
I'm looking forward to ATi's new drivers, but I'm not so sure how quickly they'll make their appearance, or if they'll be on par with NVidia's current "unstable" drivers.
It depends completely on why an individual chooses to use a Linux environment (with the GNU utils or otherwise). I mean, there are a variety of reasons people may use Linux, beyond the source licensing. Free software, maintained by a distributed group of people is definitely a draw.
Apparently having a single closed-source binary module defeats the open-source nature of the kernel and all the available software that is under an open source license. I personally have played with the source of a lot of programs, but have never felt the need to hack my graphics driver. Apparently I should be using some other platform, according to your logic.
I've lately been looking at the fb support in the kernel, and unless I'm missing something, the majority of graphics cards are not yet supported. Most cards can just use the VESA support, but it does not currently allow for changes in refresh rate and won't be as fast as a driver written for a certain card. So are there drivers planned for FB?
I personally have had no reliability issues with Athlon systems, nor have any of my associates (with the exception of one faulty motherboard). While this personal point isn't going to prove anything for overall reliability worldwide, it makes me think when I see half a dozen systems running night and day in constant use with no crashes, freezing, or hardware failure.
Let's address your issues:
Rambus memory: I'm not against Rambus. Maybe on an intellectual-property standpoint, or on a corporate standpoint, but they make some good memory. However, Intel has done an amazingly mediocre job of taking advantage of such memory in their chipset offerings. They obviously aren't going to get the performance gains that have been seen in game consoles because they don't have a unified memory architecture, but the fact remains that Intel engineers have had difficulty pulling the possible performance out of Rambus memory.
SSE Support: As you've stated, SSE2 code does some really nice tricks. For "heavy data processing algorithms" it doesn't really have any competitors in the x86 world, yet. However, this is really limitjng the scope of applications, as not every program is going to be able to take advantage of this functionality. In fact, most won't. Overall, SSE2 is nice but takes some attention to optimize for. Whether a lot of mass usage programs will take advantage of it is yet to be seen. I'm not going to say anything too negative about it, because it is something that can be used well.
Commitment to open source: Amazingly poor naming schemes aside, I don't believe AMD has any less of a commitment to open source than Intel does. I have a friend who was employed at AMD over a year ago who was paid to optimize software like glibc and gcc to take advantage of the Athlon processor. AMD's x86-64 has public specs and x86-64.org is hosted by AMD to showcase ports of open source projects to this new processor.
The Pentium 4 is a useful platform, but there are viable alternatives as well. Just because one piece of technology is good does not mean that others are bad. I personally would gladly use any stable, well-performing system that fits the given task.
WM != Desktop Environment
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Yes, WindowMaker is a nice window manager. KDE is a desktop environment that contains its own window manager and a great deal of apps. You can easily use the apps without using kwm, which is a small portion of the KDE project.
Unless you're advocating the use of apps from the GNUStep project (which, last I checked, WindowMaker is not officially part of), which are pretty much nonexistent with the exception of a few ports from NeXT.
Do you like episodic sci-fi novels? I mean, there are parallels in several media, but I really think most anime series aren't that off the wall. I think it's pretty pathetic that we don't judge things on a level playing field. It might be poorly animated, but aren't the camera angles and lighting crap on "Friends"? And do you really think the writing on "Suddenly Susan" was better than some anime series?
Yes, it's news. But it's never made a claim to be unbiased news. If there's commentary on an article, it's clearly stated who said it, or if it was the individual who submitted the article, it's in italics. This isn't the Associated Press where the article writer is nameless and it's supposedly unbiased news. This site has editorial comments on every story, and quite a few straight opinion articles.
The SVG standard is an open, standard format. While many open source programs may use this format, this does not mean that it is an Open Source standard, nor does it tie a licensing model to the concept. If anything, I would say that SVG will gain more from Adobe than vice-versa.
People will be more likely to use a format if it is supported by standard tools like Illustrator. Illustrator could use a proprietary format and it wouldn't be a problem for anyone at Adobe.
What the ever-loving hell does the software they use on the server have to do with the failure of their business model in this case? The proof may be in the pudding, but this is a whole different flavor here. Salon is not going to die because their server gets attacked, or because their data is stored in an unreliable fashion. It's going to die eventually because of a lack of revenue or uninteresting content. The best OS or server setup in the world isn't going to save you if you're not making any money on what you're serving.
FX!32 was Digital's software for the Alpha that allowed you to run software written for x86 on Alpha processors under NT.
It used dynamic recompilation of the sort mentioned here, and from what I've heard, was at a pretty acceptable speed. It also did run-time optimization, or as Transmeta would put it, code morphing.
I believe there was also a FX!32 compatability layer for Digital Unix and later Linux, although support was slightly more sketchy. If I remember correctly, this was around the time that Digital made it possible to use libraries compiled for Digital Unix under a Linux environment.
Anyone else have more to say about FX!32? I'd be interested in more info.
One of the main points of a "WebBug," as Bugnosis has termed them, is to track a user across multiple sites. The slashdot bug would fit this description exactly.
OSDN could easily track what the overlap is between slashdot and kuro5hin users, how many slashdot users are later making thinkgeek purchases, or how many people follow links to sister sites. Just because the sites are owned by the same company does not mean that these are not WebBugs.
I'd assume that Office XP has everything scriptable, just like current versions of Office, but with possibly a slightly better authentication scheme (I haven't messed with it yet). Wouldn't be be fairly interesting if someone wrote a nice script to associate every word in the dictionary (assuming it's a script-accessible object) with http://goatse.cx? I mean, I doubt anyone would click on it, at least not more than once. But I can guarantee it'd be damn annoying to see every word have the SmartTag icon hanging there.
That's a pretty bad analogical argument. Microsoft's implementation and changes to Common Internet File System (CIFS), the supposed real name for what everyone refers to as "Windows networking," is a pretty different issue from a standardized content viewer.
Does Microsoft have an amazingly non-standard TCP/IP stack? There are standards that must be followed, and if there is a standards body that is actually listened to in a field, eventually Microsoft will come around.
Have you tried stripping debugging info?
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QT Mozilla Port
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While it somewhat defeats the purpose of having widespread public releases for debugging, have you tried stripping the debugging info from mozilla?
Running 'strip' will knock quite a bit off the executable and it runs quite a bit faster, you just lose the ability to trace where any crashes come from.
Such a change would be quite a shift from the current (and past) teaching paradigm, and I got the impression that you found these new liberal teaching methodologies flawed, by looking at your previous posts. As for the validity of your claim, there are a variety of completely skewed or wrong sources on the internet. I've been to classes where we spent several days going over how to determine if information is from a legitimate source if it is off of a website or newsgroup. Even after that, it is still recommended that we use several traditional, solid sources like an encyclopedia.
You're quite the interesting karma whore, Chuck. Pick a stance, loosely justify it, and always leave room open for feedback. Too bad there aren't any spots open on Fox News.
Several of my great-grandparents were born in this country. However, from my original post, you have no idea which country I'm from. Keep guessing. For all I know, you're referring to India. I mean, IBM has a few offices there.
When I said things have been constant, I meant only that our methodologies have not significantly changed and that learning continues on. Your very criticism was based on a belief that the methodologies of today are inferior to those of the past. Are you now saying that they sure as hell should be better, or we've failed? By your own logic then, we've failed.
By using the same or similar methodologies, we only build upon the past. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "to stand on the shoulders of giants?" Apparently not. As for your earlier posts detailing that arts and classical studies were the only worthwhile persuits, it makes me wonder... why the hell are you posting a social commentary rant on slashdot? That seems the very opposite of your goals.
I also take offense to calling me "son." Quite frankly, by the context of my post I left no indication of my sex, and only slight hints of my age.
Oh, and the phrase you want is "The status quo is not an option." It rings much truer than saying it is not a choice.
Why, of course engineering's worth is self-evident... to an engineer.
I personally am of the engineer nature so I can completely understand that viewpoint, but you're begging the question. You're assuming that an engineer's worth is obvious to society, because without engineers, we would not have such great things and be so amazingly advanced. You've apparently never heard of social advancement. Yes, it's an excellent view to believe that the point of society is to expand technology and practical knowledge. Is that what makes you sleep better at night? It's a belief. That's it.
Classics aren't what great civilizations were founded on, it is what great civilizations created. I can quote Aristotle and Plato all day, but can I name who their inspirations were? Not likely. You're a sucker for liberal thought, Chuck. Thinking that we need to look back at such loser cultures... I mean, are *they* around today? I think not. And as for studying the systematically oppressed, aren't those the people that one day break out and take over? I mean, I few very few Romans around, but I see a lot of the descendants of the Hebrews, like Jews and Christians.
As for saying that Truth, Beauty, and Goodness were unattainable quantities, I believe you meant to say qualities. I made a few typos in my previous post, I'll forgive you on that. However, I think we shouldn't fill our children's hopes with ideas of machines that calculate figures faster than any man ever could, or going to the moon. I mean, dear god, these things require a lot of physics work, and that's bullshit!
As for seeing results *now*, are you one of those wackos who favors lots of standardized testing to determine student progress and teacher salary? Last I checked, all they can determine is how well a student will do in her first semester of college (results after that differ greatly from test scores), and standardized test scores only really reflect economic background and the involvement of parents. If you are not for standardized tests, I apologize. It just seemed like something you might be into.
What is this, the classical "This is how it was in my day, so now it must be the opposite" argument? I thought for a moment this was moderated up because of humor, then I noticed it was marked "insightful."
First, I'll admit, I'm not at issue with all of your conclusions, just your arguments. Out of the many facts you learned as a child, exactly how many of these do you remember today? Many? If this is the case, how many do your peers remember?
I do not mean your intellectual coworkers, if they exist, I am referring to everyone you went to grade school and college with. From your comments, I can infer that all of these people benefitted greatly from the knowledge that was vigorously injected into them during their school days and they must be the ruling elite of our times.
Now, to address your point that kids are taught how to think, instead of what to think. Did you make your argument faulty on purpose, because it came off that way.
Let me see if I can get this straight: since cirriculum isn't supposed to push beliefs on people (damn liberal thought!) if therefore restricts what can be taught. This was your point, which you immediately abandoned by shifting the argument. Congratulations, they obviously didn't treat debate back in "your day."
"..kids don't even know what to think about anymore." What the hell does this mean? Does it mean that the thoughts of the younger generation lean towards trivial things, or does it mean that there is little thought going on? And where the hell was this increased emphasis on the arts?
I've seen schools lose funding and close down music and art programs. I've watched amazingly talented people lose the most accessible outlet for their talent because schools were unable to keep the programs open. I seriously doubt these funds were put into engineering and classical studies.
Which brings me to my final point. You've stated that "our society" has created an environment for "them and us." Quite frankly, if it is our society, we are the people creating the environment. As children have little control over this, I can only blame the aging adult population. Where were you when kids needed help with their homework? Where were you when the school district created the guidelines of how children will be taught? It's as if you were part of a generation of people digging a hole, now you're looking at a bunch of people stuck in it and claiming you never touched a shovel.
I personally think things have been fairly constant and this is pretty much bullshit, as I've seen amazing people of my own generation do creative and innovative things with both the arts and science, but we've been judged as incompetent by thse like Chuck Flynn because we didn't grow up in the same environment that he did, and presumably, the environment his generation was responsible for creating.
It was the benchmark flavor of last month.... for Tom's Hardware. This is hardly a good benchmark for testing system performance,and was even worse in the tests done by Tom. The way he had it set up, hard drive access was a limiting factor. Not to mention the fact he didn't give out the sample he was using, nor did he come out with a final standard after optimizations for the Athlon were in. But to his credit, the thing was a fiasco all around, so it was a good idea to end the damn thing.
He wasn't running it by choice. Older NT4 cds include only IE2 as the bundled browser. So when you go to download service packs and a newer IE, you're out of luck, since IE2 can't display microsoft.com.
Yes, you should probably have the service pack on cd, seperate download locations, etc.However, the fact still stands that this is the way a lot of people will default to patching a new NT4 install.
It becomes a question of preference. I know very few MIS majors who went on to get to higher level management. I'd rather code than do middle management any day, but that's just me.
Slashdot Mirror
Then you're choosing FreeBSD, not Linux. That basically invalidates my entire point tying it to the Linux kernel. You lose some 3D acceleration and some 2D acceleration, but note that the rest of your FreeBSD system runs fine. The original post I was responding to made it sound like a single binary driver invalidated the utility of every other piece of software on the system.
FreeBSD compatability is a completely different point, but not one I'd be too annoyed at NVidia about.
Yes, this memo says that Linux is "the" threat. However, look at the cases where it's a supposed threat. Apparently this particular representative of Microsoft feels that it's manifest destiny for the good old boys at Redmond to take over the server market where heavier solutions like HPUX, AIX, and other backbone systems have traditionally dwelled.
To me, this is a world apart from the traditionally eye-candy desktop toy that Windows has been in the past. NT foundation or not, Windows still has had a background of the desktop, and its ventures into the world of webservers and database backends apparently has been taken for granted by some parties.
Linux has stepped up because it's a familiar platform. Apparently that's the only marketing ploy according to Microsoft. If anything, Linux advocates need to show the technical superiority and ease of use/support that is possible, reasons why Windows may be encroaching into the traditional server world.
I haven't checked recently, but can anyone attest to the speed and stability of the new ATi drivers for Linux? I know they've made leaps and bounds beyond what I've seen in the past, but from this post it seems like the new drivers are "upcoming."
ATi's drivers for Windows have recently been a lot better, but in recent memory they've been pretty dodgy. My roommate has a well-utilized Radeon, and he's come across quite a few driver issues. Most have been resolved by this point, but it's taken a while.
Yes, ideally these issues would be fixed quickly with an open source driver. But, would they? Some drivers tend to fall by the wayside, or end up with just as many crashes as so-called "unprotected, unknown and undebuggable closed source solutions."
I'm looking forward to ATi's new drivers, but I'm not so sure how quickly they'll make their appearance, or if they'll be on par with NVidia's current "unstable" drivers.
It depends completely on why an individual chooses to use a Linux environment (with the GNU utils or otherwise). I mean, there are a variety of reasons people may use Linux, beyond the source licensing. Free software, maintained by a distributed group of people is definitely a draw.
Apparently having a single closed-source binary module defeats the open-source nature of the kernel and all the available software that is under an open source license. I personally have played with the source of a lot of programs, but have never felt the need to hack my graphics driver. Apparently I should be using some other platform, according to your logic.
I've lately been looking at the fb support in the kernel, and unless I'm missing something, the majority of graphics cards are not yet supported. Most cards can just use the VESA support, but it does not currently allow for changes in refresh rate and won't be as fast as a driver written for a certain card. So are there drivers planned for FB?
I personally have had no reliability issues with Athlon systems, nor have any of my associates (with the exception of one faulty motherboard). While this personal point isn't going to prove anything for overall reliability worldwide, it makes me think when I see half a dozen systems running night and day in constant use with no crashes, freezing, or hardware failure.
Let's address your issues:
The Pentium 4 is a useful platform, but there are viable alternatives as well. Just because one piece of technology is good does not mean that others are bad. I personally would gladly use any stable, well-performing system that fits the given task.
Yes, WindowMaker is a nice window manager. KDE is a desktop environment that contains its own window manager and a great deal of apps. You can easily use the apps without using kwm, which is a small portion of the KDE project.
Unless you're advocating the use of apps from the GNUStep project (which, last I checked, WindowMaker is not officially part of), which are pretty much nonexistent with the exception of a few ports from NeXT.
Do you like episodic sci-fi novels? I mean, there are parallels in several media, but I really think most anime series aren't that off the wall. I think it's pretty pathetic that we don't judge things on a level playing field. It might be poorly animated, but aren't the camera angles and lighting crap on "Friends"? And do you really think the writing on "Suddenly Susan" was better than some anime series?
Pretty one-sided, man.
Yes, it's news. But it's never made a claim to be unbiased news. If there's commentary on an article, it's clearly stated who said it, or if it was the individual who submitted the article, it's in italics. This isn't the Associated Press where the article writer is nameless and it's supposedly unbiased news. This site has editorial comments on every story, and quite a few straight opinion articles.
The SVG standard is an open, standard format. While many open source programs may use this format, this does not mean that it is an Open Source standard, nor does it tie a licensing model to the concept. If anything, I would say that SVG will gain more from Adobe than vice-versa.
People will be more likely to use a format if it is supported by standard tools like Illustrator. Illustrator could use a proprietary format and it wouldn't be a problem for anyone at Adobe.
While not amazingly funny, the above post seemed to be humor. If it wasn't clear at the beginning, the racism point sort of makes it obvious.
Really guys, turn your clue detectors on.
What the ever-loving hell does the software they use on the server have to do with the failure of their business model in this case? The proof may be in the pudding, but this is a whole different flavor here. Salon is not going to die because their server gets attacked, or because their data is stored in an unreliable fashion. It's going to die eventually because of a lack of revenue or uninteresting content. The best OS or server setup in the world isn't going to save you if you're not making any money on what you're serving.
It used dynamic recompilation of the sort mentioned here, and from what I've heard, was at a pretty acceptable speed. It also did run-time optimization, or as Transmeta would put it, code morphing.
I believe there was also a FX!32 compatability layer for Digital Unix and later Linux, although support was slightly more sketchy. If I remember correctly, this was around the time that Digital made it possible to use libraries compiled for Digital Unix under a Linux environment.
Anyone else have more to say about FX!32? I'd be interested in more info.
One of the main points of a "WebBug," as Bugnosis has termed them, is to track a user across multiple sites. The slashdot bug would fit this description exactly.
OSDN could easily track what the overlap is between slashdot and kuro5hin users, how many slashdot users are later making thinkgeek purchases, or how many people follow links to sister sites.
Just because the sites are owned by the same company does not mean that these are not WebBugs.
I'd assume that Office XP has everything scriptable, just like current versions of Office, but with possibly a slightly better authentication scheme (I haven't messed with it yet). Wouldn't be be fairly interesting if someone wrote a nice script to associate every word in the dictionary (assuming it's a script-accessible object) with http://goatse.cx? I mean, I doubt anyone would click on it, at least not more than once. But I can guarantee it'd be damn annoying to see every word have the SmartTag icon hanging there.
As for case fans, you can often buy quieter fans that have nicer bearings and the like.
That's a pretty bad analogical argument. Microsoft's implementation and changes to Common Internet File System (CIFS), the supposed real name for what everyone refers to as "Windows networking," is a pretty different issue from a standardized content viewer.
Does Microsoft have an amazingly non-standard TCP/IP stack? There are standards that must be followed, and if there is a standards body that is actually listened to in a field, eventually Microsoft will come around.
While it somewhat defeats the purpose of having widespread public releases for debugging, have you tried stripping the debugging info from mozilla?
Running 'strip' will knock quite a bit off the executable and it runs quite a bit faster, you just lose the ability to trace where any crashes come from.
Such a change would be quite a shift from the current (and past) teaching paradigm, and I got the impression that you found these new liberal teaching methodologies flawed, by looking at your previous posts. As for the validity of your claim, there are a variety of completely skewed or wrong sources on the internet. I've been to classes where we spent several days going over how to determine if information is from a legitimate source if it is off of a website or newsgroup. Even after that, it is still recommended that we use several traditional, solid sources like an encyclopedia.
You're quite the interesting karma whore, Chuck. Pick a stance, loosely justify it, and always leave room open for feedback. Too bad there aren't any spots open on Fox News.
Several of my great-grandparents were born in this country. However, from my original post, you have no idea which country I'm from. Keep guessing. For all I know, you're referring to India. I mean, IBM has a few offices there.
When I said things have been constant, I meant only that our methodologies have not significantly changed and that learning continues on. Your very criticism was based on a belief that the methodologies of today are inferior to those of the past. Are you now saying that they sure as hell should be better, or we've failed? By your own logic then, we've failed.
By using the same or similar methodologies, we only build upon the past. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "to stand on the shoulders of giants?" Apparently not. As for your earlier posts detailing that arts and classical studies were the only worthwhile persuits, it makes me wonder... why the hell are you posting a social commentary rant on slashdot? That seems the very opposite of your goals.
I also take offense to calling me "son." Quite frankly, by the context of my post I left no indication of my sex, and only slight hints of my age.
Oh, and the phrase you want is "The status quo is not an option." It rings much truer than saying it is not a choice.
Why, of course engineering's worth is self-evident... to an engineer.
I personally am of the engineer nature so I can completely understand that viewpoint, but you're begging the question. You're assuming that an engineer's worth is obvious to society, because without engineers, we would not have such great things and be so amazingly advanced. You've apparently never heard of social advancement. Yes, it's an excellent view to believe that the point of society is to expand technology and practical knowledge. Is that what makes you sleep better at night? It's a belief. That's it.
Classics aren't what great civilizations were founded on, it is what great civilizations created. I can quote Aristotle and Plato all day, but can I name who their inspirations were? Not likely. You're a sucker for liberal thought, Chuck. Thinking that we need to look back at such loser cultures... I mean, are *they* around today? I think not. And as for studying the systematically oppressed, aren't those the people that one day break out and take over? I mean, I few very few Romans around, but I see a lot of the descendants of the Hebrews, like Jews and Christians.
As for saying that Truth, Beauty, and Goodness were unattainable quantities, I believe you meant to say qualities. I made a few typos in my previous post, I'll forgive you on that. However, I think we shouldn't fill our children's hopes with ideas of machines that calculate figures faster than any man ever could, or going to the moon. I mean, dear god, these things require a lot of physics work, and that's bullshit!
As for seeing results *now*, are you one of those wackos who favors lots of standardized testing to determine student progress and teacher salary? Last I checked, all they can determine is how well a student will do in her first semester of college (results after that differ greatly from test scores), and standardized test scores only really reflect economic background and the involvement of parents. If you are not for standardized tests, I apologize. It just seemed like something you might be into.
What is this, the classical "This is how it was in my day, so now it must be the opposite" argument? I thought for a moment this was moderated up because of humor, then I noticed it was marked "insightful."
First, I'll admit, I'm not at issue with all of your conclusions, just your arguments. Out of the many facts you learned as a child, exactly how many of these do you remember today? Many? If this is the case, how many do your peers remember?
I do not mean your intellectual coworkers, if they exist, I am referring to everyone you went to grade school and college with. From your comments, I can infer that all of these people benefitted greatly from the knowledge that was vigorously injected into them during their school days and they must be the ruling elite of our times.
Now, to address your point that kids are taught how to think, instead of what to think. Did you make your argument faulty on purpose, because it came off that way.
Let me see if I can get this straight: since cirriculum isn't supposed to push beliefs on people (damn liberal thought!) if therefore restricts what can be taught. This was your point, which you immediately abandoned by shifting the argument. Congratulations, they obviously didn't treat debate back in "your day."
"..kids don't even know what to think about anymore." What the hell does this mean? Does it mean that the thoughts of the younger generation lean towards trivial things, or does it mean that there is little thought going on? And where the hell was this increased emphasis on the arts?
I've seen schools lose funding and close down music and art programs. I've watched amazingly talented people lose the most accessible outlet for their talent because schools were unable to keep the programs open. I seriously doubt these funds were put into engineering and classical studies.
Which brings me to my final point. You've stated that "our society" has created an environment for "them and us." Quite frankly, if it is our society, we are the people creating the environment. As children have little control over this, I can only blame the aging adult population. Where were you when kids needed help with their homework? Where were you when the school district created the guidelines of how children will be taught? It's as if you were part of a generation of people digging a hole, now you're looking at a bunch of people stuck in it and claiming you never touched a shovel.
I personally think things have been fairly constant and this is pretty much bullshit, as I've seen amazing people of my own generation do creative and innovative things with both the arts and science, but we've been judged as incompetent by thse like Chuck Flynn because we didn't grow up in the same environment that he did, and presumably, the environment his generation was responsible for creating.
It was the benchmark flavor of last month.... for Tom's Hardware. This is hardly a good benchmark for testing system performance,and was even worse in the tests done by Tom. The way he had it set up, hard drive access was a limiting factor. Not to mention the fact he didn't give out the sample he was using, nor did he come out with a final standard after optimizations for the Athlon were in. But to his credit, the thing was a fiasco all around, so it was a good idea to end the damn thing.
He wasn't running it by choice. Older NT4 cds include only IE2 as the bundled browser. So when you go to download service packs and a newer IE, you're out of luck, since IE2 can't display microsoft.com.
Yes, you should probably have the service pack on cd, seperate download locations, etc.However, the fact still stands that this is the way a lot of people will default to patching a new NT4 install.
It becomes a question of preference. I know very few MIS majors who went on to get to higher level management. I'd rather code than do middle management any day, but that's just me.