Granted that most of us here on slashdot don't see the big crime in copyright violation, it pays to understand why the RIAA and MPAA are being such jerks:
Revolutionaries are usually guilty of kicking the props out of a government power structure. What is interesting here is that the power structure being threatened isn't a government, it's big business. We've finally reached the point (as in the "Aliens" movies) where the Corporation has more power than the government (because it has more financial clout). Consider: The government is now being used (via the DMCA and the witch trials put on by the RIAA/MPAA) as a mere lackey of the Corporation.
Folks, we're in danger here. The 60's radicals were right after all. War generates profits - maybe that's why we're at war.
The sort of clumsy handling of sci-fi programs you're talking about is, unfortunately, endemic in the TV industry. Good shows get cancelled (the original Star Trek and The Vistor come to mind right away). Other shows get so little in the way of resources that they become ridiculous (Lost in Space and (I'm sorry) the original Galactica).
Face it. TV doesn't "get" science fiction. These corporations are run by corporate suits with MBA's and degrees in marketing and have no soul and no imagination. These shows are nothing but product to them. Nevermind that Star Trek did more for encouraging research in a bunch of fields of science. It's no accident that the generation raised on Trek created PC's, PDA's, cell phones, and other technology. I'm reading now about the (real) experiments in bending microwaves (a cloaking device), matter teleportation, and energy weapons.
Clearly, to those of us in the tech industry and the sciences, these shows are NOT silly, mindless, childish or merely a "product." They are the source of many inspirations. We care about these shows.
TV doesn't. And the probably never will.
Perhaps a consortium of web geeks should approach Moore et al and offer them the services of a dedicated streaming server and a loyal fanbase. Maybe we can help good content make the jump FROM TV to the 'net.
What are the Google guys doing? They've got the money...and advertisers...this could actually work!
This information shouldn't be news to anyone, nor should they think these results are only valid for math. Any occupation or interest that is, by its nature, solitary, should automatically translate into less people skills. The arts (except, perhaps, for theater which is collaborative) have also been known to create artists who are great at art but horrible with people (or just horrible people). So have sciences that are solitary (physics comes to mind). Einstein wasn't exactly a "people person."
Maybe we should go back to spending money for frog sex studies, at least they reveal things we didn't know...
I've heard of kernel panics, but have yet to experience one. Like most Mac users, I remember (hatefully) the old "bomb box" from pre-OS X Mac operating systems. But I have not experienced a kernel panic in OS X and I've used it since Jaguar through Panther and now Tiger.
Oddly enough, I have an old G3 iMac and use XCode to develop AppleScript Studio applications. You'd think I would have had a panic by now!
I strongly suspect that folks that have frequent panics have over-loaded their Macs with lots of third-party extensions. Which puzzles me, given the "out-of-the-box" functionality of OS X. What do you want it to do, make coffee for you?
Mistlefoot wrote: Contracts are often made over the phone or computer. Have you ever made a change to your mobile service? Or added third party long distance? You are clearly not disputing the fact that you have an agreement with Telus, you are disputing whether or not you have a commitment.
I don't know about Canadian law, but I can tell you that in the US the only verbal contract that is binding is for real estate. For just about anything else, they (the ISP) is up sh*t creek. They can bluff and blow and b*tch and whine, but ultimately, they can't hold you to a verbal "contract."
That said, it's entirely likely that this fellow did, indeed, click through their "OK" button and doesn't want to admit it because it weakens his case. Nonetheless, my attitude with ANY company that uses these kinds of intimidation is that I won't do business with them, even if they resolve the problem. This is NOT how you do business, I don't care WHO you are. If a company has to intimidate customers to keep them, there are obviously MUCH worse problems in that company than are readily apparent.
But seriously, does anybody think this announcement was intended to dissuade businesses and government agencies from trying the alternatives to Microsoft Windows that exist now?
Yes.
And will it work?
And no.
Barnett's quote of "Taking full advantage of the processing power that those multicore architectures potentially make available requires operating systems and development tools that don't exist largely today," is meant to obfuscate the fact that there are OS's that handle multiple processors very well (Linux and OS X, not to mention other unix variants).
Microsoft has a vested interest in not doing PR work for the 'nix community. And they certainly don't want to imply that Vista won't get the most out of the current crop of processors when other OS's will.
Mark my words folks, we're currently watching the Fall of the Roman Empire. Nero (Ballmer) is fiddling (throwing chairs during temper fits, screaming "Developers!" repeatedly, etc.) while the city of Rome (Redmond) is burning to the ground.
I guess the capitalists were right, leave the marketplace alone and eventually it will find a center and select a survivor. In the OS wars, my money is on unix (in any flavor, take your pick) as the eventual winner. I'm sure Bill Gates knows this, that's why he's bailing while he can, just as he bequeathed the empire to Ballmer years ago when the DOJ was breathing down MS's neck. Gates is a lot of things: Stupid isn't one of them.
Well, the only explanation I can come up with it this. HAL was in charge of the ship systems. He could control all sorts of things, from the cold sleep chambers to the pod bay doors. I guess, if you look at it, HAL was the computer and the Discovery was actually a robot. Sort of.
I've been lured into reading Dvorak's Alzheimer's induced delusions too many times. I won't dignify his latest piece of flamebait with my valuable click. After all, the things he's written lately about Apple are so far from any kind of thoughtful analysis that I must conclude that he's only starting flame wars to get more clicks. Well, I for one won't give him the satisfaction.
Perhaps if we organized a Dvorak boycott until he comes up with some real journalism, he'll either go back to writing real articles or dry up and blow away.
And FWIW, OS X and Linux are already doing battle with Windows for marketshare. Unix (in all it's beautiful flavors-how's that for diversity in action?) is the only true alternative to Windows. And if the latest figures for the increases in Safari and Firefox's browser share (not to mention the increases in OS X penetration) are correct, and if Vista is the disaster that MS's employee blogs make it out to be, we are already looking at the decline of the Gates' Roman Empire.
My prediction is that in years to come, this year will be marked as the year that Microsoft began to lose it's grip on the computer industry.
After trying a LOT of calendars that integrate with both iCal and Windows, I'd have to say Google's new calendar comes closest. I tried running my own DAV server to publish my calendar on the local net, but the only Windows calendar I could find that could read iCal format was Mozilla's, and asking Windows users to switch to Mozilla wasn't feasible.
With Google's calendar, I can export my appts. from iCal, then publish it back to iCal users and also give Windows users the web address of my calendar, satisfying everyone.
Those who actually seek truth have known for a long time the one, immutable truth: Truth died in this country a long time ago. When Madison Avenue found that they could not sell truth at any price, the corporations decided truth had to die.
Thus we have WMD, Enron, big tobacco, and Martha Stewart.
And the idea that Microsoft would be even distantly involved with truth is ludicrous.
So, in conclusion, your message is standard MacZealot-talk, and MacZealots have a horrible track record predicting Apple's next move over the last year.
..and industry "insiders" have a much better track record when it comes to predicting Apple: See the "experts" predictions here.
No, really, I mean it. Slashdot's adoption of the hot pink logos indicates that they have fallen to the Metrosexuals of the planet Transexual in the galaxy Transylvania. Had the staff of Slashdot really intended to draw in more females while retaining their current male readership, they would have used a gener neutral color, not hot pink.
As proof, I point out that we have been reading posts for some time from someone who identifies himself only as "Cowboy Neal." Now that "Brokeback Mountain" has brought all the Marlboro men out of the closet, we MUST suspect him of plotting this.
I won't even go into the various interpretations of "Cmdr Taco," I leave that as an exercise for the reader.
I believe that the lightsaber is like the 1000th decendant of the ColdHeat soldering iron. So the minute you put it down, the tip gets cool.
As you know, the soldering iron reaches 800 degrees!!! So to find out the actual temperature of the lightsaber, you multiply the generation of the saber from the soldering iron (1000) times the temp of the original soldering iron (800 degrees), yielding the result 800,000 degrees.
I would imagine that the heat you are seeing is a by-product of the lightsaber converting the matter of the metal to energy. Remember, conservation of mass and energy requires that it all balance out to the tune of E=MC^2. So the amount of mass being disintegrated times the speed of light squared should equal the energy being produced.
In other words, the moment the lightsaber touched the metal, you'd see a huge mushroom cloud.
1. BIG kitchen. I love to cook and I've found anything short of a commercial kitchen inevitably is too small or doesn't have enough counter space.
2. Atrium or other plant space. I spend a lot of time inside the house and am not much of a gardener, but love having plants nearby.
3. Voice control of most functions. I'd like to be able to say (from the sofa) "Open the downstairs windows and start the attic fan." or "Lower the lights 50%." But keep it simple with a dedicated computer system so it's responsive, not busy doing a defrag or other task and mistaking my comment on the current movie of "It's bloody wonderful" for "Clean the blood from the hall."
4. Sufficient infrastructure for cabling and wiring without having to punch holes in walls.
5. Energy efficiency and alternate forms of heating/cooling so I'm not entirely dependent on the Light and Power (and Gas) companies. I'm willing to put solar panels on the roof or a windmill in the backyard.
6. ARCHITECTURE! Please, please, please, design something that is beautiful too, not a faux Tudor-style or anything kitschy. Design something from the ground up that fits it's environment and has some real beautiful touches. (See Frank Lloyd Wright) Stay away from "styles" that are used in subdivisions (YUK) and the 21st century "office building" trend of going all glass and steel.
I've been an Apple user since the//e, but as a programmer have often had to use Windows at work. My bosses never have understood how a Mac user (who must be an idiot to have the GUI do so much for him) could be a competent programmer.
Oddly enough, the two best programmers at my old job were me and another Mac user (at home). Yet we worked on Windows and took sh*t from our boss.
Of course, it could have been professional pique, as Josh and I tore apart his cobbled-together code and re-wrote it in a modular form so we could swap pieces out for customers that wanted different things...
Not only is Google probably paying fees for their own access (as others have noted earlier), but Verizon wouldn't be able to consider charging for Internet service, expanded service, or much else if the Government and education hadn't created the 'net in the first place. And if any of the Verizon or Bell companies got government money to make even some of their improvements, I want that money paid back when they start charging for expanded service (read "limited service for those that won't pay the ransom").
Does anyone but me think it is time that we should declare the 'net a public utility, subject to the same rules as the water and power companies?
I've been a programming manager at 2 different jobs. The first was a printing and mailing house (we wrote interfaces for tape data to print hardcopy on Xerox 8700/9700 printers). When I worked there, I was "given" a new employee (hired by the VP, who was my boss) who was black.
Now, I realize that you cannot generalize on one individual (that's called how discrimination gets started) but I have to say that he just couldn't cut the mustard. He had a laid-back attitude and when I would stop to see how a project was going, he'd have made no progress and would tell me he tried this or that and it didn't work. I finally told him that he either needed to a) come to me when he hit a roadblock so I could steer him around it or b) get industrious and dig through the manuals and FIND a solution on his own.
What I learned from this is not that one race is smarter/dumber than another. But I think there is a culture in the inner city that breeds a low-effort mentality. Perhaps we need to do a better job of teaching ALL kids better problem solving skills.
Actually, they would eat MORE babies, but they can't afford to because they are losing so much revenue because of (fill in the blank of you favorite file sharing client).
Slashdot Mirror
Granted that most of us here on slashdot don't see the big crime in copyright violation, it pays to understand why the RIAA and MPAA are being such jerks:
Revolutionaries are usually guilty of kicking the props out of a government power structure. What is interesting here is that the power structure being threatened isn't a government, it's big business. We've finally reached the point (as in the "Aliens" movies) where the Corporation has more power than the government (because it has more financial clout). Consider: The government is now being used (via the DMCA and the witch trials put on by the RIAA/MPAA) as a mere lackey of the Corporation.
Folks, we're in danger here. The 60's radicals were right after all. War generates profits - maybe that's why we're at war.
The sort of clumsy handling of sci-fi programs you're talking about is, unfortunately, endemic in the TV industry. Good shows get cancelled (the original Star Trek and The Vistor come to mind right away). Other shows get so little in the way of resources that they become ridiculous (Lost in Space and (I'm sorry) the original Galactica).
Face it. TV doesn't "get" science fiction. These corporations are run by corporate suits with MBA's and degrees in marketing and have no soul and no imagination. These shows are nothing but product to them. Nevermind that Star Trek did more for encouraging research in a bunch of fields of science. It's no accident that the generation raised on Trek created PC's, PDA's, cell phones, and other technology. I'm reading now about the (real) experiments in bending microwaves (a cloaking device), matter teleportation, and energy weapons.
Clearly, to those of us in the tech industry and the sciences, these shows are NOT silly, mindless, childish or merely a "product." They are the source of many inspirations. We care about these shows.
TV doesn't. And the probably never will.
Perhaps a consortium of web geeks should approach Moore et al and offer them the services of a dedicated streaming server and a loyal fanbase. Maybe we can help good content make the jump FROM TV to the 'net.
What are the Google guys doing? They've got the money...and advertisers...this could actually work!
This information shouldn't be news to anyone, nor should they think these results are only valid for math. Any occupation or interest that is, by its nature, solitary, should automatically translate into less people skills. The arts (except, perhaps, for theater which is collaborative) have also been known to create artists who are great at art but horrible with people (or just horrible people). So have sciences that are solitary (physics comes to mind). Einstein wasn't exactly a "people person."
Maybe we should go back to spending money for frog sex studies, at least they reveal things we didn't know...
I've heard of kernel panics, but have yet to experience one. Like most Mac users, I remember (hatefully) the old "bomb box" from pre-OS X Mac operating systems. But I have not experienced a kernel panic in OS X and I've used it since Jaguar through Panther and now Tiger.
Oddly enough, I have an old G3 iMac and use XCode to develop AppleScript Studio applications. You'd think I would have had a panic by now!
I strongly suspect that folks that have frequent panics have over-loaded their Macs with lots of third-party extensions. Which puzzles me, given the "out-of-the-box" functionality of OS X. What do you want it to do, make coffee for you?
Possible Vista startup sound files:
1. Ballmer screaming, "I-LOVE-THIS-COMPANY!"
2. Gates laughing hysterically that you even purchased Vista.
3. Gates clip from the 80's praising the Mac.
4. Gates laughing hysterically because he's so rich he now doesn't care WHAT you like in Windows.
5. "Cha-CHING!"
I'm sure there are lots of others that would be appropriate...
A lot of Heinlein's later writing was influenced by the times. It WAS the 60's, after all. AND lived in California.
His best work was from '61 on, if you ask me.
BTW: I'm a huge Heinlein fan, so I admit I'm not objective. He was born in Butler, MO, 50 miles south of Kansas City, where I live.
Mistlefoot wrote:
Contracts are often made over the phone or computer. Have you ever made a change to your mobile service? Or added third party long distance? You are clearly not disputing the fact that you have an agreement with Telus, you are disputing whether or not you have a commitment.
I don't know about Canadian law, but I can tell you that in the US the only verbal contract that is binding is for real estate. For just about anything else, they (the ISP) is up sh*t creek. They can bluff and blow and b*tch and whine, but ultimately, they can't hold you to a verbal "contract."
That said, it's entirely likely that this fellow did, indeed, click through their "OK" button and doesn't want to admit it because it weakens his case. Nonetheless, my attitude with ANY company that uses these kinds of intimidation is that I won't do business with them, even if they resolve the problem. This is NOT how you do business, I don't care WHO you are. If a company has to intimidate customers to keep them, there are obviously MUCH worse problems in that company than are readily apparent.
Yes.
And no.
Barnett's quote of "Taking full advantage of the processing power that those multicore architectures potentially make available requires operating systems and development tools that don't exist largely today," is meant to obfuscate the fact that there are OS's that handle multiple processors very well (Linux and OS X, not to mention other unix variants).
Microsoft has a vested interest in not doing PR work for the 'nix community. And they certainly don't want to imply that Vista won't get the most out of the current crop of processors when other OS's will.
Mark my words folks, we're currently watching the Fall of the Roman Empire. Nero (Ballmer) is fiddling (throwing chairs during temper fits, screaming "Developers!" repeatedly, etc.) while the city of Rome (Redmond) is burning to the ground.
I guess the capitalists were right, leave the marketplace alone and eventually it will find a center and select a survivor. In the OS wars, my money is on unix (in any flavor, take your pick) as the eventual winner. I'm sure Bill Gates knows this, that's why he's bailing while he can, just as he bequeathed the empire to Ballmer years ago when the DOJ was breathing down MS's neck. Gates is a lot of things: Stupid isn't one of them.
1. A Vista release in 2007
2. Microsoft make back what they've lost on Vista. (Including the user loyalty they're losing each time Vista is further delayed)
3. Ballmer screaming "SHIPPING! SHIPPING! SHIPPING! I LOVE SHIPPING PRODUCTS!" at a Microsoft event.
4. Bill Gates publicly admit that Steve Jobs finally won.
Well, the only explanation I can come up with it this. HAL was in charge of the ship systems. He could control all sorts of things, from the cold sleep chambers to the pod bay doors. I guess, if you look at it, HAL was the computer and the Discovery was actually a robot. Sort of.
And what about "Robot" from "Lost In Space?" Granted, the series sucked, but Robot was cool.
For that matter, what about Robbie from "Forbidden Planet?"
And R. Daneel Olivaw? And Questor? (re:sex - "I am fully functional." He said it BEFORE Data did).
Hmmmm....this smells like a rigged election. Maybe the Dan Quayle robot should be questioned...oh wait, he was "upgraded" to the G.W. Bush robot.
I've been lured into reading Dvorak's Alzheimer's induced delusions too many times. I won't dignify his latest piece of flamebait with my valuable click. After all, the things he's written lately about Apple are so far from any kind of thoughtful analysis that I must conclude that he's only starting flame wars to get more clicks. Well, I for one won't give him the satisfaction.
Perhaps if we organized a Dvorak boycott until he comes up with some real journalism, he'll either go back to writing real articles or dry up and blow away.
And FWIW, OS X and Linux are already doing battle with Windows for marketshare. Unix (in all it's beautiful flavors-how's that for diversity in action?) is the only true alternative to Windows. And if the latest figures for the increases in Safari and Firefox's browser share (not to mention the increases in OS X penetration) are correct, and if Vista is the disaster that MS's employee blogs make it out to be, we are already looking at the decline of the Gates' Roman Empire.
My prediction is that in years to come, this year will be marked as the year that Microsoft began to lose it's grip on the computer industry.
After trying a LOT of calendars that integrate with both iCal and Windows, I'd have to say Google's new calendar comes closest. I tried running my own DAV server to publish my calendar on the local net, but the only Windows calendar I could find that could read iCal format was Mozilla's, and asking Windows users to switch to Mozilla wasn't feasible.
With Google's calendar, I can export my appts. from iCal, then publish it back to iCal users and also give Windows users the web address of my calendar, satisfying everyone.
Those who actually seek truth have known for a long time the one, immutable truth: Truth died in this country a long time ago. When Madison Avenue found that they could not sell truth at any price, the corporations decided truth had to die.
Thus we have WMD, Enron, big tobacco, and Martha Stewart.
And the idea that Microsoft would be even distantly involved with truth is ludicrous.
Although why anyone would pirate Windows when they can have Linux (or FreeBSD) for free is beyond me.
No, really, I mean it. Slashdot's adoption of the hot pink logos indicates that they have fallen to the Metrosexuals of the planet Transexual in the galaxy Transylvania. Had the staff of Slashdot really intended to draw in more females while retaining their current male readership, they would have used a gener neutral color, not hot pink.
As proof, I point out that we have been reading posts for some time from someone who identifies himself only as "Cowboy Neal." Now that "Brokeback Mountain" has brought all the Marlboro men out of the closet, we MUST suspect him of plotting this.
I won't even go into the various interpretations of "Cmdr Taco," I leave that as an exercise for the reader.
I believe that the lightsaber is like the 1000th decendant of the ColdHeat soldering iron. So the minute you put it down, the tip gets cool.
As you know, the soldering iron reaches 800 degrees!!! So to find out the actual temperature of the lightsaber, you multiply the generation of the saber from the soldering iron (1000) times the temp of the original soldering iron (800 degrees), yielding the result 800,000 degrees.
Elementary.
I would imagine that the heat you are seeing is a by-product of the lightsaber converting the matter of the metal to energy. Remember, conservation of mass and energy requires that it all balance out to the tune of E=MC^2. So the amount of mass being disintegrated times the speed of light squared should equal the energy being produced.
In other words, the moment the lightsaber touched the metal, you'd see a huge mushroom cloud.
1. BIG kitchen. I love to cook and I've found anything short of a commercial kitchen inevitably is too small or doesn't have enough counter space.
2. Atrium or other plant space. I spend a lot of time inside the house and am not much of a gardener, but love having plants nearby.
3. Voice control of most functions. I'd like to be able to say (from the sofa) "Open the downstairs windows and start the attic fan." or "Lower the lights 50%." But keep it simple with a dedicated computer system so it's responsive, not busy doing a defrag or other task and mistaking my comment on the current movie of "It's bloody wonderful" for "Clean the blood from the hall."
4. Sufficient infrastructure for cabling and wiring without having to punch holes in walls.
5. Energy efficiency and alternate forms of heating/cooling so I'm not entirely dependent on the Light and Power (and Gas) companies. I'm willing to put solar panels on the roof or a windmill in the backyard.
6. ARCHITECTURE! Please, please, please, design something that is beautiful too, not a faux Tudor-style or anything kitschy. Design something from the ground up that fits it's environment and has some real beautiful touches. (See Frank Lloyd Wright) Stay away from "styles" that are used in subdivisions (YUK) and the 21st century "office building" trend of going all glass and steel.
I've been an Apple user since the //e, but as a programmer have often had to use Windows at work. My bosses never have understood how a Mac user (who must be an idiot to have the GUI do so much for him) could be a competent programmer.
Oddly enough, the two best programmers at my old job were me and another Mac user (at home). Yet we worked on Windows and took sh*t from our boss.
Of course, it could have been professional pique, as Josh and I tore apart his cobbled-together code and re-wrote it in a modular form so we could swap pieces out for customers that wanted different things...
Not only is Google probably paying fees for their own access (as others have noted earlier), but Verizon wouldn't be able to consider charging for Internet service, expanded service, or much else if the Government and education hadn't created the 'net in the first place. And if any of the Verizon or Bell companies got government money to make even some of their improvements, I want that money paid back when they start charging for expanded service (read "limited service for those that won't pay the ransom").
Does anyone but me think it is time that we should declare the 'net a public utility, subject to the same rules as the water and power companies?
I've been a programming manager at 2 different jobs. The first was a printing and mailing house (we wrote interfaces for tape data to print hardcopy on Xerox 8700/9700 printers). When I worked there, I was "given" a new employee (hired by the VP, who was my boss) who was black.
Now, I realize that you cannot generalize on one individual (that's called how discrimination gets started) but I have to say that he just couldn't cut the mustard. He had a laid-back attitude and when I would stop to see how a project was going, he'd have made no progress and would tell me he tried this or that and it didn't work. I finally told him that he either needed to a) come to me when he hit a roadblock so I could steer him around it or b) get industrious and dig through the manuals and FIND a solution on his own.
What I learned from this is not that one race is smarter/dumber than another. But I think there is a culture in the inner city that breeds a low-effort mentality. Perhaps we need to do a better job of teaching ALL kids better problem solving skills.
Eureka! That's it! The RIAA is trying to imprison all of us in the Matrix. And their lawyers are the Agents!!!!
Actually, they would eat MORE babies, but they can't afford to because they are losing so much revenue because of (fill in the blank of you favorite file sharing client).