How many homes are "improperly supervised environments?" Let's curfew them too! Blah. Wasn't there a recent/. discussion about a study showing kids who play video games develop hand-eye coordination on par with an astronaut and do better in school/life? Guess games are evil again.
Why grow brain cells when you can grow...the Ultimate Steak! Imagine growing meat in a vat instead of hacking up steer or chickens.
Playing vs. Configuring - DOS Days?
on
Loki Games Closing?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Remember the DOS days when you had to hack up your autoexec.bat file to get enough free memory to run cool games, configure your sound card, and otherwise hack at your box to make stuff work? Yeah, playing can be more fun than configuring but if I didn't want to configure, I'd buy a console instead of a PC.
lythe is right - none of the articles on MSNBC, CNN, Yahoo claim it's legit. It's not like GE is hawking these things on eBay - the reporters looked at the device, talked to scientists, and pretty much reported the claim. They never said it was true./. gets no scoop this time (unless it's from the bottom of a shoe).
IMHO X-Files was great, but for the last couple of seasons it's been getting lame. I'm sure the producers were hoping that Duchovny would return to the show, so the transition to Doggett/Scully/Reyes was bumpy. The series has had a great run and is one of my favorites, but I think it's time to let it go before it gets lame. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next. BattleStar Galactica, maybe?
Don't think that the X-Files franchise will be gone forever, though. I suspect we'll be seeing all our favorite characters again at the theatre. I wouldn't mind seeing some more feature-length X-Files and doubt that I'm alone.
I'm still amazed at the power of communities, particularly the./ community. Whether the license was mistakenly applied or intended, Borland reacted at light speed to address developer concerns. Adobe turned 180' in the Sklyarov debacle, though our own government remains glacially slow in resolving the matter.
It's great to see a reasoned debate, an informed community, and collective action result in positive change. This is what it's all about!
In early November I bought seven of these SpaceWalker SV 24 systems from Multiwave and shelled out about $834 apiece after shipping with 512MB of RAM, huge hard disk, CD, and floppy. This included Windows 2000 Professional (we have to use it for now), about 20% of the total system price.
I didn't find them as quiet as other reviewers have - the fan noise is definitely noticeable, but not terribly loud. Like Tom's Hardware, I really wished they'd gone with a GeForce2-based integrated video card solution. You could slap in a PCI version if you want to sacrifice your single slot and disable the integrated video. DVI-out instead of VGA would have been even sweeter, so I could mate this with an LCD monitor for a sweet little LAN party box that I can carry in one load (without breaking my back). But it's hard to complain with VGA out and front-mounted USB/mike/audio. It also looks pretty cool and is surprisingly light.
I didn't have an opportunity to snag one for Linux or FreeBSD, so I don't know how well my favorite *nix distros run on them, but I can't wait to find out. I'm fully satisfied with them in our office environment - you can put a couple of them under your desk without splitting open your knee on the case. I highly recommend them.
This will free up gigs of hard drive space
on
Star Trek TNG DVDs
·
· Score: 1
Yay - now I can free up gigs and gigs of hard drive space! Though I've grabbed a lot of episodes from Morpheus, I don't mind paying the $4 an episode for the whole collection. It's about time they've been released.
Like a few other posters have mentioned, I don't see plucking TV episodes from P2P networks to be much different from having a friend record them for me. The Tick (animated) and a few other shows just aren't otherwise available in my area. I suppose that's the same logic that Replay is using with their episode sharing technology. It'll be interesting to see how this works out in court.
>I use Windows 2000 primarily on my
>desktops and as far as I'm concerned,
>thats the last Microsoft OS I'll ever
>buy.
My response is probably flamebait, but I have karma to burn.
That spells the end of Microsoft products for me too. Migrations to Windows 2000 was expensive enough, but the weak security design, security-through-obscurity policy, known vulnerabilities, forced upgrades drives me nuts. And it's bloody expensive on top of all that.
A desktop is a desktop to 90% of my users. If it weren't for our need to run Office... Right now, it's going piecemeal. I'm hoping for a "Microsoft-Free 2003"! Hey, that's catchy...
That's not a bad idea if he can get the cash. I love the show, especially Batmanuel, and am a long-time fan of the original comic series ("I'm a bush, move along...") and the Saturday cartoons I leech off of >. For the actors it's a no brainer - reprise their role on the big screen? You bet.
I'm not sure what studio would throw money at it, but hell - maybe Comedy Central will buy the rights or something. Spot near South Park, maybe?
Well, somebody let the cat out of the bag a few hours early. They should rename this the iSore; this is not really what I was expecting from Apple. I hope they have something more interesting to unveil at MacWorld than this. The new iMac looks like a vanity with a roll-top; hope they stick with the current desktop case for the PowerMac.
Not flamebait, just my two cents. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet and I'm all for them trying out new designs.
The heartening news is that Apple is doing well, despite the recession. With $4 billion in the bank, and high gross profit margins, it should weather the storm. I'm looking forward to Windows and Linux software for the iPod (gotta love the FireWire) and with the new G5 and high-end G4's around the corner, maybe Apple can grab some converts among multiplatform developers.
Already you can do work in Windows 2k, Linux, and OSX at the same time at a tolerable speed. With faster processors, DDR-RAM, and other goodies I might just plop down the cash for a Mac in 2002. Anybody else thinking of dropping the Wintel/Lintel platform for the forbidden fruit?
>>Woohoo! Next time some terrorist
>>waltzes through airport security
>>and the passengers kick his ass,
>> we get live streaming video!
>> -Tackhead
Somebody mod that post up! LOL. Anyway, my contributing point: in addition to a sweet airborne broadband connection, you can enjoy constant onboard surveillance a-la Big Brother. I can't imagine trying to travelling commercial airlines these days AND working on flights. In addition to being terrified the entire time, you can be videoconferencing with the boss, or surfing for pr0n, or watch a DVD movie... The possibilities are endless.
I'm sure that Casino On Net or some other pop-up demon would run betting pools on flights. It can be run against expensive, highly inaccurate face recognition technology. We just don't have enough of that cultural/racial profiling these days.
It would be nice, but I doubt it. Major OEMs are less likely to install StarOffice on their boxes than they are to install WordPerfect, which has a much larger market share. It looks like the anti-trust case against M$ is going to wind up a slap on the wrist. OEMs were already afraid of the ramifications of *testifying* against Micro$oft.
Watch M$ do something like bundle Word XP with Windows XP for less than the cost of Windows XP alone if they're losing market share; caveats in the licensing agreement; code that breaks OpenOffice/StarOffice - in other words, the same old tricks. Office accounts for some 60% of Micro$oft's revenue, something they're going to guard jealously.
I'm not taking a poke at OpenOffice/StarOffice here - I think they're both great products that are coming along nicely. I'd love to see them provide a real alternative to M$ Office - and to be as compatible and flexible as possible. You're going to need 100% compatibility with M$ file formats, macro programming support out the wazoo, and so on.
We're using some of them for 802.11b projects, but I've got a couple of hundred of them laying around - thus the proposed radio telescope project. I have a lot more to learn about this stuff than I initially thought, but if I can recruit enough local talent and bug some ham and amateur astronomer gurus from time to time, I'm sure I can get something cool running.
Even if all I can do is poor-man's doppler radar, survey the moon, or look at stuff in orbit the project will be enough to keep me occupied in my "spare time".
Thanks, fellow slashdotters, for the valuable advice and for pointing me in the right direction. I'll set up a web site about this project once we get off the ground and keep y'all posted.
Cool - I hadn't considered using them as a poor man's doppler radar!:) One other project I've considered is to build an extensive wireless network, but our business is installing satellite television for <<the_major_brand>> and I really don't want to get into the ISP business. I'd like to do something creative and useful, especially something that can interest the high school students down the block in science.
As several posters in the know have pointed out, I don't really have the equipment (or the know-how) to do SETI, but thought I might be able to do a bit of amateur radio astronomy (with research and help). We do have a few large dishes (about 5 meters in diameter). I did some google and other search engine searches before turning to/. - and I appreciate all the feedback, folks. If we get something interesting off the ground, I'll definitely let y'all know.
From <a href="http://www.direcpc.com/athome/fapfaq.html"&g t;DirecPC's "Fair Access Policy"</a>:
<snip>
...all its users share the bandwidth that is available through DirecPC. Because we have found that a small number of users (approximately 5%) were consuming a disproportionate share of the available bandwidth, it became necessary for us to ensure the integrity of our service to all our customers.
</snip>
They are capping bandwidth, which I find surprising since they've launched a couple of new satellites to support the upcoming higher-bandwidth "telephone-on demand-internet access-do everything" two-way systems next year. Their restrictions are pretty tight after all.
Thanks, cymen, for setting me straight. I should double-check the facts BEFORE I post, rather than rely on anectodal evidence. I didn't notice tripping the FAP when downloading ISOs from RedHat over the satellite link (before we got our T1 installed), so their enforcement might be iffy at times. Pegasus provided the service rather than DirecPC, though hardware was from the latter.
Not worth the $$$ unless you live way out in the boonies.
Various satellite providers (DirecTV's systems and StarBand) offer broadband that to the best of my knowledge doesn't curtail your bandwidth. I don't think they plan to do so in the future either, because of the next generation higher-speed 2-way (1.5Mbit upstream & downstream) service coming down the pipe.
Is satellite broadband available in Australia? There are latency issues (I fiddle with them at work), but they're pretty speedy on the downstream. Generally you can expect 80-100kbps upstream (128k potential), and up to 1.5Mbit downstream (1.4Mbit at work). The setup is expensive (US$600-US$700 + installation US$99-US$199 + US$70 per month) - too much if you have decent/reliable broadband available in your area. I've found satellite service pretty reliable and yes, you can network it and run a server on it but . . . latency.
Another minus for/.ers is that you'll need a Windows box to host your satellite hardware b/c there are no Linux drivers I'm aware of.
Anonymous Coward is right. We should take a few moments to READ the patent before commenting on it. My initial reaction was an off-the-cuff remark - another reason not to post unless you have something to SAY. Anyway, on to the point:
IANAL, but I readthe 338 Patent and a couple of the others. This patent references pre-existing technologies and - my reading - basically says that they're patenting their feature set and particular implementation. Nothing new here. Yeah, they may be over-reaching, but that despends on your point of view and what they do.
It's something that, yes, a company can whip out and club another one over the head with. Yeah, it can be used to squeeze royalties out of someone for an infringement. Any patent does that, for a while anyway.
All patents are designed to squeeze the maximum claim for the maximum legal "protection" and financial gain. You stand on the shoulders of prior art, but ultimately what decides whether you violated patent rights or not is a judge or collection thereof, the size of your bribe, and/or your legal budget. There are whole business that do nothing but hold patents and sue the crap out of any industry player that does what that paper says (e.g. link to a document) and make them pay a fee that will be large enough to satisfy the blood sucking leeches, but cheaper that going to court over it. They may allege something STUPID, like they invented the wheel or the hyperlink, but it's often cheaper to pay than litigate and risk huge leech fees and huge damages. This is patent law, friends. Blah.
Anyway, my personal opinion is that patents are freaking stupid. They don't protect what they should protected. Instead, they're used like clubs to beat other companies with. Another tool in the legal arsenal.
I'd rather see a return to trial by combat. Each company chooses a champion who fight it out to the death (or tap-out) or whatever. If only Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Xerox Parc squared off in an arena with axes or something. Panem et Circenses.
Wait a minute...doesn't ATI do that too? Hasn't ATI done that forever since the implementation of it's All-in-Wonder line of video cards? Hell, even before that, I indexed video on my hard drive with a friggin' qbasic program. Sheesh. Crazy patent people.
Normally I don't respond to flamebait, but hey it was a legitimate boo-boo. I don't really give a crap about my Karma "score", just don't want people hitting a big fat 404. Hey, that rhymes...
Well, it's been said that "no one does you better than you do yourself". Blah, I couldn't even type that with a straight face. Guess 12 year old boys aren't my speed. So yeah, Wil, yer definitely a sick fuck...just don't look at my photo album.
No, let go, you sicko. I mean it! Aw, crap. That's not me in that dress. No, really it's not. (slinks into corner)
Great interview and kewl site - I was especially happy to see another cool dude on the left side of the political spectrum. Best of luck in shattering the typecast.
BTW, I noticed that GeoCities got the/. smackdown, so if you can't get to the mirrors page, go to http://www.culturepimp.com/wil/ (I promise this is the last time I'll post this) and take a gander at Wil's site - at least until my server buckles under the/. strain.
Since Windows 3.1 and (later) Office 4.3, I've spent about $1,600 on Windows/Office/Development Tools. You really need them rolled together to do anything productive. That includes the OEM bundle, upgrades, and so on over the life of five machines. On various distros of Linux I've spent about $330 - with development tools and a decent Office suite. I've owned more boxes (Timex Sinclair, Vic 20, Tandy Color Computer, IBM XT) in the pre-Windows and pre-Linux (heck, pre-DOS) days.
Keep in mind that I was a student and purchased MS products at a significant discount.
My Windows/Linux boxen were:
386-DX/40 with 16MB of RAM (self-built)
Windows 3.1 (later 3.11) & DOS (purchased)
MS Word (purchased)
Pentium 75 with 32MB of RAM (Midwest Micro)
Windows 3.11 (later Windows 95) & DOS (OEM)
MS Office 4.3 (later Office 95) (OEM)
Slackware Linux (circa 1996 & 97) (with a book)
Visual Basic 4.0
Pentium II 233 with 64MB of RAM
Windows 95 (later Windows 98) (OEM/purchased)
Office 97 Pro (purchased)
Slackware Linux (with another book)
Redhat 5.2 (purchased)
Visual Basic 5.0
O'clocked Celeron @450 with 128MB of RAM (self-built)
Windows 98 (later Windows 98SE) (purchased)
Office 97 Pro (later Office 2000 Pro) (purchased)
Visual Basic 6.0
Visual Studio
Redhat 5.2 (purchased)
Redhat 6.1 (purchased)
Redhat 6.2 (ISO download/burn)
O'clocked Celeron @992 with 256MB of RAM (self-built)
Windows 2000 Pro (purchased)
Office 2000 Pro
Redhat 7.0 (ISO download/burn)
Mandrake 7.2 (purchased)
Clearly, Linux is the cheapest - but that means I've spent nearly $2,000 (about $400 per box) for software. That averages out to $66 spent on Linux and $320 on Windows per box.
Even the notebooks in my shop. Every box that comes in (new or recycled) gets blasted clean. Drivers and BIOS updates are downloaded and installed, as is the full install of Office Premium (or Star Office, or whatever), along with a host of other apps, utilites, patches, service packs and such. Unnecessary software is removed and special requests are added. The box is configured for the recipient, email and personal settings are migrated, it's assigned an IP bound to the MAC address of the card, burned-in, then goes to the recipient. This generally takes 48-72 hours from the time the boxes arrive, depending on work load (but 24 hours is burn-in time).
ImageCast saves the day with setting up and maintaining labs, faculty boxes, and notebooks. You can send out patches or remotely install software, bleem boxes, etc. across your network. It's sweet and it's SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) in my shop. Installing and configuring stuff yourself is the only way to ensure that boxes are up to snuff when issued. Of course, nothing prevents the user from installing stuff later on.
But if you block all ports but 80 (web server) - OUTGOING and INCOMING - plus other stuff you need or want to run (ftp, databases, ICQ, SETI@home, etc.) at the router then you don't have to worry much about unauthorized apps talking dirty with Microsoft or Toshiba on your nickle.
Slashdot Mirror
Remember the whole Dungeons & Dragons = Satanism thing? [zipped mp3 - Dr. Demento]
Why grow brain cells when you can grow...the Ultimate Steak! Imagine growing meat in a vat instead of hacking up steer or chickens.
Remember the DOS days when you had to hack up your autoexec.bat file to get enough free memory to run cool games, configure your sound card, and otherwise hack at your box to make stuff work? Yeah, playing can be more fun than configuring but if I didn't want to configure, I'd buy a console instead of a PC.
lythe is right - none of the articles on MSNBC, CNN, Yahoo claim it's legit. It's not like GE is hawking these things on eBay - the reporters looked at the device, talked to scientists, and pretty much reported the claim. They never said it was true. /. gets no scoop this time (unless it's from the bottom of a shoe).
Don't think that the X-Files franchise will be gone forever, though. I suspect we'll be seeing all our favorite characters again at the theatre. I wouldn't mind seeing some more feature-length X-Files and doubt that I'm alone.
It's great to see a reasoned debate, an informed community, and collective action result in positive change. This is what it's all about!
I didn't find them as quiet as other reviewers have - the fan noise is definitely noticeable, but not terribly loud. Like Tom's Hardware, I really wished they'd gone with a GeForce2-based integrated video card solution. You could slap in a PCI version if you want to sacrifice your single slot and disable the integrated video. DVI-out instead of VGA would have been even sweeter, so I could mate this with an LCD monitor for a sweet little LAN party box that I can carry in one load (without breaking my back). But it's hard to complain with VGA out and front-mounted USB/mike/audio. It also looks pretty cool and is surprisingly light.
I didn't have an opportunity to snag one for Linux or FreeBSD, so I don't know how well my favorite *nix distros run on them, but I can't wait to find out. I'm fully satisfied with them in our office environment - you can put a couple of them under your desk without splitting open your knee on the case. I highly recommend them.
Yay - now I can free up gigs and gigs of hard drive space! Though I've grabbed a lot of episodes from Morpheus, I don't mind paying the $4 an episode for the whole collection. It's about time they've been released.
Like a few other posters have mentioned, I don't see plucking TV episodes from P2P networks to be much different from having a friend record them for me. The Tick (animated) and a few other shows just aren't otherwise available in my area. I suppose that's the same logic that Replay is using with their episode sharing technology. It'll be interesting to see how this works out in court.
My response is probably flamebait, but I have karma to burn.
That spells the end of Microsoft products for me too. Migrations to Windows 2000 was expensive enough, but the weak security design, security-through-obscurity policy, known vulnerabilities, forced upgrades drives me nuts. And it's bloody expensive on top of all that.
A desktop is a desktop to 90% of my users. If it weren't for our need to run Office... Right now, it's going piecemeal. I'm hoping for a "Microsoft-Free 2003"! Hey, that's catchy...
That's not a bad idea if he can get the cash. I love the show, especially Batmanuel, and am a long-time fan of the original comic series ("I'm a bush, move along...") and the Saturday cartoons I leech off of >. For the actors it's a no brainer - reprise their role on the big screen? You bet.
I'm not sure what studio would throw money at it, but hell - maybe Comedy Central will buy the rights or something. Spot near South Park, maybe?
Well, somebody let the cat out of the bag a few hours early. They should rename this the iSore; this is not really what I was expecting from Apple. I hope they have something more interesting to unveil at MacWorld than this. The new iMac looks like a vanity with a roll-top; hope they stick with the current desktop case for the PowerMac.
Not flamebait, just my two cents. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet and I'm all for them trying out new designs.
The heartening news is that Apple is doing well, despite the recession. With $4 billion in the bank, and high gross profit margins, it should weather the storm. I'm looking forward to Windows and Linux software for the iPod (gotta love the FireWire) and with the new G5 and high-end G4's around the corner, maybe Apple can grab some converts among multiplatform developers.
Already you can do work in Windows 2k, Linux, and OSX at the same time at a tolerable speed. With faster processors, DDR-RAM, and other goodies I might just plop down the cash for a Mac in 2002. Anybody else thinking of dropping the Wintel/Lintel platform for the forbidden fruit?
>>Woohoo! Next time some terrorist
>>waltzes through airport security
>>and the passengers kick his ass,
>> we get live streaming video!
>> -Tackhead
Somebody mod that post up! LOL. Anyway, my contributing point: in addition to a sweet airborne broadband connection, you can enjoy constant onboard surveillance a-la Big Brother. I can't imagine trying to travelling commercial airlines these days AND working on flights. In addition to being terrified the entire time, you can be videoconferencing with the boss, or surfing for pr0n, or watch a DVD movie... The possibilities are endless.
I'm sure that Casino On Net or some other pop-up demon would run betting pools on flights. It can be run against expensive, highly inaccurate face recognition technology. We just don't have enough of that cultural/racial profiling these days.
It would be nice, but I doubt it. Major OEMs are less likely to install StarOffice on their boxes than they are to install WordPerfect, which has a much larger market share. It looks like the anti-trust case against M$ is going to wind up a slap on the wrist. OEMs were already afraid of the ramifications of *testifying* against Micro$oft.
Watch M$ do something like bundle Word XP with Windows XP for less than the cost of Windows XP alone if they're losing market share; caveats in the licensing agreement; code that breaks OpenOffice/StarOffice - in other words, the same old tricks. Office accounts for some 60% of Micro$oft's revenue, something they're going to guard jealously.
I'm not taking a poke at OpenOffice/StarOffice here - I think they're both great products that are coming along nicely. I'd love to see them provide a real alternative to M$ Office - and to be as compatible and flexible as possible. You're going to need 100% compatibility with M$ file formats, macro programming support out the wazoo, and so on.
We're using some of them for 802.11b projects, but I've got a couple of hundred of them laying around - thus the proposed radio telescope project. I have a lot more to learn about this stuff than I initially thought, but if I can recruit enough local talent and bug some ham and amateur astronomer gurus from time to time, I'm sure I can get something cool running.
Even if all I can do is poor-man's doppler radar, survey the moon, or look at stuff in orbit the project will be enough to keep me occupied in my "spare time".
Thanks, fellow slashdotters, for the valuable advice and for pointing me in the right direction. I'll set up a web site about this project once we get off the ground and keep y'all posted.
Cool - I hadn't considered using them as a poor man's doppler radar! :) One other project I've considered is to build an extensive wireless network, but our business is installing satellite television for <<the_major_brand>> and I really don't want to get into the ISP business. I'd like to do something creative and useful, especially something that can interest the high school students down the block in science.
/. - and I appreciate all the feedback, folks. If we get something interesting off the ground, I'll definitely let y'all know.
As several posters in the know have pointed out, I don't really have the equipment (or the know-how) to do SETI, but thought I might be able to do a bit of amateur radio astronomy (with research and help). We do have a few large dishes (about 5 meters in diameter). I did some google and other search engine searches before turning to
And I spoke too soon...
g t;DirecPC's "Fair Access Policy"</a>:
From <a href="http://www.direcpc.com/athome/fapfaq.html"&
<snip>
...all its users share the bandwidth that is available through DirecPC. Because we have found that a small number of users (approximately 5%) were consuming a disproportionate share of the available bandwidth, it became necessary for us to ensure the integrity of our service to all our customers.
</snip>
They are capping bandwidth, which I find surprising since they've launched a couple of new satellites to support the upcoming higher-bandwidth "telephone-on demand-internet access-do everything" two-way systems next year. Their restrictions are pretty tight after all.
Thanks, cymen, for setting me straight. I should double-check the facts BEFORE I post, rather than rely on anectodal evidence. I didn't notice tripping the FAP when downloading ISOs from RedHat over the satellite link (before we got our T1 installed), so their enforcement might be iffy at times. Pegasus provided the service rather than DirecPC, though hardware was from the latter.
Not worth the $$$ unless you live way out in the boonies.
Various satellite providers (DirecTV's systems and StarBand) offer broadband that to the best of my knowledge doesn't curtail your bandwidth. I don't think they plan to do so in the future either, because of the next generation higher-speed 2-way (1.5Mbit upstream & downstream) service coming down the pipe. Is satellite broadband available in Australia? There are latency issues (I fiddle with them at work), but they're pretty speedy on the downstream. Generally you can expect 80-100kbps upstream (128k potential), and up to 1.5Mbit downstream (1.4Mbit at work). The setup is expensive (US$600-US$700 + installation US$99-US$199 + US$70 per month) - too much if you have decent/reliable broadband available in your area. I've found satellite service pretty reliable and yes, you can network it and run a server on it but . . . latency. Another minus for /.ers is that you'll need a Windows box to host your satellite hardware b/c there are no Linux drivers I'm aware of.
Anonymous Coward is right. We should take a few moments to READ the patent before commenting on it. My initial reaction was an off-the-cuff remark - another reason not to post unless you have something to SAY. Anyway, on to the point:
IANAL, but I readthe 338 Patent and a couple of the others. This patent references pre-existing technologies and - my reading - basically says that they're patenting their feature set and particular implementation. Nothing new here. Yeah, they may be over-reaching, but that despends on your point of view and what they do.
It's something that, yes, a company can whip out and club another one over the head with. Yeah, it can be used to squeeze royalties out of someone for an infringement. Any patent does that, for a while anyway.
All patents are designed to squeeze the maximum claim for the maximum legal "protection" and financial gain. You stand on the shoulders of prior art, but ultimately what decides whether you violated patent rights or not is a judge or collection thereof, the size of your bribe, and/or your legal budget. There are whole business that do nothing but hold patents and sue the crap out of any industry player that does what that paper says (e.g. link to a document) and make them pay a fee that will be large enough to satisfy the blood sucking leeches, but cheaper that going to court over it. They may allege something STUPID, like they invented the wheel or the hyperlink, but it's often cheaper to pay than litigate and risk huge leech fees and huge damages. This is patent law, friends. Blah.
Anyway, my personal opinion is that patents are freaking stupid. They don't protect what they should protected. Instead, they're used like clubs to beat other companies with. Another tool in the legal arsenal.
I'd rather see a return to trial by combat. Each company chooses a champion who fight it out to the death (or tap-out) or whatever. If only Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Xerox Parc squared off in an arena with axes or something. Panem et Circenses.
Wait a minute...doesn't ATI do that too? Hasn't ATI done that forever since the implementation of it's All-in-Wonder line of video cards? Hell, even before that, I indexed video on my hard drive with a friggin' qbasic program. Sheesh. Crazy patent people.
Normally I don't respond to flamebait, but hey it was a legitimate boo-boo. I don't really give a crap about my Karma "score", just don't want people hitting a big fat 404. Hey, that rhymes...
No, let go, you sicko. I mean it! Aw, crap. That's not me in that dress. No, really it's not. (slinks into corner)
Great interview and kewl site - I was especially happy to see another cool dude on the left side of the political spectrum. Best of luck in shattering the typecast.
BTW, I noticed that GeoCities got the /. smackdown, so if you can't get to the mirrors page, go to http://www.culturepimp.com/wil/ (I promise this is the last time I'll post this) and take a gander at Wil's site - at least until my server buckles under the /. strain.
Oops. That URL should be http://www.culturepimp.com/wil/. Sorry for the snafu.
In case the other two mirrors go down, there's a full mirror at http://www.culturepimp.com/wil/.
Since Windows 3.1 and (later) Office 4.3, I've spent about $1,600 on Windows/Office/Development Tools. You really need them rolled together to do anything productive. That includes the OEM bundle, upgrades, and so on over the life of five machines. On various distros of Linux I've spent about $330 - with development tools and a decent Office suite. I've owned more boxes (Timex Sinclair, Vic 20, Tandy Color Computer, IBM XT) in the pre-Windows and pre-Linux (heck, pre-DOS) days.
Keep in mind that I was a student and purchased MS products at a significant discount.
My Windows/Linux boxen were:
386-DX/40 with 16MB of RAM (self-built)
Windows 3.1 (later 3.11) & DOS (purchased)
MS Word (purchased)
Pentium 75 with 32MB of RAM (Midwest Micro)
Windows 3.11 (later Windows 95) & DOS (OEM)
MS Office 4.3 (later Office 95) (OEM)
Slackware Linux (circa 1996 & 97) (with a book)
Visual Basic 4.0
Pentium II 233 with 64MB of RAM
Windows 95 (later Windows 98) (OEM/purchased)
Office 97 Pro (purchased)
Slackware Linux (with another book)
Redhat 5.2 (purchased)
Visual Basic 5.0
O'clocked Celeron @450 with 128MB of RAM (self-built)
Windows 98 (later Windows 98SE) (purchased)
Office 97 Pro (later Office 2000 Pro) (purchased)
Visual Basic 6.0
Visual Studio
Redhat 5.2 (purchased)
Redhat 6.1 (purchased)
Redhat 6.2 (ISO download/burn)
O'clocked Celeron @992 with 256MB of RAM (self-built)
Windows 2000 Pro (purchased)
Office 2000 Pro
Redhat 7.0 (ISO download/burn)
Mandrake 7.2 (purchased)
Clearly, Linux is the cheapest - but that means I've spent nearly $2,000 (about $400 per box) for software. That averages out to $66 spent on Linux and $320 on Windows per box.
ImageCast saves the day with setting up and maintaining labs, faculty boxes, and notebooks. You can send out patches or remotely install software, bleem boxes, etc. across your network. It's sweet and it's SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) in my shop. Installing and configuring stuff yourself is the only way to ensure that boxes are up to snuff when issued. Of course, nothing prevents the user from installing stuff later on.
But if you block all ports but 80 (web server) - OUTGOING and INCOMING - plus other stuff you need or want to run (ftp, databases, ICQ, SETI@home, etc.) at the router then you don't have to worry much about unauthorized apps talking dirty with Microsoft or Toshiba on your nickle.