Actually, I am quite qualified, having worked with clusters, crays and other supercomputer class machines for quite a long time ( > 15 years), but since you're an AC we'll ignore your silliness and get to the point...
My point was exactly that these new machine are not vector supercomputers, they are basically just SMP clusters... because they are built from off the shelf parts like SPARC processors that can't be supercomputers in the style which Seymour Cray envisioned.
They're fast machines taking advantages of all sorts of innovations in parallelization and clustering, but "Crays" in the classic sense of a machine developed as a best of breed, highly engineered supercomputer they ain't.
Cray's whole creative enterprise centered around making a machine that was hand-tooled to be the fasted machine that one could build with the best engineering one could invent.
The original Crays (and CDC-6x00 machines) were crafted to take advantage of the efficiencies of the speed of light in their busses and memory configurations (i.e., cable lengths cut to sub-millimeter tolerances). These new "crays" are crays in name only... they lack the creative zeal that made "real" crays the exciting machines that they were and that launched the supercomputing industry...
These are just glorified SMP machines...
Don't get me wrong, clusters are great (hey, I even wrote a book on them!), the CPU speeds we have now are beyond my wildest dreams, but there will never be another Cray...
A CD is NOT hard to create if you have one or more actual artists involved, if you don't you have to spend...
LOL ^2. You clearly haven't a clue about what you speak. I'm not saying that RIAA and the clients shuold be getting US$15 for a CD and then giving pennies to the artists, but the creation marketing and distribution of products costs real money and take more talent than a bunch of teenagers sitting behind their keyboards can muster.
Suggestion: go start a business. Have to meet a payroll, pay taxes, etc. Try to get a product to market in a competitive marketplace of ideas. Once you've done that -- SUCCESSFULLY -- come back and tell me to "fuck off and die" -- right now you sound too much like mr "coupland".
"If that means you lose your free lunch because you've aligned yourself with monopolies..."
Grow up kiddo. I have aligned myself with no monopolies. I run a small software company... I'm a small bussinessman who hires talented programmers and pays them very, very well because they are talened, work really hard and are just good folks. I also make sure that I operate my business in an ethical fashion, we pay for all commercial software we use, we pay for all shareware we use and we repect the rights of artists of all stripes who also have a right to make a living.
Your problem is obvious. You're a teenager living in your mommies house and you're a spoiled, rotten little brat.
I'll bet when (if?) you graduate from high school and have to make your own living -- perhaps by writing software -- you might get some more respect for people who work for a living.
I think you've gotten to the crux of the biscuit. The RIAA, the MPAA and Harlan are actaully right, at least as it relates to whose doing the stealing: The problem is some pimply teenage twits who doesn't understand that the products (CDs, video games, etc.) they love so much are really, really hard to create.
You forgot about all the ionizing radiation -- all those gamma rays and other hard rads from the sun..? Then there's all the cosmic radiation. Its amazing that Pioneer 6 hasn't beome as brittle as an old leaf and just fallen apart.
Actually although deep linking is (according to recent court decisions) legal, wrapping the content in such a way as to obscure its creator/originatoris NOT. CNN and others have sucessfully won that battle several years ago when some aggregtion sites where trolling for content and then obscuring the branding/etc of the sites it actually was from.
Don't be suprised. I have had dozen of articles declined only to see them magically submitted by CmdrTaco's gud'buds a day or two later.
The bottom line is that SlashDot is still rob malda's playground (which he's still entitled to since he's the editor in chief) but it would be nice if he and the rest of his friends were a little more honest about it...
I can see it now... the scene: March 1, 2000, a call to IBM's Large Systems Group Order line...
IBM: Hello, IBM S/390 sales group, how may I help you?
Caller: I'd like to buy a '390 with 32 CPUs and 64GB of main memory
IBM: Would you like disks and communications with that?
Caller: Yes. I'd like 400 terabytes of redundant, channel attached DASD's, a full compliment of COMC's for 3270 and ANSI terminal devices for 500 directly connected users, LU6.2, SNA and TCP/IP networking over fiber and coax and an attached robotic tape library.
IBM: Which operating system would you like? VM/390 or Linux?
Caller: Linux, please.
IBM: No problem. We can pre-install it, or you can download it from ftp.kernel.org on the Internet. We'll schedule overnight delivery of your system, please make sure there's someone available in your data center who can sign for the delivery... Oh, and will you be paying for this with Mastercard, Visa, American Express or a purchase order (valid D&B required)...?
Caller: Bummer, you don't take Discover? Um... Amex, I guess. Can I get some Linux/390 t-shirts and coffee mugs with that too? : :
Hmmmmm.... I wonder how much power and A/C I'd have to install in the basement in order to...
Hopefully a breakup of M$ will follow any supreme court review. Even more appealing is the possibility that Bill will be sent to JAIL for knowingly breaking the law.
If he's not sent to the can, the obvious message is tht its okay to be a monopolist, break the law, make a lot of money and then get to make more money.
Ummmm.., I hate to burst (or, was that "Berst") your bubble. but did you bother to click on the "ckeck status" button?
It returns: If you require additional information about the application status, contact the Trademark Assistance Center (703) 308-9000 (M-F 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST). You could also contact SOPHIA S. KIM, Trademark Examining Attorney. Click here to find out the examiner's phone number.
Serial Number: 75439502
Registration Number: (NOT AVAILABLE)
Current Status: Abandoned: Applicant failed to respond to an Office action.
There are 2 (two) ways to force BellSouth to get its head out of its tail quickly:
1) Call your state's Public Service Commission. Explain the problem to them clearly and politely and how you have tried to resolve the problem. In most places, the RBOC gets hit with actual fines if they get too many complaints lodged with the PSC.
2) But a single share of stock, then call the "Presidents HotLine" of your local RBOC. Complain that you are a Linux user **AND** a shareholder and that you are being denied reasonable service and you expect to have an action plan from the company on how they will remedy the situation.
The key points to remember are to be a) polite and 2) concise. The folks you'rer dealing with are not computer experts like you... so make sure they get a favourable 2st impression!
Just what we needed... a central scrutinzer to ensure that nothing is private anymore. How long before such devices are placed on streets and in building entrances to randomly search the populace?
Can anyone name any commercial software that runs ONLY on a Rehdat based system??
I betcha' can't... RH is "just" Linux... there is nothing intrinsicly in RH that is not in every other flavour of Linux. Remember, they give their source changes back to the source pool according to the GPL just like everyone else does.
RH bashing just reeks of sour grapes -- they've (and Caldera) been very effective at getting peple to take Linux seriously, and that's because they have done a LOT of hard work.
I think that what's really bugging the people who seem to have a grudge against RedHat, is that as Linux becomes more accessible to non-experts the whiners will no longer be members of an exclusive club.
These whining weasels should grow up, get a real job, a life, and enjoy the fact that they were in at the beginning of the revolution, and most importantly, start coding!!!!
I agree with Bruce's general point, but developers can easily attach copyrights/license terms to THEIR additions to such products and ensure that the likes of an IBM would be in the position of having to stop THEIR distribution becuse of the GPL...
The true reason that RMS hasn't gotten all the aclaim that he feels he's due is that he hasn't done the work.
It's true that Linux relies on a LOT of GNU software but that doesn't mean that 1) he's responsible for all of it or 2) that Linux needs to be named "GNU/Linux".
If his personality weren't so abrasive, and his tirades against anyone who disagrees with him so obnoxious then maybe (and even then just maybe) enough people would have rallied behind him to make a Linux-like collaboration possible.
(anyone have an idea of what % of the Linux code is actaully FSF [e.g., binutils, or libc] code? I bet its
The power of Linux's success is not because of free software that the GNU project started, but rather because the guy at the center is, unlike RMS, easy-going, laid-back and not out to beat people to death if they don't agree with him.
RMS should find a therapist and lay off claiming credit for other peoples' organizational and interpersonal skills.
I have some bad news for you... most of the potato crops now in production use seed (eye) stock that comes from Monsanto who has engineered a pesticide right into the spuds that kills the most voracious form of potato beetle.
Then there's the whole push (again by Monsanto) to get 3rd world farmers to ditch native species in favour of ones wit the "terminator gene complex" which allows only one genration of crop (the sees of that crop are sterile).
Oh, yeah... it seems that the terminator gene can be transferred via pollen to non-terminator stock and apparently to other related specied too.
Its not possible to "own" a format. They can, as some one else pointed out, have a trademark on name "CDDB," but unless the format entails use of some patented process (like the use of LZW in Compuserve's GIF format) the format itself can be used by anyone who can decode it.
When last I looked, CDDB was a simple text format describing a CD's title and track info.
Also, the trademarks cannot be too general and are granted for use of terms used in a specific industry or market. That's why you cannot call your new computer company "Apple Computer," or most variations that could cause confusion in the marketplace, but "Apple Bank" (here in NY) can operate without infringing on Apple Computer's mark.
So, in a nutshell what these sleazy weasels are attempting is a simple land-grab.
The OSS community should start "outting" outfits like ths with press releases that (in a politely worded fashion!) let the press know exactly what kind of liars and cheats these companies are and how they are attempting to steal the work and ideas of others.
Its time to take back intellectual property from the intellectually disingenuous...
There's nothing like some sniveling littel prick hiding behind anonymity to talk about childishness.
When you get a life and can tell us who you really are, then maybe someone will be interested in what you have to say. Better yet, why don't you put your money where your mouth is and contribute to the community instead of just taking...
Until then, go back to your room and get back to the dirty books you keep hidden under your bed.
Oh, and don't let your mommy know you were up this late or she'll spank you.
When I first saw your message on the Freshmeat home page, I thought perhaps someone had perpetrated a sad hack, but then I saw the notes in LinuxToday and SlashDot...
I hope you'll reconsider what appears to be the end of FreshMeat. You have done as much for the OpenSource community as Eric Raymond, Richard Stallman and Linus -- you have given everyone a place to see what's happening on a hourly/daily basis and to give measure to the speed and diligence of the OpenSource community in making constant improvements in what, like Freshmeat, is done usually as a labor of love, and a dedication to craft and excellence of workmanship.
What you've done is wonderful, please don't let a collection of jackasses wear you down!
If, in the end, you do feel that it's time to pack it in, and take a break from giving all the time, please know that there are a LOT of people, like me, who appreciate the time and effort you put into Freshmeat; you will be sorely missed...
I hope to see Freshmeat on the air again, but whichever path you choose....
Thank you (!!!) for all of your good work, and have a healthy and happy new year!
Slashdot Mirror
My point was exactly that these new machine are not vector supercomputers, they are basically just SMP clusters... because they are built from off the shelf parts like SPARC processors that can't be supercomputers in the style which Seymour Cray envisioned.
They're fast machines taking advantages of all sorts of innovations in parallelization and clustering, but "Crays" in the classic sense of a machine developed as a best of breed, highly engineered supercomputer they ain't.
The original Crays (and CDC-6x00 machines) were crafted to take advantage of the efficiencies of the speed of light in their busses and memory configurations (i.e., cable lengths cut to sub-millimeter tolerances). These new "crays" are crays in name only... they lack the creative zeal that made "real" crays the exciting machines that they were and that launched the supercomputing industry...
These are just glorified SMP machines...
Don't get me wrong, clusters are great (hey, I even wrote a book on them!), the CPU speeds we have now are beyond my wildest dreams, but there will never be another Cray...
LOL ^2. You clearly haven't a clue about what you speak. I'm not saying that RIAA and the clients shuold be getting US$15 for a CD and then giving pennies to the artists, but the creation marketing and distribution of products costs real money and take more talent than a bunch of teenagers sitting behind their keyboards can muster.
Suggestion: go start a business. Have to meet a payroll, pay taxes, etc. Try to get a product to market in a competitive marketplace of ideas. Once you've done that -- SUCCESSFULLY -- come back and tell me to "fuck off and die" -- right now you sound too much like mr "coupland".
Grow up kiddo. I have aligned myself with no monopolies. I run a small software company... I'm a small bussinessman who hires talented programmers and pays them very, very well because they are talened, work really hard and are just good folks. I also make sure that I operate my business in an ethical fashion, we pay for all commercial software we use, we pay for all shareware we use and we repect the rights of artists of all stripes who also have a right to make a living.
Your problem is obvious. You're a teenager living in your mommies house and you're a spoiled, rotten little brat.
I'll bet when (if?) you graduate from high school and have to make your own living -- perhaps by writing software -- you might get some more respect for people who work for a living.
Right now you're just a thieving little jackass.
I think you've gotten to the crux of the biscuit. The RIAA, the MPAA and Harlan are actaully right, at least as it relates to whose doing the stealing: The problem is some pimply teenage twits who doesn't understand that the products (CDs, video games, etc.) they love so much are really, really hard to create.
http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html
You forgot about all the ionizing radiation -- all those gamma rays and other hard rads from the sun..? Then there's all the cosmic radiation. Its amazing that Pioneer 6 hasn't beome as brittle as an old leaf and just fallen apart.
I say have your lawyer write'em a letter...
The bottom line is that SlashDot is still rob malda's playground (which he's still entitled to since he's the editor in chief) but it would be nice if he and the rest of his friends were a little more honest about it...
IBM: Hello, IBM S/390 sales group, how may I help you?
Caller: I'd like to buy a '390 with 32 CPUs and 64GB of main memory
IBM: Would you like disks and communications with that?
Caller: Yes. I'd like 400 terabytes of redundant, channel attached DASD's, a full compliment of COMC's for 3270 and ANSI terminal devices for 500 directly connected users, LU6.2, SNA and TCP/IP networking over fiber and coax and an attached robotic tape library.
IBM: Which operating system would you like? VM/390 or Linux?
Caller: Linux, please.
IBM: No problem. We can pre-install it, or you can download it from ftp.kernel.org on the Internet.
We'll schedule overnight delivery of your system, please make sure there's someone available in your data center who can sign for the delivery...
Oh, and will you be paying for this with Mastercard, Visa, American Express or a purchase order (valid D&B required)...?
Caller: Bummer, you don't take Discover? Um... Amex, I guess. Can I get some Linux/390 t-shirts and coffee mugs with that too?
:
:
Hmmmmm.... I wonder how much power and A/C I'd have to install in the basement in order to...
If he's not sent to the can, the obvious message is tht its okay to be a monopolist, break the law, make a lot of money and then get to make more money.
hmmm... maybe we should all be monopolists... :-)
Since the CDA decision found that the Internet net is worthy of the "highest level" of first amendment protection this decision won't stand for long.
It returns:
If you require additional information about the application status, contact the Trademark Assistance Center (703) 308-9000 (M-F 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST). You could also contact SOPHIA S. KIM, Trademark Examining Attorney. Click here to find out the examiner's phone number.
Serial Number: 75439502
Registration Number: (NOT AVAILABLE)
Current Status: Abandoned: Applicant failed to respond to an Office action.
Date of Status: MAY 24,1999
1) Call your state's Public Service Commission. Explain the problem to them clearly and politely and how you have tried to resolve the problem.
In most places, the RBOC gets hit with actual fines if they get too many complaints lodged with the PSC.
2) But a single share of stock, then call the "Presidents HotLine" of your local RBOC. Complain that you are a Linux user **AND** a shareholder and that you are being denied reasonable service and you expect to have an action plan from the company on how they will remedy the situation.
The key points to remember are to be a) polite and 2) concise. The folks you'rer dealing with are not computer experts like you... so make sure they get a favourable 2st impression!
_DHMS
Orwell was just 15 or so years off...
Can anyone name any commercial software that runs ONLY on a Rehdat based system??
I betcha' can't... RH is "just" Linux... there is nothing intrinsicly in RH that is not in every other flavour of Linux. Remember, they give their source changes back to the source pool according to the GPL just like everyone else does.
RH bashing just reeks of sour grapes -- they've (and Caldera) been very effective at getting peple to take Linux seriously, and that's because they have done a LOT of hard work.
I think that what's really bugging the people who seem to have a grudge against RedHat, is that as Linux becomes more accessible to non-experts the whiners will no longer be members of an exclusive club.
These whining weasels should grow up, get a real job, a life, and enjoy the fact that they were in at the beginning of the revolution, and most importantly, start coding!!!!
_DHMSpector
I agree with Bruce's general point, but developers can easily attach copyrights/license terms to THEIR additions to such products and ensure that the likes of an IBM would be in the position of having to stop THEIR distribution becuse of ...
the GPL
It's true that Linux relies on a LOT of GNU software but that doesn't mean that 1) he's responsible for all of it or 2) that Linux needs to be named "GNU/Linux".
If his personality weren't so abrasive, and his tirades against anyone who disagrees with him so obnoxious then maybe (and even then just maybe) enough people would have rallied behind him to make a Linux-like collaboration possible.
(anyone have an idea of what % of the Linux code is actaully FSF [e.g., binutils, or libc] code? I bet its
The power of Linux's success is not because of free software that the GNU project started, but rather because the guy at the center is, unlike RMS, easy-going, laid-back and not out to beat people to death if they don't agree with him.
RMS should find a therapist and lay off claiming credit for other peoples' organizational and interpersonal skills.
_DHMS
Then there's the whole push (again by Monsanto) to get 3rd world farmers to ditch native species in favour of ones wit the "terminator gene complex" which allows only one genration of crop (the sees of that crop are sterile).
Oh, yeah... it seems that the terminator gene can be transferred via pollen to non-terminator stock and apparently to other related specied too.
scared yet..?
_DHMS
When last I looked, CDDB was a simple text format describing a CD's title and track info.
Also, the trademarks cannot be too general and are granted for use of terms used in a specific industry or market. That's why you cannot call your new computer company "Apple Computer," or most variations that could cause confusion in the marketplace, but "Apple Bank" (here in NY) can operate without infringing on Apple Computer's mark.
So, in a nutshell what these sleazy weasels are attempting is a simple land-grab.
The OSS community should start "outting" outfits like ths with press releases that (in a politely worded fashion!) let the press know exactly what kind of liars and cheats these companies are and how they are attempting to steal the work and ideas of others.
Its time to take back intellectual property from the intellectually disingenuous...
When you get a life and can tell us who you really are, then maybe someone will be interested in what you have to say. Better yet, why don't you put your money where your mouth is and contribute to the community instead of just taking...
Until then, go back to your room and get back to the dirty books you keep hidden under your bed.
Oh, and don't let your mommy know you were up this late or she'll spank you.
When I first saw your message on the Freshmeat home page, I thought perhaps someone had perpetrated a sad hack, but then I saw the notes in LinuxToday and SlashDot...
I hope you'll reconsider what appears to be the end of FreshMeat. You have done as much for the OpenSource community as Eric Raymond, Richard Stallman and Linus -- you have given everyone a place to see what's happening on a hourly/daily basis and to give measure to the speed and diligence of the OpenSource community in making constant improvements in what, like Freshmeat, is done usually as a labor of love, and a dedication to craft and excellence of workmanship.
What you've done is wonderful, please don't let a collection of jackasses wear you down!
If, in the end, you do feel that it's time to pack it in, and take a break from giving all the time, please know that there are a LOT of people, like me, who appreciate the time and effort you put into Freshmeat; you will be sorely missed...
I hope to see Freshmeat on the air again, but whichever path you choose....
Thank you (!!!) for all of your good work, and have a healthy and happy new year!