Sam Goody? Musicland? I think their problems have less to do with file sharing and more to do with the fact that CDs cost damn near $20 at those places.
First of all, I am not a fan of this technology. Personally, I find the human-element to be a huge part of the game. It is easy to underestimate the importance of human error and judgement on the game of baseball. I had this discussion (argument) with a friend, who is also a very technical person, and above-average baseball fan. He felt that if technology can be made available to make the game more precise, it should be implemented without question. I could not disagree more. It has nothing to do with being a "baseball purist". It has everyting to do with the game of baseball, which is rooted in tradition and history. If you mess with it too much, it becomes a different game altogether.
I have to agree that baseball has changed dramatically over the past decade. I could easily rattle off many convincing statistics that would prove this. But more importantly, the changes that baseball has imposed on itself have mostly always favored the batter and never the pitcher. Look at the designated hitter. Look at the baseball itself (yes, it is different). Much more to this, but the reason is simple: your average fan wants hits and homeruns, not defense and superb pictching. Personally, I'd rather see a no-hitter or a shutout that a half-dozen homeruns.
I sat with a former umpire in the American League who retired after spending nearly 40 years in the bigs, and we talked about such things for an inning or two. He was at the game as part of his new position with baseball, that being reviewing the performance of American League umpires. This was about 4 years ago, before this new technology had been implemented. He obvisouly was well aware of the changes baseball was making and how they heavily favored the batter. His advice was simple, and I couldn't agree more: raise the height of the pitcher's mound. It does help the pitcher. If I recall, it used to be slightly higher, but was lowered as a way to help the batters in an era when batting and offense was lacking. Now, as performance-enhancing drugs are commonplace, and the players are stronger, faster, etc., you would expect the rules to shift back towards helping the pitcher. But they don't. MLB continues to push towards bigger bats and it is ruining the game.
Commissioner Bud Selig can be blamed for most of this.
By the way, I've been a basbeall addict since very early childhood. I was a baseball fan before I was a geek. I see baseball in a very sad state, as it is by far the most corrupt sport. The Commissioner an owner, appointed by other owners? Players' Association that won't ban drugs which are know to be potentially fatal? Add this story to the long list of what is wrong with baseball.
It all makes sense now. I was looking for a USB cable at the local computer superstore the other day... and everything was labeled "USB 2". My hardware is a bit older, so I thought it was probable that I had USB 1.1 or something. Not being sure, I swallowed my pride and asked they guy why everything was labeled "USB 2" and what the difference was between USB 2 and USB 1.x.
NTFS one of the better file systems? What are you comparing it to? What factors make it 'good'? The three you list (journaling, ACLs, decent performance) are problematic. I should expect most any modern filesystem to have ACLs and journaling. The term "decent performance" is a bit unclear. Compared to the filesystems I've used, the performance is "decent" at best.
Without going into too much detail, I must say that NTFS is one of the most outrageously complex things I have ever come across.
I should hope that this new WinFS will be more lucid in design. I also sincerely hope that some "services" will be included, such as snapshot ability, something which is sorely missing from NTFS. NTFS could learn a few things from the VERITAS filesystem (VxFS).
And I'm not holding my breath, but wouldn't it be great if MS provided us with some clue as to the filsystem internals. Ever wonder why the NTFS support for Linux has been so long coming? It isn't the easiest thing to wrap your head around.
Since we are speculating on the reason(s) for Sun's demise...
Would things be different for Sun is RedHat still produced/supported ts Linux distribution for SPARC? If I recall, RedHat stopped distributing Linux for SPARC platforms at version 7.2. Sure, if RedHat still distributed Linux for SPARC it may displace Solaris, but at least it would not necessarily displace Sun hardware (yes, its overpriced... anyway).
I realized there are other Linux distros for SPARC. I just mention RedHat since it seems to be by far the most popular/common.
I have nothing against Solaris. I use it everyday and write code for Solaris. But Solaris + Sun hardware is so expensive and yet cannot perform anywhere near a x86 platform with Linux.
Sun hardware is unbelievable expensive. I know the many Sun Blade 1000s we have at work are $16,000+ each. And while they are pretty, the performance is nowhere near worth the price tag... even with the massive discounts we get from Sun. And those "low-priced" Sun Blade 100s for the desktop are nothing to get excited about, either.
While Sun may be hurting, and its hardware its over-priced and under-performs, there is A LOT of Sun hardware w/Solaris out there in the field... and there will continue to be. We can only shake our heads and speculate why...
I earned a degree in engineering about 5 years ago from a major university with a well-regarded engineering program. As part of the required classes for all engineering students, I took a general engineering class which actually focused on handwriting. And remember all those rules your elementary school teacher taught you? Well, forget them. Example: Remember being told not to make your 8's as to seperate circles (the "snowman")? As an engineering student I was told precisely the opposite. Needless to say, this course forever changed the way I write.
Occasionally I find something that I wrote by hand prior to being taught how to write "like an engineer". It is scary.
Anyone else get re-taught how to write at the university level?
I took the GRE last year, which was needed to apply for graduate school. This test also required the copying of some sort of "honor pledge". I read the directions, which stated it had to be copied in cursive, and about passed out. Ha! That was the toughest thing about the test!
I had to ask the gal and the test-taking place if this was required. Rather than risk it for a test I paid a lot of money to take, I wrote it is cursive. It looked like a 4th grader wrote it!
Does anyone know *why* such honor pledges are required to be written in cursive?
There are many shades of gray here regarding the social or anti-social question.
I would not go so far to say that multiplayer games are social. I would be inclined to say they are LAN parties are social, but as we know many multiplayer games can be played via the internet. Essentially, I could spend days/weeks/months alone in my home playing games online with other gamers, but I would not go so far as to say that is social. So I have to disagree with the assertion that all multiplayer games are social, all single player games are anti-social.
I see why some may say that online gaming communities are social (friendships can be formed, etc.), but this is no replacement for human interaction. We have to differentiate interaction with others via digital means (in this case, online games) and human interaction.
I guess the answer depends on wether or not your considering interaction via computer to be social. I would consider LAN parties to be higher on the "social-ness" scale due to the humar interaction.
Wow. Maybe Barbara's neighbors (also featured in the picture) should get in on this lawsuit. $50 million for everyone in the neighborhood!
Did anyone else notice the man on the beach in the picture? (Hint: look just below Streisand's house). Hell, if having your home photographed will get you $50 million, imagine what he could get!
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Sam Goody? Musicland? I think their problems have less to do with file sharing and more to do with the fact that CDs cost damn near $20 at those places.
First of all, I am not a fan of this technology. Personally, I find the human-element to be a huge part of the game. It is easy to underestimate the importance of human error and judgement on the game of baseball. I had this discussion (argument) with a friend, who is also a very technical person, and above-average baseball fan. He felt that if technology can be made available to make the game more precise, it should be implemented without question. I could not disagree more. It has nothing to do with being a "baseball purist". It has everyting to do with the game of baseball, which is rooted in tradition and history. If you mess with it too much, it becomes a different game altogether.
I have to agree that baseball has changed dramatically over the past decade. I could easily rattle off many convincing statistics that would prove this. But more importantly, the changes that baseball has imposed on itself have mostly always favored the batter and never the pitcher. Look at the designated hitter. Look at the baseball itself (yes, it is different). Much more to this, but the reason is simple: your average fan wants hits and homeruns, not defense and superb pictching. Personally, I'd rather see a no-hitter or a shutout that a half-dozen homeruns.
I sat with a former umpire in the American League who retired after spending nearly 40 years in the bigs, and we talked about such things for an inning or two. He was at the game as part of his new position with baseball, that being reviewing the performance of American League umpires. This was about 4 years ago, before this new technology had been implemented. He obvisouly was well aware of the changes baseball was making and how they heavily favored the batter. His advice was simple, and I couldn't agree more: raise the height of the pitcher's mound. It does help the pitcher. If I recall, it used to be slightly higher, but was lowered as a way to help the batters in an era when batting and offense was lacking. Now, as performance-enhancing drugs are commonplace, and the players are stronger, faster, etc., you would expect the rules to shift back towards helping the pitcher. But they don't. MLB continues to push towards bigger bats and it is ruining the game.
Commissioner Bud Selig can be blamed for most of this.
By the way, I've been a basbeall addict since very early childhood. I was a baseball fan before I was a geek. I see baseball in a very sad state, as it is by far the most corrupt sport. The Commissioner an owner, appointed by other owners? Players' Association that won't ban drugs which are know to be potentially fatal? Add this story to the long list of what is wrong with baseball.
It all makes sense now. I was looking for a USB cable at the local computer superstore the other day... and everything was labeled "USB 2". My hardware is a bit older, so I thought it was probable that I had USB 1.1 or something. Not being sure, I swallowed my pride and asked they guy why everything was labeled "USB 2" and what the difference was between USB 2 and USB 1.x.
His repsonse: "Uhhhhh...."
I thought his head was going to explode.
NTFS one of the better file systems? What are you comparing it to? What factors make it 'good'? The three you list (journaling, ACLs, decent performance) are problematic. I should expect most any modern filesystem to have ACLs and journaling. The term "decent performance" is a bit unclear. Compared to the filesystems I've used, the performance is "decent" at best.
Without going into too much detail, I must say that NTFS is one of the most outrageously complex things I have ever come across.
I should hope that this new WinFS will be more lucid in design. I also sincerely hope that some "services" will be included, such as snapshot ability, something which is sorely missing from NTFS. NTFS could learn a few things from the VERITAS filesystem (VxFS).
And I'm not holding my breath, but wouldn't it be great if MS provided us with some clue as to the filsystem internals. Ever wonder why the NTFS support for Linux has been so long coming? It isn't the easiest thing to wrap your head around.
Since we are speculating on the reason(s) for Sun's demise...
Would things be different for Sun is RedHat still produced/supported ts Linux distribution for SPARC? If I recall, RedHat stopped distributing Linux for SPARC platforms at version 7.2. Sure, if RedHat still distributed Linux for SPARC it may displace Solaris, but at least it would not necessarily displace Sun hardware (yes, its overpriced... anyway).
I realized there are other Linux distros for SPARC. I just mention RedHat since it seems to be by far the most popular/common.
I have nothing against Solaris. I use it everyday and write code for Solaris. But Solaris + Sun hardware is so expensive and yet cannot perform anywhere near a x86 platform with Linux.
Funny, but true.
Sun hardware is unbelievable expensive. I know the many Sun Blade 1000s we have at work are $16,000+ each. And while they are pretty, the performance is nowhere near worth the price tag... even with the massive discounts we get from Sun. And those "low-priced" Sun Blade 100s for the desktop are nothing to get excited about, either.
While Sun may be hurting, and its hardware its over-priced and under-performs, there is A LOT of Sun hardware w/Solaris out there in the field... and there will continue to be. We can only shake our heads and speculate why...
I should point out why I can't write in cursive.
I earned a degree in engineering about 5 years ago from a major university with a well-regarded engineering program. As part of the required classes for all engineering students, I took a general engineering class which actually focused on handwriting. And remember all those rules your elementary school teacher taught you? Well, forget them. Example: Remember being told not to make your 8's as to seperate circles (the "snowman")? As an engineering student I was told precisely the opposite. Needless to say, this course forever changed the way I write.
Occasionally I find something that I wrote by hand prior to being taught how to write "like an engineer". It is scary.
Anyone else get re-taught how to write at the university level?
I took the GRE last year, which was needed to apply for graduate school. This test also required the copying of some sort of "honor pledge". I read the directions, which stated it had to be copied in cursive, and about passed out. Ha! That was the toughest thing about the test!
I had to ask the gal and the test-taking place if this was required. Rather than risk it for a test I paid a lot of money to take, I wrote it is cursive. It looked like a 4th grader wrote it!
Does anyone know *why* such honor pledges are required to be written in cursive?
There are many shades of gray here regarding the social or anti-social question.
I would not go so far to say that multiplayer games are social. I would be inclined to say they are LAN parties are social, but as we know many multiplayer games can be played via the internet. Essentially, I could spend days/weeks/months alone in my home playing games online with other gamers, but I would not go so far as to say that is social. So I have to disagree with the assertion that all multiplayer games are social, all single player games are anti-social.
I see why some may say that online gaming communities are social (friendships can be formed, etc.), but this is no replacement for human interaction. We have to differentiate interaction with others via digital means (in this case, online games) and human interaction.
I guess the answer depends on wether or not your considering interaction via computer to be social. I would consider LAN parties to be higher on the "social-ness" scale due to the humar interaction.
Wow. Maybe Barbara's neighbors (also featured in the picture) should get in on this lawsuit. $50 million for everyone in the neighborhood!
;)
Did anyone else notice the man on the beach in the picture? (Hint: look just below Streisand's house). Hell, if having your home photographed will get you $50 million, imagine what he could get!
Hmmmm.... I think that is ME in the picture!