Great, they're closing the barn door after the livestock has left.
Seriously, why now? This could have easily happened long ago, before Nvidia crushed the competition. I don't like the world where looking to open source (or even just open discussion) is the last resort of a dying technology.
Well, given that Japan has just rolled out their first phase 3G network, and I don't believe that Sweden has even begun, I think that you're off base.
It's not the lack of high-bandwidth connectivity that's slowing down US adoption of wireless technology. DoCoMo seems to do pretty well on 2G tech.
I think that there are many factors that contribute to slower-than-we'd-like adoption of wireless services, and that the cries of "we're waiting for 3G" are largely bogus. Waiting for what? Streaming video? Somehow I don't think that's the killer wireless app, anymore than videophones killed my telephone.
a personal agent that manages your info, in a way that you control, what, who and when to give out a selection of your sensitive data.
Boy, I think I already have one of these. It's called my brain, and when a web site asks me for personal information, I consult with my brain to see if I want to give it to them. Then, I use another technology called my 'keyboard', and type in the relevant data. It takes about 30 seconds usually, and it has none of the potential vulnerabilities that come from entrusting my data to some 3rd party.
Are people really this lazy, or am I missing something?
Love to see MS try to sue the Red-Cross in their time of need.
Pull your head out man. You say that you would "love" to see MS sue the Red Cross? So they'd get egg all over their faces, right?
At a time of national disaster, maybe you should stop worrying about petty shit like this. Of course MS won't mess with the Red Cross over this, and they've given a ton of aid money and resources out of compassion. Guess what - the people who work at MS aren't actually inhuman monsters, but people like you and me. You should be ashamed at taking this opportunity to mock them.
At the large company where I used to work, one of my friends had just gotten hired on and happened to notice that I had 4000 unread messages in my inbox. He couldn't believe his eyes. Now, he's been there over a year and he's pushing 2000 on a regular basis. From firsthand experience, I can tell you that this is a sick way to live.
How do you get 4000 unread messages you ask? Well, you only have so much time, so you skim through your mail reading the most obvioulsy important and "saving the rest for later". Repeat for many months, and viola, you can't look at your email without feeling a sense of guilt and dread. Then, once a year or so I would hold my breath, select all and delete. Aaaah.
But I've broken the cycle. Now I get all of my mail thanks to my Crackberry pager. I'm pretty sure that is even a sicker lifestyle, but what can you do?:/
Sprint PCS will be the first wireless carrier to offer the first phase of 3G services and applications to its customers later this year. Sprint PCS will begin nationwide deployment of its first phase, known as 3G1x in late 2001, with full-scale availability by mid-2002.
Sprint rolling out 3G by the end of the year? Boy, did you bite on that one. Note above (from the "3G FAQ" you posted) how they're rolling out "3G1x". This is really CDMA 1XRTT, which is usually referred to as 2.5G. But the real reason that Sprint (like other carriers) is doing a 1XRTT rollout isn't to turn on any particular data services, but to squeeze in more voice calls for their bandwidth by packetizing them. Net gain for the consumer: nothing.
The strange thing about the 3G hype is, in my opinion, the fact that everyone talks about the coming high-bandwidth future, but nobody's talking about the great new services it will enable. Videoconferencing on my cell phone - who cares? Internet access - I have WAP already, and a faster connection will just make it suck faster.
The reason that DOCOMO wins where WAP/WML fails isn't any futuristic technology, it's that DOCOMO content appeals to its customer base and is simple to create.
New distribution models have to be developed that balance the various interests more adequately under the conditions of open communication networks... Once new models are found, even the largest legal teams will no longer protect from the simple truth of evolution: adapt or die.
Wait a sec, the answer to the current copyright embroglio is more distribution models? How do you figure?
Perhaps MojoNation , which combines peer-to-peer technologies with micropayment
Oh, he means like adding micropayments to existing technologies. I like a guy so optomistic that the thousands of failed micropayment schemes that the Internet has seen doesn't discourage him. Though to call this a "new" mechanism is a bit inaccurate. It's more like late-80s.
Knowing about it doesn't end world hunger. It doesn't stop war.
Boy, are you right on this one! If only everyone embraced your message that building technology at the expense of stopping world hunger and ending war is wrong, just think of the world we'd live in.
I mean, we could have spent all of those resources wasted creating microchips on growing soy, and we could have given the money used to build the Internet to the United Nations for better policing of world conflicts.
Of course, then we couldn't have this conversation on Slashdot, because we'd be living in mud huts, you simpleton.
1 - of course e-commerce apps are run by Apache, but there's a very strong contingent of commercial products that support IIS.
2 - ASP vs PHP religion is irrelevant. What is relevant is how many MS trained people are out there. I have no data beyond my own difficulties in getting people, but I can shake a tree and get ASP devs to rain down upon me, but PHP devs are much harder to find (caveat: I work near Redmond). And as for CORBA development, now that's hard (flame on!)
Which web server you choose is an operating platform decision rather than application decision.
Nobody just wakes up one morning and says "wow, I'm going to switch from Apache to IIS". Rather, if a switch is made it's a much broader move from an MS platform to a UNIX platform, or vice-versa.
Anyone who's worked in an IT facility knows that changing platforms (or even allowing non-homogenous platforms in the first place) is a huge decision, and rightfully so.
So when people talk about relative market shares of IIS vs Apache, know that they are really talking about Microsoft vs Linux (or maybe MS vs UNIX, but you get the idea).
If I understand your point, you're saying that the reason that people use Netscape is because they have learned it's "interface".
The interface of a web browser isn't really that interesting. I mean, aside from starting it and having it record your favorites, the rest is just cruft. The real interface is found in the web pages it renders.
I think the reason that naive users continue to use Netscape is because their tech-savvy kid installed it a few years ago, and it still works. I'd be pretty amazed if those users were upgrading...
Ever wonder why the ARM is faster than a similarly priced Dragonball? It might have something to do with the fact that there are dozens of manufacturers that license the ARM core and build chips around it, and only one that makes the proprietary Dragonball.
This is another excellent example of open platforms beating closed ones.
While you're at it, answer this question for yourself: how many multi-government coalitions built the fundamental underpinnings of the Internet? You can count them on zero fingers. The reason there is an Internet is precisely because there weren't mammoth polito-bureaucracies "helping".
Though the Internet is a world-wide phenomenon, that doesn't mean that control of it (however you want to define that) should belong to the world bureaucracy. This isn't some sort of national arrogance by Americans; it's a reality of self-regulating projects that while there are many contributors, a few core people make the main decisions (sound like any projects you know?)
Here's a thought that should resonate: if other countries don't like the present state of the Internet, they ought to feel free to branch it -- in some ways, the Internet is really the world's biggest open source project. Then, if they ever want to merge with other Internet segments, they could do so easily (that's the point of TCP/IP). Doesn't that sounds just like how the present Internet evolved?
Think before you invite the bureaucrats (further) in. They're hard to get back out again.
You know how the main design goal of the Internet was to route traffic around damaged nodes so as to make it extremely robust?
Well, it makes me glad to see the Internet routing around the damaged node that is Afghanistan.
The first thing that NASA should do is hire a good PR firm, and bring their astronauts (and dare I say it, their engineers) to the national spotlight.
Other people have posted that astronauts shouldn't be any more famous than commercial pilots, but this is totally wrong - flying from SFO to SEA is commonplace, exploring space is still the cutting edge. What we need is more excitement around our national space program, not a sense of detachment.
After all, our most important mission as humanity is to get ourselves off this rock.
I see where you're coming from, and I think you raise a good point. However, I'm pretty certain that you could release a word processor named "Writer" and trademark the name (assuming you were first), and the law would protect the name for you.
Easy - MS trademarked first, and when someone else trademarks your name (which they can do, it's not like patents), you're grandfathered to use the name. It's actually the only way it could work if you think about it.
Unlike patents, trademarks that are not vigorously enforced by the trademark holder lapse. So from a legal standpoint, Adobe's doing the right thing here. Not getting on KIllustrator's case means that they cede MSIllustrator later.
And as for other proposing other names, you're kidding, right? One of the most famous OS names out there is named after some Scandanavian or something.:) My point is that even though Adobe used the name Illustrator first, it doesn't mean that the forclosed on all cool names for vector drawing programs.
Microsoft(R) Windows(R) - each is a separate registered trademark (see all MS trademarks).
This used to be true, but MS actually did the breaktrough litigation on this, trademarking "Windows" as refers to graphical computer interfaces (or something to that effect).
Shouldn't generic descriptive terms like 'explorer,' 'illustrator' 'word' and 'paint' be free for all to use?
Do you suppose that the KDE guys would have called the program KIllustrator if there weren't a similar product with a well-known name out there? I have to say that I see Adobe's point of view on this. But what's the big deal? Pick a new name, and move on. Projects (especially Open Source projects) live and die by their quality, not by their clever name.
As much as large labels and their lawyers irritate me, I think I'm more sick of posts like this one. Boo hoo, artists have to pay for studo time, and indie labels are at the "mercy" of big companies. I expect that next he'll be suggesting that the government mandates labels to carry indie artists chosen by lottery. Whatever happened to taking care of yourself? Nobody is forced into this stuff, folks. If you want independently produced music, you have to look a little harder. Sure studio time costs money, should it be free? If you want the convenience of buying Britney Spears at Kmart, then don't complain about the big companies that put that CD there.
Quake is beautiful, Doom was brilliant, but nothing changed my world as much as the first time I played Wolfenstein 3D on my friend's 368. That was truly a life changing experience. Especially having played the two original Wolfensteins on my C64.
Slashdot Mirror
Great, they're closing the barn door after the livestock has left.
Seriously, why now? This could have easily happened long ago, before Nvidia crushed the competition. I don't like the world where looking to open source (or even just open discussion) is the last resort of a dying technology.
Well, given that Japan has just rolled out their first phase 3G network, and I don't believe that Sweden has even begun, I think that you're off base.
It's not the lack of high-bandwidth connectivity that's slowing down US adoption of wireless technology. DoCoMo seems to do pretty well on 2G tech.
I think that there are many factors that contribute to slower-than-we'd-like adoption of wireless services, and that the cries of "we're waiting for 3G" are largely bogus. Waiting for what? Streaming video? Somehow I don't think that's the killer wireless app, anymore than videophones killed my telephone.
a personal agent that manages your info, in a way that you control, what, who and when to give out a selection of your sensitive data.
Boy, I think I already have one of these. It's called my brain, and when a web site asks me for personal information, I consult with my brain to see if I want to give it to them. Then, I use another technology called my 'keyboard', and type in the relevant data. It takes about 30 seconds usually, and it has none of the potential vulnerabilities that come from entrusting my data to some 3rd party.
Are people really this lazy, or am I missing something?
Love to see MS try to sue the Red-Cross in their time of need.
Pull your head out man. You say that you would "love" to see MS sue the Red Cross? So they'd get egg all over their faces, right?
At a time of national disaster, maybe you should stop worrying about petty shit like this. Of course MS won't mess with the Red Cross over this, and they've given a ton of aid money and resources out of compassion. Guess what - the people who work at MS aren't actually inhuman monsters, but people like you and me. You should be ashamed at taking this opportunity to mock them.
At the large company where I used to work, one of my friends had just gotten hired on and happened to notice that I had 4000 unread messages in my inbox. He couldn't believe his eyes. Now, he's been there over a year and he's pushing 2000 on a regular basis. From firsthand experience, I can tell you that this is a sick way to live.
:/
How do you get 4000 unread messages you ask? Well, you only have so much time, so you skim through your mail reading the most obvioulsy important and "saving the rest for later". Repeat for many months, and viola, you can't look at your email without feeling a sense of guilt and dread. Then, once a year or so I would hold my breath, select all and delete. Aaaah.
But I've broken the cycle. Now I get all of my mail thanks to my Crackberry pager. I'm pretty sure that is even a sicker lifestyle, but what can you do?
Sprint PCS will be the first wireless carrier to offer the first phase of 3G services and applications to its customers later this year. Sprint PCS will begin nationwide deployment of its first phase, known as 3G1x in late 2001, with full-scale availability by mid-2002.
Sprint rolling out 3G by the end of the year? Boy, did you bite on that one. Note above (from the "3G FAQ" you posted) how they're rolling out "3G1x". This is really CDMA 1XRTT, which is usually referred to as 2.5G. But the real reason that Sprint (like other carriers) is doing a 1XRTT rollout isn't to turn on any particular data services, but to squeeze in more voice calls for their bandwidth by packetizing them. Net gain for the consumer: nothing.
The strange thing about the 3G hype is, in my opinion, the fact that everyone talks about the coming high-bandwidth future, but nobody's talking about the great new services it will enable. Videoconferencing on my cell phone - who cares? Internet access - I have WAP already, and a faster connection will just make it suck faster.
The reason that DOCOMO wins where WAP/WML fails isn't any futuristic technology, it's that DOCOMO content appeals to its customer base and is simple to create.
New distribution models have to be developed that balance the various interests more adequately under the conditions of open communication networks ... Once new models are found, even the largest legal teams will no longer protect from the simple truth of evolution: adapt or die.
Wait a sec, the answer to the current copyright embroglio is more distribution models? How do you figure?
Perhaps MojoNation , which combines peer-to-peer technologies with micropayment
Oh, he means like adding micropayments to existing technologies. I like a guy so optomistic that the thousands of failed micropayment schemes that the Internet has seen doesn't discourage him. Though to call this a "new" mechanism is a bit inaccurate. It's more like late-80s.
Knowing about it doesn't end world hunger. It doesn't stop war.
Boy, are you right on this one! If only everyone embraced your message that building technology at the expense of stopping world hunger and ending war is wrong, just think of the world we'd live in.
I mean, we could have spent all of those resources wasted creating microchips on growing soy, and we could have given the money used to build the Internet to the United Nations for better policing of world conflicts.
Of course, then we couldn't have this conversation on Slashdot, because we'd be living in mud huts, you simpleton.
Sure:
1 - of course e-commerce apps are run by Apache, but there's a very strong contingent of commercial products that support IIS.
2 - ASP vs PHP religion is irrelevant. What is relevant is how many MS trained people are out there. I have no data beyond my own difficulties in getting people, but I can shake a tree and get ASP devs to rain down upon me, but PHP devs are much harder to find (caveat: I work near Redmond). And as for CORBA development, now that's hard (flame on!)
Which web server you choose is an operating platform decision rather than application decision.
Nobody just wakes up one morning and says "wow, I'm going to switch from Apache to IIS". Rather, if a switch is made it's a much broader move from an MS platform to a UNIX platform, or vice-versa.
Anyone who's worked in an IT facility knows that changing platforms (or even allowing non-homogenous platforms in the first place) is a huge decision, and rightfully so.
So when people talk about relative market shares of IIS vs Apache, know that they are really talking about Microsoft vs Linux (or maybe MS vs UNIX, but you get the idea).
If I understand your point, you're saying that the reason that people use Netscape is because they have learned it's "interface".
The interface of a web browser isn't really that interesting. I mean, aside from starting it and having it record your favorites, the rest is just cruft. The real interface is found in the web pages it renders.
I think the reason that naive users continue to use Netscape is because their tech-savvy kid installed it a few years ago, and it still works. I'd be pretty amazed if those users were upgrading...
Ever wonder why the ARM is faster than a similarly priced Dragonball? It might have something to do with the fact that there are dozens of manufacturers that license the ARM core and build chips around it, and only one that makes the proprietary Dragonball.
This is another excellent example of open platforms beating closed ones.
Invisible Agent
Oh yeah? Well get over it.
While you're at it, answer this question for yourself: how many multi-government coalitions built the fundamental underpinnings of the Internet? You can count them on zero fingers. The reason there is an Internet is precisely because there weren't mammoth polito-bureaucracies "helping".
Though the Internet is a world-wide phenomenon, that doesn't mean that control of it (however you want to define that) should belong to the world bureaucracy. This isn't some sort of national arrogance by Americans; it's a reality of self-regulating projects that while there are many contributors, a few core people make the main decisions (sound like any projects you know?)
Here's a thought that should resonate: if other countries don't like the present state of the Internet, they ought to feel free to branch it -- in some ways, the Internet is really the world's biggest open source project. Then, if they ever want to merge with other Internet segments, they could do so easily (that's the point of TCP/IP). Doesn't that sounds just like how the present Internet evolved?
Think before you invite the bureaucrats (further) in. They're hard to get back out again.
Invisible Agent
You know how the main design goal of the Internet was to route traffic around damaged nodes so as to make it extremely robust? Well, it makes me glad to see the Internet routing around the damaged node that is Afghanistan.
Invisible Agent
The first thing that NASA should do is hire a good PR firm, and bring their astronauts (and dare I say it, their engineers) to the national spotlight.
Other people have posted that astronauts shouldn't be any more famous than commercial pilots, but this is totally wrong - flying from SFO to SEA is commonplace, exploring space is still the cutting edge. What we need is more excitement around our national space program, not a sense of detachment.
After all, our most important mission as humanity is to get ourselves off this rock.
Invisible Agent
Not to beat this into the ground. :)
I see where you're coming from, and I think you raise a good point. However, I'm pretty certain that you could release a word processor named "Writer" and trademark the name (assuming you were first), and the law would protect the name for you.
Invisible Agent
Easy - MS trademarked first, and when someone else trademarks your name (which they can do, it's not like patents), you're grandfathered to use the name. It's actually the only way it could work if you think about it.
Invisible Agent
Unlike patents, trademarks that are not vigorously enforced by the trademark holder lapse. So from a legal standpoint, Adobe's doing the right thing here. Not getting on KIllustrator's case means that they cede MSIllustrator later.
:) My point is that even though Adobe used the name Illustrator first, it doesn't mean that the forclosed on all cool names for vector drawing programs.
And as for other proposing other names, you're kidding, right? One of the most famous OS names out there is named after some Scandanavian or something.
Invisible Agent
Microsoft(R) Windows(R) - each is a separate registered trademark (see all MS trademarks).
This used to be true, but MS actually did the breaktrough litigation on this, trademarking "Windows" as refers to graphical computer interfaces (or something to that effect).
Invisible Agent
Shouldn't generic descriptive terms like 'explorer,' 'illustrator' 'word' and 'paint' be free for all to use?
Do you suppose that the KDE guys would have called the program KIllustrator if there weren't a similar product with a well-known name out there? I have to say that I see Adobe's point of view on this. But what's the big deal? Pick a new name, and move on. Projects (especially Open Source projects) live and die by their quality, not by their clever name.
Invisible Agent
Intelligent fruit have already had their own presidential candidates. If I recall correctly, their names were "Bush" and "Gore".
Invisible Agent
...can an article on Hacking DirecTV turn into an anti-Microsoft screed. I am humbled by the majesty of it. :)
Invisible Agent
As much as large labels and their lawyers irritate me, I think I'm more sick of posts like this one. Boo hoo, artists have to pay for studo time, and indie labels are at the "mercy" of big companies. I expect that next he'll be suggesting that the government mandates labels to carry indie artists chosen by lottery. Whatever happened to taking care of yourself? Nobody is forced into this stuff, folks. If you want independently produced music, you have to look a little harder. Sure studio time costs money, should it be free? If you want the convenience of buying Britney Spears at Kmart, then don't complain about the big companies that put that CD there.
Invisible Agent
Quake is beautiful, Doom was brilliant, but nothing changed my world as much as the first time I played Wolfenstein 3D on my friend's 368. That was truly a life changing experience. Especially having played the two original Wolfensteins on my C64.
Freund Lieben!
Invisible Agent
They didn't survive the Linux company shakeout and turn a profit by being stupid.
That's correct, in that they didn't turn a profit. Sorry, just couldn't resist.
Invisible Agent