Why else do you suppose Novell paid their indemnification money so quickly? Funny, I seem to remember Microsoft paying Novell, not the other way around.
In software development Implementation is the phase where a system is being deployed, it is not a phase where you develop the system.
That really depends on where your culture got its vernacular.
In research and academia, you implement a design or algorithm by writing code. You then deploy your implementation when you install it for your users.
In marketing and some production groups, "implement" is a synonym for "roll-out" or "deploy". Near as I can tell, they don't have a word that makes a distinction between designing software and actually coding it up. This causes no end of confusion in meetings between marketing groups and research groups.
Complain to Comcast and to the FCC and even the BBB. Send your evidence to Comcast's competitors. Also, send your evidence to a technology columnist/pundit/whatever who might actually write about it and get noticed by a larger audience.
and why should a non-profit organization mind if the customers meet their needs elsewhere?
Because the classmate PC is a poor substitute for the OLPC as far as the non-profit's goals for the OLPC go. A classmate PC might be better than nothing, but it's not as good as the OLPC and costs more. From the non-profit's point of view, a child that gets a classmate PC instead of an OLPC is getting a substandard tool.
Go to folding.stanford.edu and look around at what they're doing. All the results are available. This isn't a project run by some big pharm company that keeps the results to itself.
Have you played with an OLPC yet? These machines are very clearly designed for children, not adults. Nobody with adult size hands could touch type on the keyboard.
That said, they're great little machines. One of our engineers bought one and we've been playing with it for the last couple of weeks. It's small, light, waterproof, and is quite capable. As far as I can tell, from both the hardware and software standpoints, the OLPC is exactly what they promised that it would be (except it's a little more expensive...hopefully they'll be successful in bringing the price down).
CPython, the reference interpreter (and therefore the language) only requires the ANSI C standard library. Any module in the python standard library that is written in python (most are) will also work. Modules that aren't 100% python may or may not work (socket.py is an example that, I believe, needs posix-style socket support).
Jython, the python interpreter written for the java virtual machine, will, naturally, run on any system that supports java.
If I am wrong, I am sure somebody will correct me.
you can't run Perl or Python on most non-*nix systems.
I think you need to rethink that last statement. I use Python on Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX. I'm pretty sure that Perl runs on those systems also. Python should work on anything that has a C compiler and the standard ansi C library.
What systems do you have in mind that are widely used but not supported by Python and/or Perl?
Do a google search for "sneaky leaker".It's a contraption designed for people who need to take a piss on the street during Mardigras (sp?) but can't whip it out because of indecent exposure laws. Basically it's a tube that runs down your pants leg.
Recharging batteries requires electricity, which in the US, is derived primarily from burning coal, which is worse ecologically than burning gasoline.
I bet you can't back that up with any facts. A modern coal burning power plant is probably 50% efficient or better and cleans its exhaust. A gas engine in a vehicle is about 20% efficient (ignoring the transportation costs of getting the fuel to the vehicle) and does very little cleaning of the exhaust.
The only reason coal is considered such an ecological threat is that we use so much of it. If we tried to produce the same amount of energy using gasoline (assuming we could build the refineries to make it all), that would be a true ecological disaster.
Try sticking a magnet to a stainless-steel fridge. It probably won't work because not all iron alloys are magnetic and the most popular stainless alloys used for home appliances fall into this category.
It's typically a "civil" or "administrative" fine so you don't get the same due process rights as you would for a criminal offense.
If you engage a lawyer, you'll get your due process (actually, they'll probably just waive the fine since they don't want to deal with the process if they don't have to). The trick is finding a lawyer who costs less than the fine.
the entire United States generation baseload could be provided from panels on public land in Arizona alone.
Peak load, maybe. Base load? Nope. Not unless you've got a way of storing excess power generated during the day to use at night.
You'll probably see nuclear generating most of our base load in the future, along with a little wind, geothermal, and hydro. Solar will only contribute during the day.
That is entirely dependent on how much area you have to devote to solar panels.
Can one be self-sufficient with, say, covering a home + garage with these and putting a battery in the basement/shed?
Sure, as long as you consume less energy than the amount of energy captured per unit area multiplied by the area of your panels. Of course, you'll want to over-spec it a little and store the excess somehow, so that means you will further multiply the result by the round-trip efficiency of your storage method.
I'm over-simplifying a little, but you get the idea.
This has been feasible for a while now for people who don't consume lots of energy. As panels get cheaper/better, it becomes feasible for more people. You'll have to determine for yourself where you lie on that curve.
Slashdot Mirror
If you want manual control over the build (or want to make source changes), instead of typing
emerge foo
You'd type
ebuild foo.ebuild fetch unpack compile install qmerge
and make whatever changes you wanted in between unpack and compile or compile and install (depending on the kinds of changes you wanted to make.
Besides, what else is Microsoft to do with its HUGE store of cash? Pay a dividend?
Last time I looked, MS pays 11 cents a share dividend. That's about a billion dollars each time. Don't know how often they pay a dividend, though.
In software development Implementation is the phase where a system is being deployed, it is not a phase where you develop the system.
That really depends on where your culture got its vernacular.
In research and academia, you implement a design or algorithm by writing code. You then deploy your implementation when you install it for your users.
In marketing and some production groups, "implement" is a synonym for "roll-out" or "deploy". Near as I can tell, they don't have a word that makes a distinction between designing software and actually coding it up. This causes no end of confusion in meetings between marketing groups and research groups.
Is there a plugin for Firefox that will tell me when a page is being rendered using these non-standard coping methods?
And then incinerate it for electricity.
Complain to Comcast and to the FCC and even the BBB. Send your evidence to Comcast's competitors. Also, send your evidence to a technology columnist/pundit/whatever who might actually write about it and get noticed by a larger audience.
and why should a non-profit organization mind if the customers meet their needs elsewhere?
Because the classmate PC is a poor substitute for the OLPC as far as the non-profit's goals for the OLPC go. A classmate PC might be better than nothing, but it's not as good as the OLPC and costs more. From the non-profit's point of view, a child that gets a classmate PC instead of an OLPC is getting a substandard tool.
Go to folding.stanford.edu and look around at what they're doing. All the results are available. This isn't a project run by some big pharm company that keeps the results to itself.
Why can't current trademark law be used to protect the image of Mickey Mouse?
Have you played with an OLPC yet? These machines are very clearly designed for children, not adults. Nobody with adult size hands could touch type on the keyboard.
That said, they're great little machines. One of our engineers bought one and we've been playing with it for the last couple of weeks. It's small, light, waterproof, and is quite capable. As far as I can tell, from both the hardware and software standpoints, the OLPC is exactly what they promised that it would be (except it's a little more expensive...hopefully they'll be successful in bringing the price down).
If a patent can be worked around, then changing the infringing code would be exactly the way to do it.
Consumer loyalty is easily earned and easily spent.
That's why companies re-brand themselves so often.
CPython, the reference interpreter (and therefore the language) only requires the ANSI C standard library. Any module in the python standard library that is written in python (most are) will also work. Modules that aren't 100% python may or may not work (socket.py is an example that, I believe, needs posix-style socket support).
Jython, the python interpreter written for the java virtual machine, will, naturally, run on any system that supports java.
If I am wrong, I am sure somebody will correct me.
you can't run Perl or Python on most non-*nix systems.
I think you need to rethink that last statement.
I use Python on Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX. I'm pretty sure that Perl runs on those systems also.
Python should work on anything that has a C compiler and the standard ansi C library.
What systems do you have in mind that are widely used but not supported by Python and/or Perl?
Try placing orange and/or lemon peels in your herb garden.
I've heard that cats won't generally spray or scratch a location that smells like citrus.
Can anyone verify this?
Do a google search for "sneaky leaker".It's a contraption designed for people who need to take a piss on the street during Mardigras (sp?) but can't whip it out because of indecent exposure laws. Basically it's a tube that runs down your pants leg.
Recharging batteries requires electricity, which in the US, is derived primarily from burning coal, which is worse ecologically than burning gasoline.
I bet you can't back that up with any facts. A modern coal burning power plant is probably 50% efficient or better and cleans its exhaust. A gas engine in a vehicle is about 20% efficient (ignoring the transportation costs of getting the fuel to the vehicle) and does very little cleaning of the exhaust.
The only reason coal is considered such an ecological threat is that we use so much of it. If we tried to produce the same amount of energy using gasoline (assuming we could build the refineries to make it all), that would be a true ecological disaster.
Try sticking a magnet to a stainless-steel fridge. It probably won't work because not all iron alloys are magnetic and the most popular stainless alloys used for home appliances fall into this category.
It's typically a "civil" or "administrative" fine so you don't get the same due process rights as you would for a criminal offense.
If you engage a lawyer, you'll get your due process (actually, they'll probably just waive the fine since they don't want to deal with the process if they don't have to). The trick is finding a lawyer who costs less than the fine.
The shortening of "rectifying antenna" was already in wide use before anyone from marketing knew about it.
the entire United States generation baseload could be provided from panels on public land in Arizona alone.
Peak load, maybe. Base load? Nope. Not unless you've got a way of storing excess power generated during the day to use at night.
You'll probably see nuclear generating most of our base load in the future, along with a little wind, geothermal, and hydro. Solar will only contribute during the day.
If you meant a rate proportional to how hard the car is braking, then I'd agree with you.
How much juice can these things generate?
That is entirely dependent on how much area you have to devote to solar panels.
Can one be self-sufficient with, say, covering a home + garage with these and putting a battery in the basement/shed?
Sure, as long as you consume less energy than the amount of energy captured per unit area multiplied by the area of your panels. Of course, you'll want to over-spec it a little and store the excess somehow, so that means you will further multiply the result by the round-trip efficiency of your storage method.
I'm over-simplifying a little, but you get the idea.
This has been feasible for a while now for people who don't consume lots of energy. As panels get cheaper/better, it becomes feasible for more people. You'll have to determine for yourself where you lie on that curve.
Care to share your calculations with the rest of us?
Everything I've ever heard says that the energy incident to the Earth far exceeds human needs.