Your analogy doesn't quite click. You're describing simple product improvement. (GeForce 4: Now with variable valve timing and dual intake runners!)
What ATI's doing is more like this: A beautiful V8 engine that makes 300 bhp on most roads, but can detect when it's on I-80. There, it makes 320 bhp, but knocks like an over-caffeinated Jehovah's Witness. Oh, and you have to change all the signs along I-80 to read "J-80" to get the engine to quit knocking and behave right.
If ATI could have found a few more frames per second without making the textures all fuzzy, more power to 'em. But I can get the same effect from another card by turning down the texture settings myself. This stunt served only ATI's PR flaks, up to the point where they got caught.
It doesn't force you to sign up for Passport. It just heavily implies that you need Passport, then depends on the naive masses to fall in line. "It keeps nagging me to get a Passport. I guess I need one." Once you sit through the nag screen six or seven times, however, it goes away.
If, on the rare occasion, they need to have their anonimity protected, then post as an AC or make a new account. If the post is legitimate then it will be modded up to where people can read it.
I've never had a reason to check "Post Anonymously". (And I wouldn't say, even if I did.) How does Slash handle that? If you still have a +1 bonus, will it still apply? Does it truly become an AC post, or is it only masked to look like one?
Another idea: Different thresholds for login and AC posts. ACs still have a chance, but are held to a higher standard.
Re:Trolltech should be called on to make QT liscen
on
Qt Released For OS X
·
· Score: 2
Um, no. Selling commercial licenses to commercial developers for commercial products is a pretty good way to keep a revenue stream flowing. How much money do you think the GTK team would make if they incorporated?
I think it's fine for Trolltech to straddle the fence:
Free edition for Free software
Commercial edition for commercial software
Simple, right? Wrong. Add operating systems to the equation. Now it's:
Commercial edition for commercial software on any OS
Free edition for Free software on Open Source OSs (and a few architecturally similar closed OSs)
Non-Commercial edition for "non-commercial" software, or Free software, if you get permission from the people who manage it, or Open Source software, if that particular flavor of license allows it, for two particular closed OSs that cover all but a sliver of the desktop OS market.
Trolltech could make everyone's lives easier if they'd just forget about the operating system. Would I like to see Windows go Open Source? Sure. Would I like to see Apple open more of OS X than Darwin? Certainly. Is it going to happen? Not bloody likely. Are Trolltech's licensing terms going to change anything? Not bloody likely.
I just feel like Trolltech is robbing Peter to pay Paul. They're trying very hard to encourage adoption of Open Source operating systems. Unfortunately, their choice of licensing terms actively discourages cross-platform Open Source applications.
...if you like expensive, copy protected (MagicGate) flash memory.
DRM: Sony sells both MagicGate DRM (white) and non-DRM (purple) sticks. AFAIK, only Sony's digital walkman line restricts you to MagicGate sticks. (Which makes me wonder why anyone would buy one.) Other devices, including Clies, can use either white or purple. The MagicGate stick's only purpose in life is to play ATRAC3-format files on digital walkmen and Clies. MP3s on purple sticks work just fine.
Cost: Have you priced one lately? The DRM code makes MagicGate sticks rather expensive. But Sony recently dropped prices on purple sticks, and other companies are now selling in Memory Stick format. eCost has Lexar 128MB Memory Sticks for $99. Right now, there's not as much price competition, because it's only Sony and Lexar. But SanDisk is coming. And Lexar's presence alone is creating competition within the format. That's bringing the price down relative to other formats, like CF or SM.
...they had to fumble around and find a word processor.
It's not like Lotus was scraping the bottom of the barrel when they picked up Samna. They were building from the ground up on Windows, so they were able to get ahead of Word in many key areas. Ami Pro 2, crude as it was, felt like a Windows word processor. It wasn't until WinWord 4 that Word didn't act like a port from DOS. Meanwhile, WordPerfect was still deeply entrenched in the DOS world, and WordStar and XyWrite were hoping their eventual Windows ports would save their respective companies. They didn't.
So Lotus certainly made the best of the situation. In the short term, they got the excellent Ami Pro word processor. In the long term, they got the framework for proper Windows versions of 123 and Freelance, and eventually, once they acquired Approach, SmartSuite. Which was, byte for byte, a better suite than MS Office. At least in the days before Microsoft stifled all the competition. <sigh/>
FAQ you. In short, any version of Qt released under the non-comm license is free as in beer, but not Free as in speech. There are two notable issues:
No source code. You're stuck with the binaries only.
Incompatible with GPL. It's a non-Free, 3rd party library, which is a no-no in GPL'd projects. From the README:
If you wish to port one of the many GPL'd Qt-based Unix applications to another operating system using the Qt non-commercial edition, you need to get that application's copyright holders to add an exception to its license.
Favorite quote from the FAQ: "Once Microsoft Windows is completely open source, we will reconsider." So there. Nyah! They still can't tell the difference between taunting Microsoft (which they're not), and taunting Windows developers (which they are).
Re:The Palm is already dying
on
Pocket PC 2002
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
...name one significant improvement that Palm has made to its original OS, interface, and default application set.
Efficiency. A PocketPC device needs all 206 MHz just to overcome Microsoft's over-elaborate, "all things to all people" code base. Everything about the PocketPC screams "inefficiency", from the fancy multi-colored title bars to the screen layout to the single processor hardware.
Constrast this with a Sony Clie N710C*. It has a 320x320 screen instead of 160x160. That's 4x as many pixels to push. Yet the screen is just as snappy as a low-res monochrome Palm, and faster than a 320x240 PocketPC screen. Their secret? Hardware acceleration. A first for Palm devices, AFAIK.
Audio Player and gMovie use the headphone audio output. And when you're not using those apps, the audio output powers down. That's how Sony beats PocketPC on overall battery life. I just checked Microsoft's PocketPC hardware page, and the HP Jornada claimed 14 hours of battery life. Everyone else was 10 hours or less. Maybe if they throttled that 206 MHz....
In short, Microsoft is giving hardware manufacturers an "easy" way out, dictating a fast, power-hungry CPU and letting the software do the rest. Sony gave their engineers something to do besides design a case, and their good work shows in the fact that they can match PocketPC feature-for-feature using an "inferior" 33MHz Dragonball processor.
*: I picked the N710C because a) it is closest in feature set to PocketPC devices, and b) I have one sitting here on my desk.
So this software is designed to reign in the people who do not "steal" the music anyway?
That's right! They are, in essence, criminalizing fair use. Here's the world that exists today:
1. Consumer buys non-copy-controlled CD.
2. Consumer rips said CD.
3. Consumer uses CD and MP3s in legal, non-infringing ways.
4. Pirate buys same CD.
5. Pirate rips said CD.
6. Pirate shares MP3s on %p2p_network%.
Notice how Consumer and Pirate never have contact, nor do they need to. Now watch what happens when the CD becomes copy-controlled:
1. Consumer buys copy-controlled CD.
2. Consumer tries to rip said CD, and fails.
3. Consumer gets mad.
4. Pirate buys same CD.
5. Pirate rips said CD using DMCA-banned circumvention device.
6. Pirate shares MP3s on %p2p_network%.
Now, the Consumer has some options:
1. Capitulate to the CD's given digital media scheme, if any.
2. Do without.
3. Stop buying CDs.
4. Logon to %p2p_network%, and download Pirate's MP3s.
Two acts of defeat, one act of sacrificial defiance, or a Federal offense. Wow, this is a brilliant business plan. No wonder CDs cost so much. RIAA's members need those profits to pay guys like Peter Jacobs the Big Bux.
Re:what's the difference?
on
VIM 6.0 is Out
·
· Score: 3, Funny
You can also write Emacs extensions with emacs-lisp to get it to pick your nose if you really want it to.
Don't give anyone any ideas. I'm sure there's somebody out there with too much free time and a Lego Mindstorms kit....
Okay, so Søren reverse engineers the proprietary data structures...
Reverse engineering is a widely accepted practice in scientific endeavour. How else do you think StarOffice can even attempt to read Microsoft Office documents? This is one of many reasons that the DMCA has been declared evil and rude by everyone not affiliated with an organization with "Artists Association" in their name.
...and then bitches when his work is ripped off...
Key words: His work. Work that was claimed by someone else with a few simple keystrokes. This is unacceptable behavior, Open Source or not. Open Source must insist upon honor among thieves* to be viable and credible.
*: Imagine <sarcasm> tags around that phrase. Reverse engineering is only theft if you actually think the DMCA has any merit at all.
The video card drivers that come with Windows (any version) don't enable any advanced features, which is par for the course. NVIDIA has released new DetonatorXP drivers that, at least on my Hercules GF2 Pro/Win 2000 combo, supported TV Out. I don't know if they'll handle vidcap on your ASUS card or not.
Also, it detected my SBLive...
Well, there's your problem. SBLive just doesn't get along with Windows 2000. I have yet to find a driver that doesn't suck. There's a new release from Creative that, among other things, enables AC-3 passthrough. Hopefully, they'll be more stable than the current set, which cost me a damn fine war scepter for my paladin. (A pox on Diablo II's waypoints!)
However, there are lots of clowns at home on DSL or cable who are running win2k. Many people run IIS without knowing it...
We've been over this before. Windows 2000 Professional never installs IIS by default. It must be explicitly installed by the user. And it's not in an obvious place, either. So if the average user doesn't know where to look, it won't happen by accident.
First of all, he established the groundwork for what are sure to be two very dark and combat-filled movies.
Excellent point. Most people tried to evaluate Ep. 1 in isolation, forgetting the overall story arc. The Phantom Menace had to start out "up" (which apparently means childish to Lucas). Otherwise, there would be no reference point for the downward spiral to come. I'd be willing to bet that Ep. 3 will be darker than Empire Strikes Back, and a marathon viewing of all six episodes will make Jar-Jar a little easier to tolerate, as he can then be seen in the context of the greater story.
...Brian Blessed (voice of the Gungan King) put in the corniest performance of his carreer since his hammy appearance in Flash Gordon.
Have we forgotten his scenery-chewing cameo in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves?:-)
S'truth. Clear Channel and Infinity 0wnz Pittsburgh. KDKA-AM (Infinity) can do whatever they want because, well, they're KDKA, dammit! But everyone else is run by some faceless corporate suitshell in a cubicle in another city. Unless I'm in my car and specifically looking for news, football, or hockey, I listen to CDs. I have lost all hope that radio in this town will ever rise to mediocrity again.
(A notable exception is WRCT, Carnegie Mellon's radio station, but I can't pick them up from home.)
1. Memory Stick -- The white MagicGate DRM sticks are only used for playing back ATRAC3 format audio. Unless you're a big MiniDisc fan, the purple non-MG sticks work fine with MP3s.
2. High-res color screen -- The battery life isn't nearly as bad as you think. The MP3 player sucks far more power. (You can watch the meter go down if you leave the screen on while playing.) And there are now $399 models that trade the MP3 player for PalmOS 4 and 65K colors. In silver or purple. Take that, Neo!:-)
3. Springboard -- Point conceded. Sony has hinted that stick-based devices are in development, but so far, it's just marketing vapor. I'd settle for better throughput.
...we are far closer to the Open Source community than someone like Microsoft and, dare I say, IBM.
1: Sun is closer to Open Source than Microsoft is: It is equally true that Seattle, WA is closer to Mexico than Vancouver, BC is. That doesn't mean they're actually close.
2: IBM: What a load of Lamborghini exhaust! With IBM, you know exactly where you stand. This is Open, that is Closed. Period. There's no lawyer-speak, snake-in-the-grass, hidden-gotcha licence like Sun Community Source License to worry about.
FUD. The fact that they said "The WB" is the giveaway. The WB itself has no news department, so they would do what many other networks, broadcast and cable, relied on: The news affiliates of their great media empires. So WB would have simulcast CNN, which, you would agree, is a pretty high profile source. I think between CNN, Headline News, WB, TBS, and TNT, there would be enough evidence of prompting, this would be something more than a rumor on the net.
And his strange, halting delivery is normal. The man is not a good public speaker.
The only odd thing that I noticed was on CBS, where they seemed to cut to the White House too early, treating viewers to ~45 sec. of Dubya staring off into space, collecting his thoughts. Did that happen on any other networks?
The running theories are Washington DC or Camp David. Both would have been somewhere near that flight's path. Pittsburgh's strategic significance ended when the steel mills closed.
What intrigues me is that, according to animations CBS aired last night, that plane turned around somewhere west of Cleveland. That's ~225 miles from the crash site (~80 mi. SE of Pgh). And this morning, on the local radio, there was speculation that passengers on that flight tried to retake the plane. Sounds to me like the hijackers' plans were going awry from the start.
All this struck me as I walked to lunch today, looking at the Pittsburgh skyline. On a day when hijacked planes were being crashed into buildings, a hijacked plane flew over my home town.
OK, this is blatent flamebait, but I don't care. This is slightly better than the previous "instructed by Bush" (Michael apparently added the "administration" part).
Amen, brother. Also note that the "correction" was quietly inlined instead of an appended update. Show some respect!
Exactly. Dubya didn't pick up the phone, call a receptionist at the DOJ, and say, "Don't break up Microsoft." (Well, not bloody likely. Oh, to be privvy to such things....)
Of course, the DOJ is run by John Ashcroft, a Bush appointee. And Bush, like any President, appointed an Attorney General with views in alignment with his party's platform. In this case, conservative Republican, which prefers to let the market police itself. Which means Bush would have some influence on DOJ v Microsoft.
But there's a world of difference between indirect influence and direct instruction, which Michael claims. By fabricating direct action by President Bush, Michael is, once again, discarding what little journalistic integrity Slashdot has, in favor of anti-Microsoft rhetoric so relentless, it has become irrational. Malda needs to bring the hammer down on Michael, and that right soon.
Venting done. Back on topic.
Would Bill Clinton or Janet Reno have enough patience to see the original break-up order this far? Or would they opt, as the Ashcroft DOJ has done, to forego the break-up and the now-moot browser commingling point in favor of a new remedy based on Microsoft's latest round of predatory behavior? Hard to say. At the very least, Microsoft still isn't off the hook.
And I was never convinced an OS/Office split would have been an effective remedy. The two BabySofts would still have monopolies in their respective markets. This lets the DOJ go after a more meaningful remedy.
Does the word "Cairo" ring a bell? It was MS' grand plan for Windows NT 5.0.
(I'm not really adding anything here. I'm actually trying to verify a bug I'm seeing with old comments in Slash 2.2. Please disperse. Nothing to see here.)
Re:Microsoft should be sued
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 2
yeah, this is true, but it is MS that has it turned on by default w/o letting the average user (which by the way is their intended target) know.
Only on server versions of NT or 2000. The average user will have some 9x mutation, which renders the point moot. No IIS, no exploit. The average 2000 user will install 2000 Professional which, while capable of running IIS, does not install it automatically. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you must go through a couple dialogs and explicitly check the IIS line item.
The only versions of 2000 that install IIS by default are all server variants. That target market damn well better know what they're getting. That won't include the average user. If they really want a web server, the sticker shock of 2000 Server will send them to Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
Your analogy doesn't quite click. You're describing simple product improvement. (GeForce 4: Now with variable valve timing and dual intake runners!)
What ATI's doing is more like this: A beautiful V8 engine that makes 300 bhp on most roads, but can detect when it's on I-80. There, it makes 320 bhp, but knocks like an over-caffeinated Jehovah's Witness. Oh, and you have to change all the signs along I-80 to read "J-80" to get the engine to quit knocking and behave right.
If ATI could have found a few more frames per second without making the textures all fuzzy, more power to 'em. But I can get the same effect from another card by turning down the texture settings myself. This stunt served only ATI's PR flaks, up to the point where they got caught.
It doesn't force you to sign up for Passport. It just heavily implies that you need Passport, then depends on the naive masses to fall in line. "It keeps nagging me to get a Passport. I guess I need one." Once you sit through the nag screen six or seven times, however, it goes away.
I've never had a reason to check "Post Anonymously". (And I wouldn't say, even if I did.) How does Slash handle that? If you still have a +1 bonus, will it still apply? Does it truly become an AC post, or is it only masked to look like one?
Another idea: Different thresholds for login and AC posts. ACs still have a chance, but are held to a higher standard.
I think it's fine for Trolltech to straddle the fence:
Simple, right? Wrong. Add operating systems to the equation. Now it's:
Trolltech could make everyone's lives easier if they'd just forget about the operating system. Would I like to see Windows go Open Source? Sure. Would I like to see Apple open more of OS X than Darwin? Certainly. Is it going to happen? Not bloody likely. Are Trolltech's licensing terms going to change anything? Not bloody likely.
I just feel like Trolltech is robbing Peter to pay Paul. They're trying very hard to encourage adoption of Open Source operating systems. Unfortunately, their choice of licensing terms actively discourages cross-platform Open Source applications.
DRM: Sony sells both MagicGate DRM (white) and non-DRM (purple) sticks. AFAIK, only Sony's digital walkman line restricts you to MagicGate sticks. (Which makes me wonder why anyone would buy one.) Other devices, including Clies, can use either white or purple. The MagicGate stick's only purpose in life is to play ATRAC3-format files on digital walkmen and Clies. MP3s on purple sticks work just fine.
Cost: Have you priced one lately? The DRM code makes MagicGate sticks rather expensive. But Sony recently dropped prices on purple sticks, and other companies are now selling in Memory Stick format. eCost has Lexar 128MB Memory Sticks for $99. Right now, there's not as much price competition, because it's only Sony and Lexar. But SanDisk is coming. And Lexar's presence alone is creating competition within the format. That's bringing the price down relative to other formats, like CF or SM.
It's not like Lotus was scraping the bottom of the barrel when they picked up Samna. They were building from the ground up on Windows, so they were able to get ahead of Word in many key areas. Ami Pro 2, crude as it was, felt like a Windows word processor. It wasn't until WinWord 4 that Word didn't act like a port from DOS. Meanwhile, WordPerfect was still deeply entrenched in the DOS world, and WordStar and XyWrite were hoping their eventual Windows ports would save their respective companies. They didn't.
So Lotus certainly made the best of the situation. In the short term, they got the excellent Ami Pro word processor. In the long term, they got the framework for proper Windows versions of 123 and Freelance, and eventually, once they acquired Approach, SmartSuite. Which was, byte for byte, a better suite than MS Office. At least in the days before Microsoft stifled all the competition. <sigh
- No source code. You're stuck with the binaries only.
- Incompatible with GPL. It's a non-Free, 3rd party library, which is a no-no in GPL'd projects. From the README:
Favorite quote from the FAQ: "Once Microsoft Windows is completely open source, we will reconsider." So there. Nyah! They still can't tell the difference between taunting Microsoft (which they're not), and taunting Windows developers (which they are).Efficiency. A PocketPC device needs all 206 MHz just to overcome Microsoft's over-elaborate, "all things to all people" code base. Everything about the PocketPC screams "inefficiency", from the fancy multi-colored title bars to the screen layout to the single processor hardware.
Constrast this with a Sony Clie N710C*. It has a 320x320 screen instead of 160x160. That's 4x as many pixels to push. Yet the screen is just as snappy as a low-res monochrome Palm, and faster than a 320x240 PocketPC screen. Their secret? Hardware acceleration. A first for Palm devices, AFAIK.
Audio Player and gMovie use the headphone audio output. And when you're not using those apps, the audio output powers down. That's how Sony beats PocketPC on overall battery life. I just checked Microsoft's PocketPC hardware page, and the HP Jornada claimed 14 hours of battery life. Everyone else was 10 hours or less. Maybe if they throttled that 206 MHz....
In short, Microsoft is giving hardware manufacturers an "easy" way out, dictating a fast, power-hungry CPU and letting the software do the rest. Sony gave their engineers something to do besides design a case, and their good work shows in the fact that they can match PocketPC feature-for-feature using an "inferior" 33MHz Dragonball processor.
*: I picked the N710C because a) it is closest in feature set to PocketPC devices, and b) I have one sitting here on my desk.
Another place to look is a Sony factory outlet store. I picked mine up for $65, refurbished. Not bad compared to $179 MSRP.
One more for the list:
$665.95: Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price of the Beast.
That's right! They are, in essence, criminalizing fair use. Here's the world that exists today:
1. Consumer buys non-copy-controlled CD.
2. Consumer rips said CD.
3. Consumer uses CD and MP3s in legal, non-infringing ways.
4. Pirate buys same CD.
5. Pirate rips said CD.
6. Pirate shares MP3s on %p2p_network%.
Notice how Consumer and Pirate never have contact, nor do they need to. Now watch what happens when the CD becomes copy-controlled:
1. Consumer buys copy-controlled CD.
2. Consumer tries to rip said CD, and fails.
3. Consumer gets mad.
4. Pirate buys same CD.
5. Pirate rips said CD using DMCA-banned circumvention device.
6. Pirate shares MP3s on %p2p_network%.
Now, the Consumer has some options:
1. Capitulate to the CD's given digital media scheme, if any.
2. Do without.
3. Stop buying CDs.
4. Logon to %p2p_network%, and download Pirate's MP3s.
Two acts of defeat, one act of sacrificial defiance, or a Federal offense. Wow, this is a brilliant business plan. No wonder CDs cost so much. RIAA's members need those profits to pay guys like Peter Jacobs the Big Bux.
Don't give anyone any ideas. I'm sure there's somebody out there with too much free time and a Lego Mindstorms kit....
Reverse engineering is a widely accepted practice in scientific endeavour. How else do you think StarOffice can even attempt to read Microsoft Office documents? This is one of many reasons that the DMCA has been declared evil and rude by everyone not affiliated with an organization with "Artists Association" in their name.
Key words: His work. Work that was claimed by someone else with a few simple keystrokes. This is unacceptable behavior, Open Source or not. Open Source must insist upon honor among thieves* to be viable and credible.
*: Imagine <sarcasm> tags around that phrase. Reverse engineering is only theft if you actually think the DMCA has any merit at all.
The video card drivers that come with Windows (any version) don't enable any advanced features, which is par for the course. NVIDIA has released new DetonatorXP drivers that, at least on my Hercules GF2 Pro/Win 2000 combo, supported TV Out. I don't know if they'll handle vidcap on your ASUS card or not.
Well, there's your problem. SBLive just doesn't get along with Windows 2000. I have yet to find a driver that doesn't suck. There's a new release from Creative that, among other things, enables AC-3 passthrough. Hopefully, they'll be more stable than the current set, which cost me a damn fine war scepter for my paladin. (A pox on Diablo II's waypoints!)
We've been over this before. Windows 2000 Professional never installs IIS by default. It must be explicitly installed by the user. And it's not in an obvious place, either. So if the average user doesn't know where to look, it won't happen by accident.
Excellent point. Most people tried to evaluate Ep. 1 in isolation, forgetting the overall story arc. The Phantom Menace had to start out "up" (which apparently means childish to Lucas). Otherwise, there would be no reference point for the downward spiral to come. I'd be willing to bet that Ep. 3 will be darker than Empire Strikes Back, and a marathon viewing of all six episodes will make Jar-Jar a little easier to tolerate, as he can then be seen in the context of the greater story.
Have we forgotten his scenery-chewing cameo in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves?
S'truth. Clear Channel and Infinity 0wnz Pittsburgh. KDKA-AM (Infinity) can do whatever they want because, well, they're KDKA, dammit! But everyone else is run by some faceless corporate suitshell in a cubicle in another city. Unless I'm in my car and specifically looking for news, football, or hockey, I listen to CDs. I have lost all hope that radio in this town will ever rise to mediocrity again.
(A notable exception is WRCT, Carnegie Mellon's radio station, but I can't pick them up from home.)
1. Memory Stick -- The white MagicGate DRM sticks are only used for playing back ATRAC3 format audio. Unless you're a big MiniDisc fan, the purple non-MG sticks work fine with MP3s.
:-)
2. High-res color screen -- The battery life isn't nearly as bad as you think. The MP3 player sucks far more power. (You can watch the meter go down if you leave the screen on while playing.) And there are now $399 models that trade the MP3 player for PalmOS 4 and 65K colors. In silver or purple. Take that, Neo!
3. Springboard -- Point conceded. Sony has hinted that stick-based devices are in development, but so far, it's just marketing vapor. I'd settle for better throughput.
1: Sun is closer to Open Source than Microsoft is: It is equally true that Seattle, WA is closer to Mexico than Vancouver, BC is. That doesn't mean they're actually close.
2: IBM: What a load of Lamborghini exhaust! With IBM, you know exactly where you stand. This is Open, that is Closed. Period. There's no lawyer-speak, snake-in-the-grass, hidden-gotcha licence like Sun Community Source License to worry about.
FUD. The fact that they said "The WB" is the giveaway. The WB itself has no news department, so they would do what many other networks, broadcast and cable, relied on: The news affiliates of their great media empires. So WB would have simulcast CNN, which, you would agree, is a pretty high profile source. I think between CNN, Headline News, WB, TBS, and TNT, there would be enough evidence of prompting, this would be something more than a rumor on the net.
And his strange, halting delivery is normal. The man is not a good public speaker.
The only odd thing that I noticed was on CBS, where they seemed to cut to the White House too early, treating viewers to ~45 sec. of Dubya staring off into space, collecting his thoughts. Did that happen on any other networks?
The running theories are Washington DC or Camp David. Both would have been somewhere near that flight's path. Pittsburgh's strategic significance ended when the steel mills closed.
What intrigues me is that, according to animations CBS aired last night, that plane turned around somewhere west of Cleveland. That's ~225 miles from the crash site (~80 mi. SE of Pgh). And this morning, on the local radio, there was speculation that passengers on that flight tried to retake the plane. Sounds to me like the hijackers' plans were going awry from the start.
All this struck me as I walked to lunch today, looking at the Pittsburgh skyline. On a day when hijacked planes were being crashed into buildings, a hijacked plane flew over my home town.
Amen, brother. Also note that the "correction" was quietly inlined instead of an appended update. Show some respect!
Exactly. Dubya didn't pick up the phone, call a receptionist at the DOJ, and say, "Don't break up Microsoft." (Well, not bloody likely. Oh, to be privvy to such things....)
Of course, the DOJ is run by John Ashcroft, a Bush appointee. And Bush, like any President, appointed an Attorney General with views in alignment with his party's platform. In this case, conservative Republican, which prefers to let the market police itself. Which means Bush would have some influence on DOJ v Microsoft.
But there's a world of difference between indirect influence and direct instruction, which Michael claims. By fabricating direct action by President Bush, Michael is, once again, discarding what little journalistic integrity Slashdot has, in favor of anti-Microsoft rhetoric so relentless, it has become irrational. Malda needs to bring the hammer down on Michael, and that right soon.
Venting done. Back on topic.
Would Bill Clinton or Janet Reno have enough patience to see the original break-up order this far? Or would they opt, as the Ashcroft DOJ has done, to forego the break-up and the now-moot browser commingling point in favor of a new remedy based on Microsoft's latest round of predatory behavior? Hard to say. At the very least, Microsoft still isn't off the hook.
And I was never convinced an OS/Office split would have been an effective remedy. The two BabySofts would still have monopolies in their respective markets. This lets the DOJ go after a more meaningful remedy.
Does the word "Cairo" ring a bell? It was MS' grand plan for Windows NT 5.0.
(I'm not really adding anything here. I'm actually trying to verify a bug I'm seeing with old comments in Slash 2.2. Please disperse. Nothing to see here.)
The only versions of 2000 that install IIS by default are all server variants. That target market damn well better know what they're getting. That won't include the average user. If they really want a web server, the sticker shock of 2000 Server will send them to Linux.