Re:Microsoft should be sued
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I bet it isn't that hard to do "accidentally"
Actually, it is. You are never offered the option during the initial installation (i.e. the moment you boot from the CD). You must wait until the entire installation is finished, then select "Add/Remove Windows Components" from the Add/Remove Programs control panel. From there, IIS can be selected. It is not selected by default.
Re:Microsoft should be sued
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
...most of the sites were Joe Schmoe's cable modem surfmachines with nothing on. Their only crime was to purchase the damned software.
IIS doesn't even run on 9x, ME, or other spawn of 3.x. 2000 Professional* does not install IIS by default. Your Joe Schmoe must have either installed IIS after installing W2kPro, or installed W2k Server, which does install IIS automatically. Either way, he took deliberate action to make his PC a server, and with it, took on the responsibility of keeping that server up-to-date.
Claiming that Microsoft should be liable for sysadmins who are some combination of naive, out of touch, unqualified, or just plain stupid is like claiming that I can sue Honda because my parked car was sideswiped by an unlicensed, drunk driver who just happened to be in an Accord.
*: This also applies to NT 4.0.
Re:Microsoft should be sued
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
...I still think Microsoft is guilty here because their customers weren't aware their Windows-running boxes could start chewing up bandwidth...
If you are a sysadmin responsible for any server, regardless of operating system, it's your job to be aware. Microsoft's poor record may drive up the frequency of patches, but that doesn't change the fact that the difference between a good sysadmin and a bad one is the knowledge that no server runs itself.
I wish Kyocera would bite the bullet and force their SmartPhone to use headphones. The way it's designed now, you have to be careful to avoid bumping the screen with your cheek as you talk. You've already pointed out the inherent flaw in holding the input device to your ear. And, even though the SmartPhone is a 2nd generation design, smaller than its predecessor, the Qualcomm pdQ, it's still too big.
Most of that size probably comes from the cellphone-spec battery. Just eyeballing my phone and PDA, they're the same thickness. But the PDA's built-in MP3 player sucks the battery dry. (11 hours with the screen off, 3 with the screen on. Which makes me wonder why Sony bothered with visualizations. Guess some people are impressed with das blinkenlights.) Imagine what a dual- or tri-band cellphone would do for battery life. It could possibly survive as a digital-only phone, but analog? Fuggedabahtit.
The pdQ/SmartPhone probably sounded like a good idea at the time, but in practice, it comes off as two devices surgicially attached, rather than designed as a single unit. Microsoft's Stinger sounds closer to the ideal, although the Pocket PC part is somewhat watered down.
What I'd like to see is, ironically, a three-part design, but with a different segregation of duties:
PDA: Any kind would do.
Cellphone: Here's the tricky part. It would just be the antenna and battery. No buttons. It gets all its marching orders from the PDA. The Address Book's role is pretty obvious. Service providers could provide applets that automate things like voice mail without wading through "Press 1 to..." menus. This way, the cellphone part can be made as small as possible and left in a pocket or purse.
Headset: like you said, something small and rugged. Would also be used for audio from/to the PDA, depending on its capabilities (alarm tones, MP3s, text-to-speech, voice annotations, etc).
All three would be connected by the wireless protocol du jour, of course. The failure or loss of the PDA would be an issue for the cellphone (voice-recognition dialing?), but this is just off the top of my head. I haven't written this on the back of an Eat'n'Park placemat yet.:-)
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
So, even though it's anonymized, it's more than sufficient for a police officer to go out and clock someone speeding. Even though the speed data isn't used to directly issue the ticket (unlike a certain car rental company), it still provides critical information that leads to the ticket being issued. So it still could be used as a sort of defacto Big Brother system.
It's still an indirect measurement. Not much different from a cop driving a road in an unmarked car and noticing how fast the flow is going. Or someone who lives along the road complaining to the township supervisor about how fast everyone drives past their house.
I seriously doubt any local police departments are going to suddenly "discover" that a long, flat, straight road in their jurisdiction is frequently driven at (speed_limit + 20) MPH. As long as the device used in tracking remains anonymous, the results will be academic.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
They were put up by Traffic.com. We were the pilot city for their system. Those sensors poll every 60 seconds, and can tell how dense and how fast the flow is moving (or not moving as you approach the Squirrel Hill Tunnels). They combine this with traditional methods (choppers, watchtowers, cellphone callers) to handle accidents on the main routes, as well as general information on traffic in areas not covered by the flow sensors.
It's pretty cool. I can now see in realtime just how frelled up the Parkways East and West are, and exactly where the Perpetual I-79 Repaving Project is this week. And it doesn't seem capable to pick out individual vehicles, so it can only detect how fast the flow is going.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
The Wall street Journal ran a column today about the Windows XP registration process, which is apparently news to a lot of people who don't read enough Slashdot.
First of all, Product Activation (not registration; big difference) was first introduced in a beta. Many news agencies reported on it, but withheld judgement until it was confirmed that Microsoft was going through with such an Evil scheme. Now that Release Candidate 1 has arrived, with Product Activation firmly in place, major outlets like the WSJ now feel free to set flamethrowers on "pile of charcoal", and fire at will.
Personally, I'm waiting at least 60 days after XP hits the shelves to upgrade from 2000. Why?
After 30 days, the horror stories will tell me if it's safe or not.
That gives Microsoft time to backpedal after said horror stories escalate into a public relations nightmare of Firestone/Ford proportions.
I already have 2000 and WindowBlinds. Do I really need a whole "new" OS just for IE6 and Media Player 8?
I feel perfectly justified in downloading a crack that disables Activation and/or any "phone-home" code. I've still paid my 30 pieces of silver. I'm just protecting my privacy.
And Michael, exactly how self-important are we feeling today? "...people who don't read enough Slashdot"?! I'm guessing that means "the unwashed heathens who haven't yet accepted Richard Stallman as their Lord and Saviour". Do you honestly think anyone with an open mind wants to hear all your venom? The only reason you're still included on my home page is because without your non-MS-bashing articles, Slashdot looks thinner than Technocrat during a slow week.*
Pro-Linux != Anti-Microsoft. Don't make me get out the clue stick. (Although I must say that this karma burn has been quite theraputic.)
*: With apologies to Bruce Perens.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Well, that only applies to the Non-Commercial license, but if you purchase a Professional or Enterprise license, you do get the Qt source code with it.
It doesn't matter if the OS is Free or not. 3rd-party non-Free libraries can not be used to build GPL apps. This is why they QPL'd Qt/X11 in the first place; to rescue KDE from license hell. Trolltech suggested using Qt/Pro/Win for GPL'd apps when Qt/Free/X11 came out. They now stand corrected.
Note that you have to get an exception to the GPL to use Qt/NonCom/Win with a GPL'd app. Nice cop out. They throw potential Windows developers a bone with this non-commercial license, then shift responsibility (and/or blame) onto the stewards of GPL'd Qt apps to grant an indulgence to Windows folk.
It's pointless. Trolltech is still acting out of spite. With a QPL'd Qt/Win, commercial developers will still have to pay Trolltech, as they rightfully should. Without a QPL'd Qt/Win, Trolltech is still sowing seeds of ill will, deterring potential users, and shooting themselves in the foot by denying themselves the benefits of an Open Source library.
I can't wait to see how Qt/MacOS X will be licensed. Then we'll see if they truly support Open Source software, or if they're just shallow anti-Microsoft zealots.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
They did the Swamp Castle playset. It sank into the swamp.
They did a second Swamp Castle playset. It sank into the swamp.
They did a third Swamp Castle playset. It burned up, fell over, and is now sinking into the swamp.
Let's hope the fourth one stays up.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Frightening. If my best course of action is to floor it and accelerate to avoid an accident, I can not and will not accept a system that prevents me from exceeding a set speed. Car companies are sick of frivolous "unbuckled child in front seat dies when drunk father drives wrong way down steep one-way hill" lawsuits now. Imagine the carnage when a "big brother device prevents accident avoidance" suit hits.
<rant tone='disgruntled'>
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Drivers' Exams in the United States suck. Pennsylvania's exam, at least in the late '80s, consisted of rote memorization of parking rules and high-beam etiquette. The road test was a trivial slalom, a three-point turn, and parallel parking. Not once was I taught about the traction circle, or the difference between front-, rear-, and all-wheel drive, especially at the handling limits. I learned more about driving from the manual that came with Gran Turismo than I did from PennDOT. Maybe if we quit entitling morons to propel 3500 lbs of steel and aluminum over 60 mph, the temptation to impose such Orwellian intrusions would go away.
</rant>
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
I think he was going more for the conceptual hypocricy of it all.
And what was up with all those industry terms in quotes? Who wrote this, Dr. Evil?
Using a system called "TCP/IP", we will use "open-source" blueprints to create a "server". Once this "server" is complete, it will hold the plans for my greatest invention ever. (Horn sting) The Alan Parsons Project! (Pinkie to corner of mouth)
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
SEGA tried that with the Saturn. It died a horrible death. Then they tried it with Dreamcast.
Saturn died a horrible death because it was a royal PITA to develop for, chasing off many developers. Not having a Sonic the Hedgehog title at launch didn't help. No games, no market penetration. What good is expanding a system nobody uses? (see also: Mattel Aquarius)
What's unfortunate is that the same market penetration problem needlessly afflicted Dreamcast. Too many binary-thinking fanboys pledged allegiance to PS2, and Saturn created too much ill will with developers.
The premise still works. It did back in the '80s, when everybody had C64s, Atari 800s, and Speccies. The only difference between those systems and game consoles were the keyboards and "mass" storage device connectors. I know quite a few people who used their C64 only for games. Then GEOS arrived, and GeoWrite became their first word processor.
It can still work today. Now that PS2 has settled in, the "shortage" has ended, and hasty PSone ports are giving way to real limit-pushing titles, there's enough market penetration to start using those USB ports for something besides Unreal Tournament.
As much as turning a PS2 into a "full-fledged" PC sounds like a killer app, something as simple as Sony's Movie Shaker, a simple video editing package, would be even better. Insert Movie Shaker disc into PS2. Connect digital video camera to i.LINK port. Edit movies with a Dual Shock controller! Add a USB keyboard, and titles are easier. Doesn't matter if the disc boots Linux, Win CE, QNX, BeOS*, or a VAX emulator. It just works. And people raised on Atari 2600 and NES would never picture a game console doing something like that. Now that's a killer app.
*: Assuming Be didn't give it's last dying gasp in the time it took me to type this.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
I had heard that they were planning eight seasons, then got cut short to seven, leaving them to squeeze the last two seasons into one. Not a troll, just misinformed. Chill.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
I find it amazing that Voyager had an entire season to hit every bullet point in your list, but instead came up with nothing more than ten seconds of Voyager and Earth, then cutting to credits.
DS9 was taken by surprise when they found out they weren't going to have another season, and still, they did a better job of wrapping up loose ends. It was rushed, but the well-informed fans knew why, and those who weren't still got a damn good story. What would you prefer: Particle-of-the-Week Torpedoes, or the Cardassians turning on the Dominion, and the Founder responding with a scorched-earth attack on Cardassia Prime?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Hey, pay attention to the market. Small cars have never sold well in the United States. Why? Two reasons, both psychological. One, anything less than 100 bhp is considered woefully inadequate for highway use. Pay no attention to those VW Lupos on the autobahn. Two, Americans aspire to large cars. Always have. The tendency is to buy the largest car for the money. Hence, vast fleets of SUVs, Cadillac and Lincoln building trucks, and the inexplicable success of the big, cheap, ugly Chevy Impala sedan.
A small premium European car is a big risk in the States. They're sold on razor-thin margins in Europe. That would get eaten up by the costs of export. DaimlerChrysler has been agonizing over American Smarts ever since they launched. Same for the Audi A2 and Mercedes-Benz A-Class, although the new long wheelbase version of the latter would do a little better. Again, bigger is better. If given $25,000, the average American would choose a well-equipped Toyota Camry over a base Audi A3.
Besides, regional Dept./Ministry of Transportation regulations do more to interfere with imports than trade policies. Building a car to 30 different sets of regs with one build configuration is, unfortunately, quite expensive. IIRC, only Jaguar builds cars this way. Robert Cumberford had a good article on this in Automobile last year. (Not online.)
BTW, Alfa is coming back, Renault's '80s shitboxes ruined the reputation of all French cars in America, there are no smaller Volvos, and Rover's lucky they're still selling cars in England.
(Score: -1, Feeding the Trolls)
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
It's already happening. You just have the parties reversed.
Qt/Windows and Free are inherently incompatible. Since the only version of Qt/Windows is non-Free, it can't be used to build Free software on Windows. In this case, Qt is a non-Free, third-party library. TrollTech leaves the cop out that you can use Qt/Free with X11 libraries and an X server for Windows. Why this is absurd is left as an exercise to the reader.
GTK+, on the other hand, is licensed under the LGPL. And that means all platforms, including proprietary ones, such as Windows, BeOS, and Mac OS X.
That killer app you speak of will get here, but as a Gnome app, not KDE.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Larger Stash: If there weren't whole new classes of inventory items, particularly charms, you're right that it makes the game easier. But the stash was just right in the base D2, meaning it was too small by one column. (At least, for me it was.) There's so much more stuff in D2:LOD, they needed to make the stash a little bigger. For me, I'll bet it will still be too small by one column. Besides, the stash stays in town. AFAIK, the Horadric Cube hasn't grown, and I think that's a very good thing, since it is, in essence, a portable stash. It's instant accessability trumps any attempts to make it bigger. It's balanced as is.
Weapon-switch hotkeys: It would be nice if its speed was dictated by your class, level, and/or choice of weapons. With a small shield, you could leave it on your bow arm while using a bow. Only a barbarian or paladin could pull that off with a tower shield. Of course, I have very little experience with medieval weapons, myself.:-)
Gems: The nature of the gem's effect is inherent in it's composition: Ruby = Fire, Sapphire = Cold, Dilithium = "Einstein's a putz", etc. And the quality of a gem implies its power. Within the story, it's all anecdotal. A warrior puts a topaz in his sword, and lightning shoots from it. As for the actual numbers, well, this is a role-playing game. It all reduces to a formula with a random variable. Blame E. Gary Gygax.
Runes: Great idea. But did Blizzard remember the Nam-Shub of Enki? And will "goo goo ga choo" on a sword add a 25% chance of an enemy turning into a walrus when struck?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Re:QT is the best gui toolkit out there
on
Qt for Mac
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· Score: 2
Never mind the GTK zealots, here come the Windows apologists.*
TrollTech's stance on proprietary OSs has been, to put it bluntly, discriminatory. For free OSs, they're quite clear and logical: Pro or Enterprise for commercial, Free for GPL. But they have a horrible double standard for Windows and proprietary Unix. They're OK with using Free for GPL'd Unix projects. But they won't release a Free version of Qt/Windows. They require that you pay for Pro or Enterprise, even if your project is GPL.
I'm still trying to figure out why. Technical reasons? I've looked all over TT's site, and I can't find any evidence that there's a difference between Qt/X Free and Pro editions, except for licensing terms. Surely they could do the same for Qt/Windows. Ensuring a revenue stream sounds good, but if that were the only reason, why release a Free version at all? Goodwill? Sounds better. But TT is making friends with the Linux and BSD developers at the expense of Windows developers.
The only reason I can come up with is this: TrollTech can't stomach the thought of Open Source software on a Microsoft operating system. So they actively discourage such development with their tools. Maybe they think they're sticking it to Microsoft. Does anyone here think Microsoft gives a damn about TrollTech? If anything, Qt/Windows Free edition would get TrollTech on Microsoft's radar, since it would provide an exit path away from Windows. The only people getting screwed here are Windows developers, because they're being denied a powerful tool for purely political purposes, and TrollTech, because they're holding back their own success.
*: Boy, I never thought I'd be saying that.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
DS9 required patience. In the beginning, the later seasons of TNG were drawing the bright writers. Once TNG ended, and once Paramount realized that it would actually have to compete with Babylon 5, DS9 got good. I especially liked how Sisko would occasionally throw off that holier-than-thou Starfleet captain facade and get tough. Three favorite moments:
Q shows up, and starts baiting Sisko, expecting a Picard-like exchange of Shakespeare quotes and claims of enlightenment. Instead, Sisko drops Q with a right jab to the nose.
Sisko evacuates a Maquis colony/base, then "salts the earth" by irradiating the place with a particle-of-the-week. Great Valjean/Javert subtext with his ex-security chief turned terrorist.
Sisko and Garak forge a Dominion strategy meeting recording to trick the Romulans into switching sides in the Dominion War. Garak's ulterior motives get a Romulan senator and his entourage blown up, while ensuring that any flaws in the forgery look like blast damage. The episode ends with Sisko finishing his log entry with "In the end, I believe I did the right thing. I really do. (pauses) Computer, erase log entry."
Star Trek's problem is that it's afraid to make major life changes in its characters. There's always some transporter trick or gene therapy to undo everything in the last 5 minutes. The actors drive any changes that do take place, either by leaving or getting pregnant. (I remember Carl Sagan dismissing the idea of Spock being half-human, half-Vulcan as preposterous. Imagine his reaction to a Bajoran surrogate mother to a human child! That's how they wrote around Nana Visitor's pregnancy in DS9.)
Farscape had the cojones to kill Zhann without any warning whatsoever. One day she's there, the next, everyone's in a funk, Stark is real close to going 'round the bend, and there's some redhead with a metal-melting shriek, a kinky, Klingon-lingerie wardrobe, and a spoiled princess personality that makes you want to smack her. Good thing Chiana's there to act on that impulse, repeatedly.;->
I have a feeling Enterprise will have another reason to crash and burn. Continuity. Voyager can't keep its stories straight from one season to the next. How do they expect to jump back 100 years without contradicting themselves twice an hour?
Maybe if their ship was alive, and unarmed, deep in Klingon space, and Archer had the secrets to transwarp drive buried in his subconscious, along with the personality of an insane Klingon commander...:-)
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
...or maybe I have become jaded by the number of unjust flames I have seen originating from slashdot...
You mean "originating from Michael". I'd block his stories in a heartbeat, but today my front page would consist of nothing but that Turing book review and Taco's Bender announcement.
Taco, please, for everybody's sake. Next time Michael posts some non-sequitor Microsoft bashing, liberally apply a clue stick to his head until he cries uncle.
ObTopic: Michael, do you honestly think these drivers would appear by some form of source code parthenogenesis? Patience.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
"I'm giving my code to the world, at no monetary cost. Do whatever you want with it. If you want to take it, modify it in a way that is incompatible with my version, and then charge me (or others) for the priviledge, go right ahead - fine by me."
Personally, I find the second much more offensive.
How does this sound:
I'm giving my code to the world, at no monetary cost. You may use it as you please, and make any modifications necessary to improve it. All I ask is that you share your improvements with me and all others that use this code. Our collective efforts will thereby improve what we build upon this code.
I release this code in the hopes that you, in the same spirit, will give your code to the world. However, I understand that, like any programmer, you may need to protect the interests of your customers. I don't want to prevent those interests from allowing us to reap the benefits our collabaration may provide. So you do not have to share your final code if you are unable to. But you must pass along the code we share, so that our customers may also enjoy the benefits of our collective work.
Sound familiar? It's the LGPL. And, unless somebody can turn me on to something better, it's the best compromise I've found between Stallman's holy grail of "pure" Free software and the realities of business computing today.
Maybe we can't share our finished products. But at least let us share the building blocks we use to build.
I, however, will continue to interpret your choice to use the BSDL as a sign that either:
1. You don't value what you work on.
2. What you work on isn't valuable.
Well said. I always felt that BSDL was a black hole, from which no code ever returns.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
I think Rambus gambled and lost on the economy. They timed their suits with a sudden downturn in Asian economic markets. The Dramurai from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan didn't have the financial stability needed for a drawn-out lawsuit, and were forced to yield. IIRC, one of the Koreans (Hyundai or Samsung?) held out for a while, but was the last Asian company to cave.
Notice, however, the two companies that didn't cave when Rambus' lawyers came knocking? The two not based in Asia: Micron (USA) and Infineon (Germany). Rambus hoped that markets worldwide would suffer from Asia's hard times, sapping Micron's and Infineon's strength. Unfortunately for Rambus, Europe and Wall Street recovered very quickly, and Rambus got the last thing they wanted: A real, live, honest-to-God court battle.
Unfortunately for anyone who submitted to Rambus, this case probably won't change their situation. A failed patent defense doesn't automatically undo any licensing agreements already signed. IANAL, so I ask you this: What changes because the judge invoked RICO? Does that open the door for the Dramurai to have those license agreements revoked, or bring criminal charges against Rambus execs and lawyers?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Then when I tell you you're wrong, you won't take it personally?:-)
The mouse and keyboard are cheap, standard USB components. No shock there.
And while the HDD/Ethernet module sounds expensive, it's actually another loss-leading piece of game console hardware. This device was always part of Sony's master plan. I wouldn't be surprised if the Linux version of the module isn't "pre-release" hardware that's missing some game-specific firm/software (read "protection").
I wonder if the VGA adapter already existed as part of the "TEST" PS2 package game developers use for debugging?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Slashdot Mirror
Claiming that Microsoft should be liable for sysadmins who are some combination of naive, out of touch, unqualified, or just plain stupid is like claiming that I can sue Honda because my parked car was sideswiped by an unlicensed, drunk driver who just happened to be in an Accord.
*: This also applies to NT 4.0.
* history = The marginal cost of a 386DX-33 over a 386DX-25.
Most of that size probably comes from the cellphone-spec battery. Just eyeballing my phone and PDA, they're the same thickness. But the PDA's built-in MP3 player sucks the battery dry. (11 hours with the screen off, 3 with the screen on. Which makes me wonder why Sony bothered with visualizations. Guess some people are impressed with das blinkenlights.) Imagine what a dual- or tri-band cellphone would do for battery life. It could possibly survive as a digital-only phone, but analog? Fuggedabahtit.
The pdQ/SmartPhone probably sounded like a good idea at the time, but in practice, it comes off as two devices surgicially attached, rather than designed as a single unit. Microsoft's Stinger sounds closer to the ideal, although the Pocket PC part is somewhat watered down.
What I'd like to see is, ironically, a three-part design, but with a different segregation of duties:
- PDA: Any kind would do.
- Cellphone: Here's the tricky part. It would just be the antenna and battery. No buttons. It gets all its marching orders from the PDA. The Address Book's role is pretty obvious. Service providers could provide applets that automate things like voice mail without wading through "Press 1 to
..." menus. This way, the cellphone part can be made as small as possible and left in a pocket or purse.
- Headset: like you said, something small and rugged. Would also be used for audio from/to the PDA, depending on its capabilities (alarm tones, MP3s, text-to-speech, voice annotations, etc).
All three would be connected by the wireless protocol du jour, of course. The failure or loss of the PDA would be an issue for the cellphone (voice-recognition dialing?), but this is just off the top of my head. I haven't written this on the back of an Eat'n'Park placemat yet.We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
I seriously doubt any local police departments are going to suddenly "discover" that a long, flat, straight road in their jurisdiction is frequently driven at (speed_limit + 20) MPH. As long as the device used in tracking remains anonymous, the results will be academic.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
They were put up by Traffic.com. We were the pilot city for their system. Those sensors poll every 60 seconds, and can tell how dense and how fast the flow is moving (or not moving as you approach the Squirrel Hill Tunnels). They combine this with traditional methods (choppers, watchtowers, cellphone callers) to handle accidents on the main routes, as well as general information on traffic in areas not covered by the flow sensors.
It's pretty cool. I can now see in realtime just how frelled up the Parkways East and West are, and exactly where the Perpetual I-79 Repaving Project is this week. And it doesn't seem capable to pick out individual vehicles, so it can only detect how fast the flow is going.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Personally, I'm waiting at least 60 days after XP hits the shelves to upgrade from 2000. Why?
And Michael, exactly how self-important are we feeling today? "...people who don't read enough Slashdot"?! I'm guessing that means "the unwashed heathens who haven't yet accepted Richard Stallman as their Lord and Saviour". Do you honestly think anyone with an open mind wants to hear all your venom? The only reason you're still included on my home page is because without your non-MS-bashing articles, Slashdot looks thinner than Technocrat during a slow week.*
Pro-Linux != Anti-Microsoft. Don't make me get out the clue stick. (Although I must say that this karma burn has been quite theraputic.)
*: With apologies to Bruce Perens.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Note that you have to get an exception to the GPL to use Qt/NonCom/Win with a GPL'd app. Nice cop out. They throw potential Windows developers a bone with this non-commercial license, then shift responsibility (and/or blame) onto the stewards of GPL'd Qt apps to grant an indulgence to Windows folk.
It's pointless. Trolltech is still acting out of spite. With a QPL'd Qt/Win, commercial developers will still have to pay Trolltech, as they rightfully should. Without a QPL'd Qt/Win, Trolltech is still sowing seeds of ill will, deterring potential users, and shooting themselves in the foot by denying themselves the benefits of an Open Source library.
I can't wait to see how Qt/MacOS X will be licensed. Then we'll see if they truly support Open Source software, or if they're just shallow anti-Microsoft zealots.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
They did the Swamp Castle playset. It sank into the swamp.
They did a second Swamp Castle playset. It sank into the swamp.
They did a third Swamp Castle playset. It burned up, fell over, and is now sinking into the swamp.
Let's hope the fourth one stays up.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Frightening. If my best course of action is to floor it and accelerate to avoid an accident, I can not and will not accept a system that prevents me from exceeding a set speed. Car companies are sick of frivolous "unbuckled child in front seat dies when drunk father drives wrong way down steep one-way hill" lawsuits now. Imagine the carnage when a "big brother device prevents accident avoidance" suit hits.
<rant tone='disgruntled'>
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Drivers' Exams in the United States suck. Pennsylvania's exam, at least in the late '80s, consisted of rote memorization of parking rules and high-beam etiquette. The road test was a trivial slalom, a three-point turn, and parallel parking. Not once was I taught about the traction circle, or the difference between front-, rear-, and all-wheel drive, especially at the handling limits. I learned more about driving from the manual that came with Gran Turismo than I did from PennDOT. Maybe if we quit entitling morons to propel 3500 lbs of steel and aluminum over 60 mph, the temptation to impose such Orwellian intrusions would go away.
</rant>
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
And what was up with all those industry terms in quotes? Who wrote this, Dr. Evil?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
What's unfortunate is that the same market penetration problem needlessly afflicted Dreamcast. Too many binary-thinking fanboys pledged allegiance to PS2, and Saturn created too much ill will with developers.
The premise still works. It did back in the '80s, when everybody had C64s, Atari 800s, and Speccies. The only difference between those systems and game consoles were the keyboards and "mass" storage device connectors. I know quite a few people who used their C64 only for games. Then GEOS arrived, and GeoWrite became their first word processor.
It can still work today. Now that PS2 has settled in, the "shortage" has ended, and hasty PSone ports are giving way to real limit-pushing titles, there's enough market penetration to start using those USB ports for something besides Unreal Tournament.
As much as turning a PS2 into a "full-fledged" PC sounds like a killer app, something as simple as Sony's Movie Shaker, a simple video editing package, would be even better. Insert Movie Shaker disc into PS2. Connect digital video camera to i.LINK port. Edit movies with a Dual Shock controller! Add a USB keyboard, and titles are easier. Doesn't matter if the disc boots Linux, Win CE, QNX, BeOS*, or a VAX emulator. It just works. And people raised on Atari 2600 and NES would never picture a game console doing something like that. Now that's a killer app.
*: Assuming Be didn't give it's last dying gasp in the time it took me to type this.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
I had heard that they were planning eight seasons, then got cut short to seven, leaving them to squeeze the last two seasons into one. Not a troll, just misinformed. Chill.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
I find it amazing that Voyager had an entire season to hit every bullet point in your list, but instead came up with nothing more than ten seconds of Voyager and Earth, then cutting to credits.
DS9 was taken by surprise when they found out they weren't going to have another season, and still, they did a better job of wrapping up loose ends. It was rushed, but the well-informed fans knew why, and those who weren't still got a damn good story. What would you prefer: Particle-of-the-Week Torpedoes, or the Cardassians turning on the Dominion, and the Founder responding with a scorched-earth attack on Cardassia Prime?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Hey, pay attention to the market. Small cars have never sold well in the United States. Why? Two reasons, both psychological. One, anything less than 100 bhp is considered woefully inadequate for highway use. Pay no attention to those VW Lupos on the autobahn. Two, Americans aspire to large cars. Always have. The tendency is to buy the largest car for the money. Hence, vast fleets of SUVs, Cadillac and Lincoln building trucks, and the inexplicable success of the big, cheap, ugly Chevy Impala sedan.
A small premium European car is a big risk in the States. They're sold on razor-thin margins in Europe. That would get eaten up by the costs of export. DaimlerChrysler has been agonizing over American Smarts ever since they launched. Same for the Audi A2 and Mercedes-Benz A-Class, although the new long wheelbase version of the latter would do a little better. Again, bigger is better. If given $25,000, the average American would choose a well-equipped Toyota Camry over a base Audi A3.
Besides, regional Dept./Ministry of Transportation regulations do more to interfere with imports than trade policies. Building a car to 30 different sets of regs with one build configuration is, unfortunately, quite expensive. IIRC, only Jaguar builds cars this way. Robert Cumberford had a good article on this in Automobile last year. (Not online.)
BTW, Alfa is coming back, Renault's '80s shitboxes ruined the reputation of all French cars in America, there are no smaller Volvos, and Rover's lucky they're still selling cars in England.
(Score: -1, Feeding the Trolls)
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
It's already happening. You just have the parties reversed.
Qt/Windows and Free are inherently incompatible. Since the only version of Qt/Windows is non-Free, it can't be used to build Free software on Windows. In this case, Qt is a non-Free, third-party library. TrollTech leaves the cop out that you can use Qt/Free with X11 libraries and an X server for Windows. Why this is absurd is left as an exercise to the reader.
GTK+, on the other hand, is licensed under the LGPL. And that means all platforms, including proprietary ones, such as Windows, BeOS, and Mac OS X.
That killer app you speak of will get here, but as a Gnome app, not KDE.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Repair All, 800x600: Amen, brother!
:-)
Larger Stash: If there weren't whole new classes of inventory items, particularly charms, you're right that it makes the game easier. But the stash was just right in the base D2, meaning it was too small by one column. (At least, for me it was.) There's so much more stuff in D2:LOD, they needed to make the stash a little bigger. For me, I'll bet it will still be too small by one column. Besides, the stash stays in town. AFAIK, the Horadric Cube hasn't grown, and I think that's a very good thing, since it is, in essence, a portable stash. It's instant accessability trumps any attempts to make it bigger. It's balanced as is.
Weapon-switch hotkeys: It would be nice if its speed was dictated by your class, level, and/or choice of weapons. With a small shield, you could leave it on your bow arm while using a bow. Only a barbarian or paladin could pull that off with a tower shield. Of course, I have very little experience with medieval weapons, myself.
Gems: The nature of the gem's effect is inherent in it's composition: Ruby = Fire, Sapphire = Cold, Dilithium = "Einstein's a putz", etc. And the quality of a gem implies its power. Within the story, it's all anecdotal. A warrior puts a topaz in his sword, and lightning shoots from it. As for the actual numbers, well, this is a role-playing game. It all reduces to a formula with a random variable. Blame E. Gary Gygax.
Runes: Great idea. But did Blizzard remember the Nam-Shub of Enki? And will "goo goo ga choo" on a sword add a 25% chance of an enemy turning into a walrus when struck?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Never mind the GTK zealots, here come the Windows apologists.*
TrollTech's stance on proprietary OSs has been, to put it bluntly, discriminatory. For free OSs, they're quite clear and logical: Pro or Enterprise for commercial, Free for GPL. But they have a horrible double standard for Windows and proprietary Unix. They're OK with using Free for GPL'd Unix projects. But they won't release a Free version of Qt/Windows. They require that you pay for Pro or Enterprise, even if your project is GPL.
I'm still trying to figure out why. Technical reasons? I've looked all over TT's site, and I can't find any evidence that there's a difference between Qt/X Free and Pro editions, except for licensing terms. Surely they could do the same for Qt/Windows. Ensuring a revenue stream sounds good, but if that were the only reason, why release a Free version at all? Goodwill? Sounds better. But TT is making friends with the Linux and BSD developers at the expense of Windows developers.
The only reason I can come up with is this: TrollTech can't stomach the thought of Open Source software on a Microsoft operating system. So they actively discourage such development with their tools. Maybe they think they're sticking it to Microsoft. Does anyone here think Microsoft gives a damn about TrollTech? If anything, Qt/Windows Free edition would get TrollTech on Microsoft's radar, since it would provide an exit path away from Windows. The only people getting screwed here are Windows developers, because they're being denied a powerful tool for purely political purposes, and TrollTech, because they're holding back their own success.
*: Boy, I never thought I'd be saying that.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
- Q shows up, and starts baiting Sisko, expecting a Picard-like exchange of Shakespeare quotes and claims of enlightenment. Instead, Sisko drops Q with a right jab to the nose.
- Sisko evacuates a Maquis colony/base, then "salts the earth" by irradiating the place with a particle-of-the-week. Great Valjean/Javert subtext with his ex-security chief turned terrorist.
- Sisko and Garak forge a Dominion strategy meeting recording to trick the Romulans into switching sides in the Dominion War. Garak's ulterior motives get a Romulan senator and his entourage blown up, while ensuring that any flaws in the forgery look like blast damage. The episode ends with Sisko finishing his log entry with "In the end, I believe I did the right thing. I really do. (pauses) Computer, erase log entry."
Star Trek's problem is that it's afraid to make major life changes in its characters. There's always some transporter trick or gene therapy to undo everything in the last 5 minutes. The actors drive any changes that do take place, either by leaving or getting pregnant. (I remember Carl Sagan dismissing the idea of Spock being half-human, half-Vulcan as preposterous. Imagine his reaction to a Bajoran surrogate mother to a human child! That's how they wrote around Nana Visitor's pregnancy in DS9.)Farscape had the cojones to kill Zhann without any warning whatsoever. One day she's there, the next, everyone's in a funk, Stark is real close to going 'round the bend, and there's some redhead with a metal-melting shriek, a kinky, Klingon-lingerie wardrobe, and a spoiled princess personality that makes you want to smack her. Good thing Chiana's there to act on that impulse, repeatedly.
I have a feeling Enterprise will have another reason to crash and burn. Continuity. Voyager can't keep its stories straight from one season to the next. How do they expect to jump back 100 years without contradicting themselves twice an hour?
Maybe if their ship was alive, and unarmed, deep in Klingon space, and Archer had the secrets to transwarp drive buried in his subconscious, along with the personality of an insane Klingon commander...
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Taco, please, for everybody's sake. Next time Michael posts some non-sequitor Microsoft bashing, liberally apply a clue stick to his head until he cries uncle.
ObTopic: Michael, do you honestly think these drivers would appear by some form of source code parthenogenesis? Patience.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Sound familiar? It's the LGPL. And, unless somebody can turn me on to something better, it's the best compromise I've found between Stallman's holy grail of "pure" Free software and the realities of business computing today.
Maybe we can't share our finished products. But at least let us share the building blocks we use to build.
Well said. I always felt that BSDL was a black hole, from which no code ever returns.
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
I think Rambus gambled and lost on the economy. They timed their suits with a sudden downturn in Asian economic markets. The Dramurai from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan didn't have the financial stability needed for a drawn-out lawsuit, and were forced to yield. IIRC, one of the Koreans (Hyundai or Samsung?) held out for a while, but was the last Asian company to cave.
Notice, however, the two companies that didn't cave when Rambus' lawyers came knocking? The two not based in Asia: Micron (USA) and Infineon (Germany). Rambus hoped that markets worldwide would suffer from Asia's hard times, sapping Micron's and Infineon's strength. Unfortunately for Rambus, Europe and Wall Street recovered very quickly, and Rambus got the last thing they wanted: A real, live, honest-to-God court battle.
Unfortunately for anyone who submitted to Rambus, this case probably won't change their situation. A failed patent defense doesn't automatically undo any licensing agreements already signed. IANAL, so I ask you this: What changes because the judge invoked RICO? Does that open the door for the Dramurai to have those license agreements revoked, or bring criminal charges against Rambus execs and lawyers?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
Then when I tell you you're wrong, you won't take it personally? :-)
The mouse and keyboard are cheap, standard USB components. No shock there.
And while the HDD/Ethernet module sounds expensive, it's actually another loss-leading piece of game console hardware. This device was always part of Sony's master plan. I wouldn't be surprised if the Linux version of the module isn't "pre-release" hardware that's missing some game-specific firm/software (read "protection").
I wonder if the VGA adapter already existed as part of the "TEST" PS2 package game developers use for debugging?
We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead
- DVD-ROM for all the software
- USB keyboard
- USB wheel mouse
- 10/100 Ethernet adapter
- 40GB hard drive w/ PCMCIA connector
- PlayStation2->VGA adapter
Not bad for $200. Especially when you consider that the hard drive/Ethernet PCMCIA card is probably a custom part.We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead