Well I think it is... at least they are finally starting to look at it now whilst we still have other fuels available. I'd hate for the world to get to the point where there is NO raw oil left to drill, and we have no choice but use alternative fuel cars.. I welcome the fact they are doing somthing like this now so that we can bring it in gradually:)
You pay the price? In what way, cause I am curious to know.
For the record, I only cover a small amount of miles every year.. and I dont drive a huge gas guzzling monster of a car - I wouldn't be able to afford to run one.
..is that we in the UK already get ripped off so much to drive cars. The tax on petrol is astronomical, and we also pay road tax just to keep our cars on the road - my road tax, for example, is around £180 a year ($240 ish) - I will say nothing of our insurance prices which are pretty huge.
Then some how the government blames us for congesting the cities and we have to pay out for it again. I think they need to look at that they are doing, or where they are trying to go. IMHO its a real shambles at the moment.
I think the backlash (at least from my point of view) really centres around Halo on the Xbox for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it is one of only about 2 or 3 games I could ever see myself buying an Xbox for. I made the same mistake, buying a PS2 exclusively for Gran Turismo 3 - the game totally lived up to my expectations, but in the end I had my fun with it and sold it on, at a loss - you can only play one game for so long.
Secondly.. PC people are especially pissed that Microsoft effectively stole Halo away from us. We waited and we waited (I can still remeber flicking through a PC magazine some 3 or 4 years ago) and then we heard the news that it would be an exclusive for Microsofts new console.. and I was determined not to waste my money on an Xbox, but rather wait for it to come to the PC.
Thirdly.. you pretty much hit the nail on the head in your post (unless it was an accident) - you only mention Halo. Its the game that got your friends interested, and its the game you spend the evenings playing. I too have played Halo on the Xbox many times and I love the game.. but I dislike the Xbox, and I hate trying to play an FPS on a joypad! Bleugh!
At least we have a date.. I can wait those 12 months.
My very favourite group for electronic music.. Hybrid produce some amazing work. Right now they have two albums out, and are working on their third.
Look out for the albums titled "Remix And Additional Production" (here) and "Wider Angle" (here) - as I say, both are absolutely great albums and I cannot reccomend them enough!
I can finally ditch my Samsung A300 and go back to a Nokia phone.. does any one know how much this phone would retail for on contract? I really like the look of it.. and to own a proper next gen phone would be cool:)
About the Xbox.. Microsoft *claim* it is a very very stripped down version of the Windows 2000 kernel - stripped down from somthing like 17MB to 20K - which I find a little unlikely:)
All they need to do is get Steve Ballmer up there.. he must have balls the size of melons (not literally), and would gladly take on any Linux zealot with some pep-talk about how great Microsoft products are:)
Thats like actually believing a story posted on Linux Weekly News (http://www.lwn.net) about Microsoft going bust or somthing - Microsoft partly owns MSNBC so they are bound to start spreading the old FUD onto them at some point or other!
Well I hope their new line of communicator devices work better than some of their most recent offerings in the world of Laser Printers.. their old 1550's and 1700's used to work like a charm, but the newer budget 1000 series and the update of the 1700 known as the 1750 gave me nothing but trouble. Random dropped communications from the computer, print jobs vanishing, and paper jams.
..worrying what to do with the Asteroid problem as previously reported on Slashdot. I found that post a little unsettling, and would rather have protection against 120 metre pieces of rock hitting the earth, instead of some moonbase..
It sounds kind of stupid, but imagine you are just having the worst day of your life. Your car broke down, you lost your job, and your girl left you.. you can't possibly imagine anything else going wrong.
Then you learn that a 130 metre asteroid is on a direct collision course with you (assuming that scientists were able to pick it up in time) and even if you were to depart at 200MPH from your current location, there would be bugger all you could do about it.
I read an article about the site.. the project has actually been running since 1998 - thats when they started collecting peoples websites, and adding hardware to their 'collective' to store all the data.. they only made the site public in like 2001 (or whenever it was) despite collecting it for so long.
I think if you use the Wayback Machine to go back to their own site in 1998/1999 their front page tells you this.
That Disney & Senator Hollings wanted to virtually outlaw Free Software with their CBTBDBTPABEA (whatever the hell it was) ruling.. and now its ok to use it?
Guess it depends on what you want to do on your PC.. but I can't see Lindows making as good an impression as the 'real mcoy' would make.
This isn't a kick at Lindows - I haven't tried it out yet, but I do really want to - and I really admire that they have had the guts to have a go at a project like this..
Its just that for the average 'redneck user', Lindows just wont be Windows. You wont be able to play all your games, and you wont be able to run all your apps.. I wish it was possible to have perfect cross compatability but hey-ho..
I had to setup a lab @ work on a 'budget' to get this software to run.. we had gone through various systems because (and I guess I can appreciate that) the software was exceptionally fussy about the hardware it ran on. Had to be like this perticular brand of Dell, etc etc.. I told my company to trust me and bought some well built but reasonably priced AMD/GeForce2/DDR systems (after consulting the Pro/Engineer compatability list and various forums) - and after two years of stress from other cheap ass systems, these boxes ran it great. In fact, haven't had a single support call for them in 8+ months..:)
Again - it frustrates me that where I work sometimes wants to do stuff like this (especially where the software costs more than the hardware) on a cheap budget..
I had inititally suggested that they buy some 2nd hand SGI's but realised that I would be the sole person responsible for looking after the systems (only person at work who even knows UNIX) but also realised that most of the people who would be using Pro/E could hardly use Windows.. let alone IRIX!
..but I am pretty familiar with quite a few different flavours of UNIX & Linux.. I use Sun Solaris 8 daily, I used to own and run an SGI Irix 6.5 box daily as well.. and I use Linux alll the time.
I found that knowing one UNIX was enough to get you around the various other flavours with relative ease.. but that really goes out of the window when it comes to performing advanced admin on a system when you are used to another.. it is quite surprising how they vary from vendor to vendor - it would make life a LOT easier for you and your team if you try and stick with a single vendor.. IMHO at least:)
..gives the US Government the right to snoop on data that I might, for example, be sending over to/via the USA? Thats my freaking business, not theirs!
I appreciate the need for security.. and I personally have nothing to hide.. but I hate the way they seem to feel they are entitled to take the Big Brother stance and snoop on everyones data. Need I even mention Carnivore, or whatever that FBI thing is.
Funny actually, thinking about it. Whilst I don't work for big enterprise, I do run systems that I could do without failing.. and it too has never let me down. The guys I work with make jokes about the reliability of the Linux boxes, simply because they are so reliable.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, that's centimeters, not inches, which is of course even better ;)
:)
I am sure that plenty of women might argue with you there
Well I think it is... at least they are finally starting to look at it now whilst we still have other fuels available. I'd hate for the world to get to the point where there is NO raw oil left to drill, and we have no choice but use alternative fuel cars.. I welcome the fact they are doing somthing like this now so that we can bring it in gradually :)
You pay the price? In what way, cause I am curious to know.
For the record, I only cover a small amount of miles every year.. and I dont drive a huge gas guzzling monster of a car - I wouldn't be able to afford to run one.
..is that we in the UK already get ripped off so much to drive cars. The tax on petrol is astronomical, and we also pay road tax just to keep our cars on the road - my road tax, for example, is around £180 a year ($240 ish) - I will say nothing of our insurance prices which are pretty huge.
Then some how the government blames us for congesting the cities and we have to pay out for it again. I think they need to look at that they are doing, or where they are trying to go. IMHO its a real shambles at the moment.
I think the backlash (at least from my point of view) really centres around Halo on the Xbox for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it is one of only about 2 or 3 games I could ever see myself buying an Xbox for. I made the same mistake, buying a PS2 exclusively for Gran Turismo 3 - the game totally lived up to my expectations, but in the end I had my fun with it and sold it on, at a loss - you can only play one game for so long.
Secondly.. PC people are especially pissed that Microsoft effectively stole Halo away from us. We waited and we waited (I can still remeber flicking through a PC magazine some 3 or 4 years ago) and then we heard the news that it would be an exclusive for Microsofts new console.. and I was determined not to waste my money on an Xbox, but rather wait for it to come to the PC.
Thirdly.. you pretty much hit the nail on the head in your post (unless it was an accident) - you only mention Halo. Its the game that got your friends interested, and its the game you spend the evenings playing. I too have played Halo on the Xbox many times and I love the game.. but I dislike the Xbox, and I hate trying to play an FPS on a joypad! Bleugh!
At least we have a date.. I can wait those 12 months.
My very favourite group for electronic music.. Hybrid produce some amazing work. Right now they have two albums out, and are working on their third.
Look out for the albums titled "Remix And Additional Production" (here) and "Wider Angle" (here) - as I say, both are absolutely great albums and I cannot reccomend them enough!
I don't know if it is just coincidence or not, but isn't that the same font that SGI use for their company logo & graphics?
Ergh.. dont reply. I have seen a few prices now :(
Looking at around £500!!
I can finally ditch my Samsung A300 and go back to a Nokia phone.. does any one know how much this phone would retail for on contract? I really like the look of it.. and to own a proper next gen phone would be cool :)
About the Xbox.. Microsoft *claim* it is a very very stripped down version of the Windows 2000 kernel - stripped down from somthing like 17MB to 20K - which I find a little unlikely :)
RMS : "I have never trusted Microsoft, and I never will.. I can never forgive them for the death of GNU."
:)
BillG : "Crrrry havoc, and let slip Windows Longhorn!"
Pfft
All they need to do is get Steve Ballmer up there.. he must have balls the size of melons (not literally), and would gladly take on any Linux zealot with some pep-talk about how great Microsoft products are :)
Except this review does not take 25 minutes to read, and you dont end up bored to tears by the end of it! :)
Thats like actually believing a story posted on Linux Weekly News (http://www.lwn.net) about Microsoft going bust or somthing - Microsoft partly owns MSNBC so they are bound to start spreading the old FUD onto them at some point or other!
Well I hope their new line of communicator devices work better than some of their most recent offerings in the world of Laser Printers.. their old 1550's and 1700's used to work like a charm, but the newer budget 1000 series and the update of the 1700 known as the 1750 gave me nothing but trouble. Random dropped communications from the computer, print jobs vanishing, and paper jams.
..worrying what to do with the Asteroid problem as previously reported on Slashdot. I found that post a little unsettling, and would rather have protection against 120 metre pieces of rock hitting the earth, instead of some moonbase..
It sounds kind of stupid, but imagine you are just having the worst day of your life. Your car broke down, you lost your job, and your girl left you.. you can't possibly imagine anything else going wrong.
Then you learn that a 130 metre asteroid is on a direct collision course with you (assuming that scientists were able to pick it up in time) and even if you were to depart at 200MPH from your current location, there would be bugger all you could do about it.
I read an article about the site.. the project has actually been running since 1998 - thats when they started collecting peoples websites, and adding hardware to their 'collective' to store all the data.. they only made the site public in like 2001 (or whenever it was) despite collecting it for so long.
I think if you use the Wayback Machine to go back to their own site in 1998/1999 their front page tells you this.
Microsoft are gonna be REALLY happy that Intel are having a relationship with other OS vendors.. ;)
That Disney & Senator Hollings wanted to virtually outlaw Free Software with their CBTBDBTPABEA (whatever the hell it was) ruling.. and now its ok to use it?
I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
Guess it depends on what you want to do on your PC.. but I can't see Lindows making as good an impression as the 'real mcoy' would make.
This isn't a kick at Lindows - I haven't tried it out yet, but I do really want to - and I really admire that they have had the guts to have a go at a project like this..
Its just that for the average 'redneck user', Lindows just wont be Windows. You wont be able to play all your games, and you wont be able to run all your apps.. I wish it was possible to have perfect cross compatability but hey-ho..
It'll be interesting to see what happens though..
I had to setup a lab @ work on a 'budget' to get this software to run.. we had gone through various systems because (and I guess I can appreciate that) the software was exceptionally fussy about the hardware it ran on. Had to be like this perticular brand of Dell, etc etc.. I told my company to trust me and bought some well built but reasonably priced AMD/GeForce2/DDR systems (after consulting the Pro/Engineer compatability list and various forums) - and after two years of stress from other cheap ass systems, these boxes ran it great. In fact, haven't had a single support call for them in 8+ months.. :)
Again - it frustrates me that where I work sometimes wants to do stuff like this (especially where the software costs more than the hardware) on a cheap budget..
I had inititally suggested that they buy some 2nd hand SGI's but realised that I would be the sole person responsible for looking after the systems (only person at work who even knows UNIX) but also realised that most of the people who would be using Pro/E could hardly use Windows.. let alone IRIX!
..but I am pretty familiar with quite a few different flavours of UNIX & Linux.. I use Sun Solaris 8 daily, I used to own and run an SGI Irix 6.5 box daily as well.. and I use Linux alll the time.
:)
I found that knowing one UNIX was enough to get you around the various other flavours with relative ease.. but that really goes out of the window when it comes to performing advanced admin on a system when you are used to another.. it is quite surprising how they vary from vendor to vendor - it would make life a LOT easier for you and your team if you try and stick with a single vendor.. IMHO at least
..gives the US Government the right to snoop on data that I might, for example, be sending over to/via the USA? Thats my freaking business, not theirs!
I appreciate the need for security.. and I personally have nothing to hide.. but I hate the way they seem to feel they are entitled to take the Big Brother stance and snoop on everyones data. Need I even mention Carnivore, or whatever that FBI thing is.
I think its time to look at data encryption..
Funny actually, thinking about it. Whilst I don't work for big enterprise, I do run systems that I could do without failing.. and it too has never let me down. The guys I work with make jokes about the reliability of the Linux boxes, simply because they are so reliable.