Intel implemented a serial# in CPUs for a short time, but the backlash was great. They don't do it anymore.
Phoenix will try this, but there will be a great backlash once again. They will stop. If they don't, they leave the door open to the competition (ie. openbios).
Slightly OT, but I think the same thing will happen with RFID tags. Someone will sell a device which detects RFID's, everyone will notice how many of them are everywhere, and a backlash will ensue. RFID's will be history.
posting excerpts therefrom should count as news reporting
What if everyone gets together and posts their own unique little bit of the flyer, such that the entire thing is online, just distributed? Then you create a master site with links to all the other sites.
Did you get a temporary or permanent position in Edinburgh?
I got a permanent position in 1973. That was coming back from the States, which was a good thing because we wanted our family to be educated in Europe, not in America.
What do you make of the increasing patenting ideas in computing?
It's terrifying. It's ridiculous and terrifying at the same time.
I used to use InfoSeek all the time, till they turned their search page into a portal site. They used to have the ability to search for words "near" other words. Google doesn't have that. A quick look at InfoSeek shows that the use Google as their backend now.
One of Google's best features, IMO, is the uncluttered front page. Another top feature is the lack of graphical banner ads - I don't feel like I'm being annoyed to death whenever I visit them, so I visit often.
How has globalization and megamergers affected our power as consumers? On the positive side, you get cheaper goods. On the negative side, you get huge companies which don't care about anybody, only their bottom line. You don't buy their cigarettes, they don't care - you'll still buy their shampoo. It's getting to the point where it is more difficult to boycott any one company because on the other hand you'll support them through one of their other businesses. I wonder if those in support of globalization years ago thought of these kinds of consequences.
Those "extra" layers of software are arguably layers that you should create yourself anyway, just to separate out presentation logic, business logic, etc. If it breaks, ideally you will have the source code, so no big deal. Either way, you should have support in the form of a community or a business. Had you rolled it all yourself, you'd be on your own. Personally, I'd rather see someone I put to task working on solving the problem than writing and debugging new wrappers for everything they way they think it should be done, then watching the project go over budget and down the crapper. Don't reinvent the wheel unless there's a good reason for it.
I like KDE a lot better than Gnome, but if someone can throw a lot of weight into making a really usable Linux distro with full office document compatibility and reliable office apps, I couldn't care less which UI I use.
I'd like to have a talk with people who are offended so badly by such things. My first question? How the fuck do you survive in life with such a crybaby mentality? What would you do in a harsh environment?
Problem is that we in "1st world" countries have it so easy that we have to find something to bitch about. I think there's a lot of truth to what was said in the Matrix, about the first one was perfect but was a disaster because nobody would accept it.
Try living in one of those countries where people are routinely beaten, killed, tortured, slashed to death, shot, run over, buried alive, burned, and so on. Then tell me how the term "master/slave" bothers you.
I don't think computer security is the first problem when it comes to this type of computer issue. I think the first problem is getting people to trust computers themselves. Lets look at -some- of the computer stereotypes...
I disagree. As someone who uses a computer every day to make a livelihood, there is no reason for anyone to "trust" computers. All software is ultimately written by human beings. Humans are susceptible to making mistakes, market pressure, and corruption, among other things. As long as these problems exist (and they always will), there is no reason to trust "computers". In fact, use of the term "trust computers" should be further qualified. Are you asking people to trust what runs on the computer, or the computer hardware itself? I basically "trust" my Pentium processor as far as relying on it to execute instructions as it receives them, but I don't trust the instructions themselves. I think you get my meaning.
I'm just happy using higher speed media at lower speeds (usually half the rated speed). It just gives me some peace of mind that the media must be higher quality, and that I'm not even close to pushing its limits if I burn at a lower speed. When you burn at the rated speed, you're closer to its limits. If someone can back this up technically, I'd love to hear it.
Think about it, though. They can destroy all the files they want - there are people behind all those songs. Most of those people will still want to distribute their music, so they can take it to a different place on the 'net.
hey, if we do "contaminate" the surface, that will save genetic engineers a lot of trouble if we ever try to terraform
Right, why not get it over with? There's plenty of planets to try and discover life on (though most will take hundreds of years to get to). What's more important is we (humans) need another place to call home just in case we get nailed with some global catastrophy. But I suppose we'll have to battle with the dilemma of truth vs. survival for some time longer.
"Recently we launched a statement of direction - Open Source Architecture for the enterprise. As more large customers move to distributed computing architectures, firms will want to leverage the flexibility and independence a integrated stack can create for a business. Our product line is being built through the delivery of software sold modularly. For example, our cluster suite."
Don't people know they are spewing corporate speak when they talk like this? It makes little sense.
Let me try and pick it apart. More large customers are moving towards distributed architectures. "distributed architectures" is ambiguous - software, hardware, P2P technology? Firms will want to leverage (take advantage of) the flexability and independence an integrated stack can create for a business. What kind of flexability? Where does independence come in? Independent of ______? "integrated stack"? More explanation needed. Tcp/ip stack? OS stack? Ok, our product is being built (manufactured) through the delivery (sale?) of software sold modularly (in pieces). Wow, that's confusing. Who build's Red Hat software? Build engineers, compiling OSS packages on computers. How do they build their software by selling it? (chicken and egg?) For example, our cluster suite. Never heard of it - no comment.
Can anyone else clarify this mind bending paragraph?
A bit late, my point is that Netscape could have collaborated with the Web developer community and the W3C and ended up with a better result.
But what they did do is give us a general purpose scripting language that we can do a great many things with. I see your point about reinventing the wheel with every site, but if the damn JavaScript standards hadn't changed so much and with the browser juggernauts slugging it out with their own home-brewed standards, it wouldn't be much of a problem anyway. Nowadays JS has settled down a lot and people are "pretty upgraded" with their browsers. It's not a huge deal to cut and paste a little JS to add those niceties, IMO.
Spend the money on Earth sciences or, heck, build a dozen stations on the moon and start beaming energy down here. That would benefit the whole world and it can be done NOW.
Surely money could be made as well. Why hasn't some billionaire taken a bold step up to the plate? Too fun playing with monopoly money and people's lives?
You missed the point. Now it is harder to clean room it, or prove that a clean room implimentation *IS* clean, because MS can always show how easy it was to get the specs.
First, isn't the burden of proof on Microsoft?
Second, how can Microsoft put something out there freely and expect to have control over what people do with it? What about when this information seeps into common knowledge? Do they retain their rights?
And the screws yo refer to? What thread? Metric or SAE, or custom size reference? UK or US pitch formula? What length? Pan, Countersink, what head style? What meatrial?
Don't even get me started on nails or drills...
Easy, whatever gets the job done to the customer's specification within budget and according to the building code of the state or province. Use finishing nails to nail on chipboard, you'll be forced to re-nail it using compliant nails.
There is no such equivalent for consumer software, at least not one that is widely used. Build software however you want out of whatever you want, as long as it does close to what it's supposed to do. There is no warranty.
With a house, you build a shoddy house and you'll be pulled into court and likely forced into making the necessary repairs.
Seriously, Slashdot gets up in arms about RFID and privacy, and now we want to shell out "$40 to $100 per badge per day" to make it trivially easy to track us at even longer ranges than the humble RFID tag?
Not all of us want that. I was going to raise the comparison with RFID's as well.
However there is one difference: one is voluntary.
You've missed something critical: the first page says 'Results 1-15 of about 16 containing "linux windows"'. "About 16" results - should I not accept that for what it is? Why would I expect 9 million more results if I hit Next Page?
The next page says 'Results 16-30 of about 8897807 containing "linux windows"'
Clearly, MSN search is manipulating the results to their benefit with full knowledge that 1) The total number of results is wrong and 2) Most people don't click for the next page of search results.
Slashdot Mirror
Intel implemented a serial# in CPUs for a short time, but the backlash was great. They don't do it anymore.
Phoenix will try this, but there will be a great backlash once again. They will stop. If they don't, they leave the door open to the competition (ie. openbios).
Slightly OT, but I think the same thing will happen with RFID tags. Someone will sell a device which detects RFID's, everyone will notice how many of them are everywhere, and a backlash will ensue. RFID's will be history.
"i see you are trying to buy crack online, may i suggest that you order it by phone instead?"
He knows too much! Throw Clippy in the trunk, boys!
posting excerpts therefrom should count as news reporting
What if everyone gets together and posts their own unique little bit of the flyer, such that the entire thing is online, just distributed? Then you create a master site with links to all the other sites.
Did you get a temporary or permanent position in Edinburgh?
I got a permanent position in 1973. That was coming back from the States, which was a good thing because we wanted our family to be educated in Europe, not in America.
What do you make of the increasing patenting ideas in computing?
It's terrifying. It's ridiculous and terrifying at the same time.
I used to use InfoSeek all the time, till they turned their search page into a portal site. They used to have the ability to search for words "near" other words. Google doesn't have that. A quick look at InfoSeek shows that the use Google as their backend now.
One of Google's best features, IMO, is the uncluttered front page. Another top feature is the lack of graphical banner ads - I don't feel like I'm being annoyed to death whenever I visit them, so I visit often.
How has globalization and megamergers affected our power as consumers? On the positive side, you get cheaper goods. On the negative side, you get huge companies which don't care about anybody, only their bottom line. You don't buy their cigarettes, they don't care - you'll still buy their shampoo. It's getting to the point where it is more difficult to boycott any one company because on the other hand you'll support them through one of their other businesses. I wonder if those in support of globalization years ago thought of these kinds of consequences.
Those "extra" layers of software are arguably layers that you should create yourself anyway, just to separate out presentation logic, business logic, etc. If it breaks, ideally you will have the source code, so no big deal. Either way, you should have support in the form of a community or a business. Had you rolled it all yourself, you'd be on your own.
Personally, I'd rather see someone I put to task working on solving the problem than writing and debugging new wrappers for everything they way they think it should be done, then watching the project go over budget and down the crapper. Don't reinvent the wheel unless there's a good reason for it.
I like KDE a lot better than Gnome, but if someone can throw a lot of weight into making a really usable Linux distro with full office document compatibility and reliable office apps, I couldn't care less which UI I use.
I'd like to have a talk with people who are offended so badly by such things. My first question? How the fuck do you survive in life with such a crybaby mentality? What would you do in a harsh environment?
Problem is that we in "1st world" countries have it so easy that we have to find something to bitch about. I think there's a lot of truth to what was said in the Matrix, about the first one was perfect but was a disaster because nobody would accept it.
Try living in one of those countries where people are routinely beaten, killed, tortured, slashed to death, shot, run over, buried alive, burned, and so on. Then tell me how the term "master/slave" bothers you.
I don't think computer security is the first problem when it comes to this type of computer issue. I think the first problem is getting people to trust computers themselves. Lets look at -some- of the computer stereotypes...
I disagree. As someone who uses a computer every day to make a livelihood, there is no reason for anyone to "trust" computers. All software is ultimately written by human beings. Humans are susceptible to making mistakes, market pressure, and corruption, among other things. As long as these problems exist (and they always will), there is no reason to trust "computers". In fact, use of the term "trust computers" should be further qualified. Are you asking people to trust what runs on the computer, or the computer hardware itself? I basically "trust" my Pentium processor as far as relying on it to execute instructions as it receives them, but I don't trust the instructions themselves. I think you get my meaning.
I'm just happy using higher speed media at lower speeds (usually half the rated speed). It just gives me some peace of mind that the media must be higher quality, and that I'm not even close to pushing its limits if I burn at a lower speed. When you burn at the rated speed, you're closer to its limits.
If someone can back this up technically, I'd love to hear it.
Ya, just like "before"... on a handful of GeoCities pages?
How about magnatune.com?
Or start their own site? It's not close to impossible.
Think about it, though. They can destroy all the files they want - there are people behind all those songs. Most of those people will still want to distribute their music, so they can take it to a different place on the 'net.
Microsoft is a PR/law firm that happens to sell software.
Oh man, that's priceless!
hey, if we do "contaminate" the surface, that will save genetic engineers a lot of trouble if we ever try to terraform
Right, why not get it over with? There's plenty of planets to try and discover life on (though most will take hundreds of years to get to). What's more important is we (humans) need another place to call home just in case we get nailed with some global catastrophy. But I suppose we'll have to battle with the dilemma of truth vs. survival for some time longer.
"Recently we launched a statement of direction - Open Source Architecture for the enterprise. As more large customers move to distributed computing architectures, firms will want to leverage the flexibility and independence a integrated stack can create for a business. Our product line is being built through the delivery of software sold modularly. For example, our cluster suite."
Don't people know they are spewing corporate speak when they talk like this? It makes little sense.
Let me try and pick it apart. More large customers are moving towards distributed architectures. "distributed architectures" is ambiguous - software, hardware, P2P technology? Firms will want to leverage (take advantage of) the flexability and independence an integrated stack can create for a business. What kind of flexability? Where does independence come in? Independent of ______? "integrated stack"? More explanation needed. Tcp/ip stack? OS stack? Ok, our product is being built (manufactured) through the delivery (sale?) of software sold modularly (in pieces). Wow, that's confusing. Who build's Red Hat software? Build engineers, compiling OSS packages on computers. How do they build their software by selling it? (chicken and egg?) For example, our cluster suite. Never heard of it - no comment.
Can anyone else clarify this mind bending paragraph?
A bit late, my point is that Netscape could have collaborated with the Web developer community and the W3C and ended up with a better result.
But what they did do is give us a general purpose scripting language that we can do a great many things with. I see your point about reinventing the wheel with every site, but if the damn JavaScript standards hadn't changed so much and with the browser juggernauts slugging it out with their own home-brewed standards, it wouldn't be much of a problem anyway. Nowadays JS has settled down a lot and people are "pretty upgraded" with their browsers. It's not a huge deal to cut and paste a little JS to add those niceties, IMO.
These people know that what they are doing is wrong, but they do it anyway because it gets them what they want.
What goes around, comes around. Things usually catch up to people like that, and that's when the party's over folks.
Spend the money on Earth sciences or, heck, build a dozen stations on the moon and start beaming energy down here. That would benefit the whole world and it can be done NOW.
Surely money could be made as well. Why hasn't some billionaire taken a bold step up to the plate? Too fun playing with monopoly money and people's lives?
You missed the point. Now it is harder to clean room it, or prove that a clean room implimentation *IS* clean, because MS can always show how easy it was to get the specs.
First, isn't the burden of proof on Microsoft?
Second, how can Microsoft put something out there freely and expect to have control over what people do with it? What about when this information seeps into common knowledge? Do they retain their rights?
Hear that? That's the sound of a joke flying over your head.
Actually, that was the whoosh just before shit hitting the fan.
And the screws yo refer to? What thread? Metric or SAE, or custom size reference? UK or US pitch formula? What length? Pan, Countersink, what head style? What meatrial?
Don't even get me started on nails or drills...
Easy, whatever gets the job done to the customer's specification within budget and according to the building code of the state or province. Use finishing nails to nail on chipboard, you'll be forced to re-nail it using compliant nails.
There is no such equivalent for consumer software, at least not one that is widely used. Build software however you want out of whatever you want, as long as it does close to what it's supposed to do. There is no warranty.
With a house, you build a shoddy house and you'll be pulled into court and likely forced into making the necessary repairs.
Seriously, Slashdot gets up in arms about RFID and privacy, and now we want to shell out "$40 to $100 per badge per day" to make it trivially easy to track us at even longer ranges than the humble RFID tag?
Not all of us want that. I was going to raise the comparison with RFID's as well.
However there is one difference: one is voluntary.
With the amount of information that's online these days, it's not that many more steps to reverse-engineer your identity from there.
That's why Slashdot continues to be the best place to make fun of our way too powerful overlords.
You've missed something critical: the first page says 'Results 1-15 of about 16 containing "linux windows"'. "About 16" results - should I not accept that for what it is? Why would I expect 9 million more results if I hit Next Page?
The next page says 'Results 16-30 of about 8897807 containing "linux windows"'
Clearly, MSN search is manipulating the results to their benefit with full knowledge that 1) The total number of results is wrong and 2) Most people don't click for the next page of search results.