The article states, "'A big question this research raises is why would we, or mice, have a gene that makes us less smart – a Homer Simpson gene?'Hepler says. 'I believe that we are not really seeing the full picture. RGS14 may be a key control gene in a part of the brain that, when missing or disabled, knocks brain signals important for learning and memory out of balance.'"
Oh, come on. If these scientists were current on their sci-fi, they'd know that the disabling that gene will affect the human growth rate, ala Ender's Shadow.
It is not "unworkable." But it is "unrealistic" to expect that after using regular size keyboards for a lifetime that everyone would instantly find the much smaller keyboard as usable without some practice.
If you read the EeePC User Forums, you'll find that most people get used to the tiny keyboard. Some people even find that they can type faster on it than on a regular keyboard. I have very large hands (I wear XXL gloves), and after a few months of some somewhat regular use as a mobile platform (not as a primary machine), the keyboard is becoming as easy for me to use as my other full sized laptop and my desktop. Because I have large hands, I doubt that I will ever type as fast as on a full-sized keyboard, but it has already become more than "workable."
Any finally, here is company that has come out with a full Linux sub-notebook (just 25 days ago). Instead of floating the latest conspiracy theory, how about giving them the benefit of the doubt. But, then allowing/helping a company to do the right thing, does not make for interesting blog headlines. It is all about the page views.
Exactly! Rather than assuming that Asus is intentionally doing something wrong here, the open source community should mentor Asus and assist them by assuming it is an oversight. I've observed enough open source software communities to understand that newbies often make mistakes in their understanding and implementation of the GPL and other licenses. Shouldn't open source be more about community building and enhanced software production rather than adopting protectionist rhetoric common to proprietary IP development? This is not to say that GPL violations should not be noted or acted on, but don't adopt the strategies and criticisms of the likes of MS and other proprietary vendors. See this as an opportunity first to bring Asus into the community, not put them on the defensive and alienate them.
This is an interesting idea. If MS files patent lawsuits, all FOSS supporters should shut down their websites on the same day and display the same message in protest of MS. Even if Google and IBM were the only major players who did so, that would get everyone's attention:-)
Yeah. I noticed this when looking over the article to decide whether or not to read it more closely. Sort of reduces the credibility for me. I decided not to read it.
University dissertation guidelines don't usualy facilitate beautiful looking manuscripts. Instead they represent how dissertations have been constructed for decades, pre-word processsor. OpenOffice works very well for this. I just finished a 52,000 word manuscript with 2.0 and never had a problem.
Love mine. The quality is great. Worth every penny. I had bought an HP special edition L2000 laptop 14" widescreen with the extended battery which sticks out. Very unusual size at the time. Waterfield designs was the only place I found that looked like they might have a sleeve case that would fit well with the extended battery. When I asked their customer support, they went out and borrowed a laptop like mine to make sure it would work. Can't get service like that anywhere else. Then after I got mine, I turned my brother on to them. He loves his bag, too.
"But I'm not impressed with Open Office's load times . .." I always wonder what the real issue is when I hear this. Organizations ran successfully with Office 97 on PII's that opened MS Word much slower than OO does on newer machines today. And people who use OO today frequently might as well have the icon in the systray.
I can't give anyone the permission. Someone would have to contact each contributing author with each text. And even considering trying to effect such a change in the project globally would be very difficult.
However, any member of the OSS community intereted in having documentation--whether software user documentation, market analysis, white papers, promotional materials, etc.--can come to OSDDP, post a story about their project to the main page, make particular requests to the issues module, and become involved as a client for OSDDP. Then those specific requests could be supplied with the documentation license requested.
"Does anyone know why the Creative Commons license was used instead if the GNU Free Documentation License?"
Yes. Because the project encompasses more than just documentation writing for software. Technical writing students are the smaller part of the mix; the project is largely composed of business writing students who will not be constructing software documentation, but instead will be working with clients, some commercial. So, for instance, Creative Commons has better branding and more useful marketing materials for working outside of open source communities.
Additionally, CC licensing is more easily explained, both conceptually and in terms of putting it into practice, to students within the project. Having two different licenses--one for software documentation, and one for everything else--introduces additional complexity. What the instructors want to do is focus on the writing, not overly complicate the task of understanding the project.
However, that does not mean that students would not take on a project involving expanding existing documentation for an open source project, and in doing so, would obviously have to work with the licensing structure used by the community. And in the case that OSDDP would be creating new documentation for an OSS community, we would contributed it to the community under their license, while also providing a version on our site under CC licensing.
Meanwhile, Wikibooks and Wikipedia could always make use of any documents written and posted to the OSDDP Guide by supplying the license we are using with the text.
buy new Sharp Mebius CV50 sub-notebook. keep notebook strapped to dog. dog serves as transportation device, alarm, and emergency table for notebook usage;)
And it it were me, I'd go for a Think Pad before a Dell. My wife left hers on the floor one time too many, despite my warnings to be more careful. Needless to say, she soon broke that habit when I found our 4 year old standing on top of the Think Pad. And because of that titanium case, the computer was unharmed:)
The author's name of the original post is a link to something called LogiCreate, a commercial content management system. There's a news announcement on that page about the educational version, but no link to it.
Meanwhile, I'm curious about what they mean by open source. There's a few notes about an LCPL open source license, but I don't see any terms for the license anywhere. The closest is this explanation that it's similar to the Qt license.
Florida is also spending a fortune turning all of their IT work over to Accenture. I wouldn't be surprised if any Open Source cost analysis wasn't a result of the same lobbying which resulted in the switch to centralized IT for all state agencies.
"The federal government today filed suit against Verisign for automatically converting uncast votes to Verisign-sponsored candidates. The Justice Department launched their investigation when they noted that lobbyists were paying voters to register and turn in blank absentee ballots online. Congressman Larry Flynt, recently elected thanks to absentee ballots in California, announced that Verisign correctly assigned blank votes in an effort to avoid disenfranchising voters. The ALCU supported Flynt's statement by saying that their voters 'meant' to cast votes for candidates so those votes should be counted.
In other news, SCO, which is undergoing Chapter 11 preceedings, continues to file suit against IBM despite only being able to fund one attorney for the litigation..."
if, as previously mentioned on slashdot, ibm holds the copyright to the contributions to linux in question, then wouldn't this be false licensing of gpl'd code, which, under section 4 of the gpl, would terminate sco's rights to distribute linux?
gnu gpl, section 4:
"You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance."
". . . I'm not sure I would've liked the ibm x series . .."
Well, I haven't tried the X series, but am convinced that I would have to get one if buying in the sub-notebook class. We've have sony, dell, and compaq laptop. Then a few weeks ago, my wife got a new IBM T series and it's damn impressive. Has a utilitarian, well-engineered feel that I haven't experienced in a laptop before (reminds me of my Honda). And the titanium case already came in handy. Caught my 40 lb 3 1/2 year old *standing* on it. Didn't hurt it at all:)
If you are looking for additional information, you might try visiting kairosnews.org, reading through our blogs and cms's topic category, and posting your questions there. We are a Slashdot-like weblog community interested in rhetoric, technology and pedagogy. Many participants are college English teachers who teach in computer classrooms. Some of us, myself included, have been using weblogs already.
Slashdot Mirror
More so than how this will benefit Lenovo, Dell, and Acer, I'm interested in what kind of opportunity this creates for Asus and Samsung.
When the OO website links to LibreOffice, and tells people to download the latest version there, we'll now that Oracle is sincere.
The article states, "'A big question this research raises is why would we, or mice, have a gene that makes us less smart – a Homer Simpson gene?'Hepler says. 'I believe that we are not really seeing the full picture. RGS14 may be a key control gene in a part of the brain that, when missing or disabled, knocks brain signals important for learning and memory out of balance.'"
Oh, come on. If these scientists were current on their sci-fi, they'd know that the disabling that gene will affect the human growth rate, ala Ender's Shadow.
It is not "unworkable." But it is "unrealistic" to expect that after using regular size keyboards for a lifetime that everyone would instantly find the much smaller keyboard as usable without some practice.
If you read the EeePC User Forums, you'll find that most people get used to the tiny keyboard. Some people even find that they can type faster on it than on a regular keyboard. I have very large hands (I wear XXL gloves), and after a few months of some somewhat regular use as a mobile platform (not as a primary machine), the keyboard is becoming as easy for me to use as my other full sized laptop and my desktop. Because I have large hands, I doubt that I will ever type as fast as on a full-sized keyboard, but it has already become more than "workable."
No. 2008 is the year of Linux on the laptop. The desktop year will have to wait until later :-)
Exactly! Rather than assuming that Asus is intentionally doing something wrong here, the open source community should mentor Asus and assist them by assuming it is an oversight. I've observed enough open source software communities to understand that newbies often make mistakes in their understanding and implementation of the GPL and other licenses. Shouldn't open source be more about community building and enhanced software production rather than adopting protectionist rhetoric common to proprietary IP development? This is not to say that GPL violations should not be noted or acted on, but don't adopt the strategies and criticisms of the likes of MS and other proprietary vendors. See this as an opportunity first to bring Asus into the community, not put them on the defensive and alienate them.
This is an interesting idea. If MS files patent lawsuits, all FOSS supporters should shut down their websites on the same day and display the same message in protest of MS. Even if Google and IBM were the only major players who did so, that would get everyone's attention :-)
Yeah. I noticed this when looking over the article to decide whether or not to read it more closely. Sort of reduces the credibility for me. I decided not to read it.
"And what happens when it is screwed with, causing it to shoot down planes instead of missiles?"
;-)
It's being built by a defense contractor. What makes you think it has to be screwed with before it accidentally starts shooting down planes
Beautiful looking manuscripts? LOL
University dissertation guidelines don't usualy facilitate beautiful looking manuscripts. Instead they represent how dissertations have been constructed for decades, pre-word processsor. OpenOffice works very well for this. I just finished a 52,000 word manuscript with 2.0 and never had a problem.
Love mine. The quality is great. Worth every penny. I had bought an HP special edition L2000 laptop 14" widescreen with the extended battery which sticks out. Very unusual size at the time. Waterfield designs was the only place I found that looked like they might have a sleeve case that would fit well with the extended battery. When I asked their customer support, they went out and borrowed a laptop like mine to make sure it would work. Can't get service like that anywhere else. Then after I got mine, I turned my brother on to them. He loves his bag, too.
This is a few years old???? Can's Slashdot get new, original content?
Actually, drupal.org didn't make the decision. OSL did since they'll be hosting and supporting the hardware locally.
"But I'm not impressed with Open Office's load times . . ." I always wonder what the real issue is when I hear this. Organizations ran successfully with Office 97 on PII's that opened MS Word much slower than OO does on newer machines today. And people who use OO today frequently might as well have the icon in the systray.
I can't give anyone the permission. Someone would have to contact each contributing author with each text. And even considering trying to effect such a change in the project globally would be very difficult.
However, any member of the OSS community intereted in having documentation--whether software user documentation, market analysis, white papers, promotional materials, etc.--can come to OSDDP, post a story about their project to the main page, make particular requests to the issues module, and become involved as a client for OSDDP. Then those specific requests could be supplied with the documentation license requested.
"Does anyone know why the Creative Commons license was used instead if the GNU Free Documentation License?"
Yes. Because the project encompasses more than just documentation writing for software. Technical writing students are the smaller part of the mix; the project is largely composed of business writing students who will not be constructing software documentation, but instead will be working with clients, some commercial. So, for instance, Creative Commons has better branding and more useful marketing materials for working outside of open source communities.
Additionally, CC licensing is more easily explained, both conceptually and in terms of putting it into practice, to students within the project. Having two different licenses--one for software documentation, and one for everything else--introduces additional complexity. What the instructors want to do is focus on the writing, not overly complicate the task of understanding the project.
However, that does not mean that students would not take on a project involving expanding existing documentation for an open source project, and in doing so, would obviously have to work with the licensing structure used by the community. And in the case that OSDDP would be creating new documentation for an OSS community, we would contributed it to the community under their license, while also providing a version on our site under CC licensing.
Meanwhile, Wikibooks and Wikipedia could always make use of any documents written and posted to the OSDDP Guide by supplying the license we are using with the text.
nope. bigger dog.
;)
buy new Sharp Mebius CV50 sub-notebook. keep notebook strapped to dog. dog serves as transportation device, alarm, and emergency table for notebook usage
Also, Tech Depot, associated with Office Depot, carrries a huge selection of IBM Think Pads in stock. Call in your order and verify stock rather than just ordering online just to be sure of availability.
:)
And it it were me, I'd go for a Think Pad before a Dell. My wife left hers on the floor one time too many, despite my warnings to be more careful. Needless to say, she soon broke that habit when I found our 4 year old standing on top of the Think Pad. And because of that titanium case, the computer was unharmed
The author's name of the original post is a link to something called LogiCreate, a commercial content management system. There's a news announcement on that page about the educational version, but no link to it.
Meanwhile, I'm curious about what they mean by open source. There's a few notes about an LCPL open source license, but I don't see any terms for the license anywhere. The closest is this explanation that it's similar to the Qt license.
I wonder what the terms of the license are???
Florida is also spending a fortune turning all of their IT work over to Accenture. I wouldn't be surprised if any Open Source cost analysis wasn't a result of the same lobbying which resulted in the switch to centralized IT for all state agencies.
"The federal government today filed suit against Verisign for automatically converting uncast votes to Verisign-sponsored candidates. The Justice Department launched their investigation when they noted that lobbyists were paying voters to register and turn in blank absentee ballots online. Congressman Larry Flynt, recently elected thanks to absentee ballots in California, announced that Verisign correctly assigned blank votes in an effort to avoid disenfranchising voters. The ALCU supported Flynt's statement by saying that their voters 'meant' to cast votes for candidates so those votes should be counted.
In other news, SCO, which is undergoing Chapter 11 preceedings, continues to file suit against IBM despite only being able to fund one attorney for the litigation..."
With Bush in office, what's the difference?
Yeah, and it was Clinton who commissioned the white paper which later spawned the CTEA and the DMCA, which he signed.
Really, is there any doubt that many politicians in both parties serve the corporate interests when it comes to IP issues?
if, as previously mentioned on slashdot, ibm holds the copyright to the contributions to linux in question, then wouldn't this be false licensing of gpl'd code, which, under section 4 of the gpl, would terminate sco's rights to distribute linux?
gnu gpl, section 4:
"You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance."
". . . I'm not sure I would've liked the ibm x series . . ."
:)
Well, I haven't tried the X series, but am convinced that I would have to get one if buying in the sub-notebook class. We've have sony, dell, and compaq laptop. Then a few weeks ago, my wife got a new IBM T series and it's damn impressive. Has a utilitarian, well-engineered feel that I haven't experienced in a laptop before (reminds me of my Honda). And the titanium case already came in handy. Caught my 40 lb 3 1/2 year old *standing* on it. Didn't hurt it at all
If you are looking for additional information, you might try visiting kairosnews.org, reading through our blogs and cms's topic category, and posting your questions there. We are a Slashdot-like weblog community interested in rhetoric, technology and pedagogy. Many participants are college English teachers who teach in computer classrooms. Some of us, myself included, have been using weblogs already.