Because private industry did such a great job of evacuating the city of New Orleans before hurricane Katrina.
Private insurance companies will be writing billions of dollars in claims checks to the victims of the flood, so they can rebuild, relocate or just get on with their lives.
Indeed they do, but alas, they ain't cheap. Until I get the scratch together for a Voyager I'll just have to content myself with my venerable MultiMoog.
Re:Anybody can get code signed if they send cash
on
Do You Code Sign?
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· Score: 1
Indeed, some time ago somebody managed to get a Genuine(r) Microsoft certificate. AFAIK no mischief was done, but if you ever needed a reason to avoid that bloody "Always trust [fill in blank]" click box, I'd say that's it.
At first glance I thought it was a referance to writing the software for those highway text display signs.
"Yeah, I code signs. Ever been by the I75 exit on the Ohio Turnpike? That's mine."
About as good as "real" signing...?
on
Do You Code Sign?
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· Score: 1
Hey, this painting I just bought at a garage sail is signed "Piccasso" - W00t! eBay, here I come! Untold riches are surely mine!...which, I think, would kinda point out the flaw in the system. I hope.
Analog synthesizers. REAL analog, not some pseudo-kindalikeafilter-emulated plastic thing made of CPUs and DSPs, but beasts with discrete component muscles and op-amp souls, machines that could rip speaker cones apart at the twist of a knob.
Back in the day, you could build your own. Now... can you even get the Curtis chips anymore? *nostalgic sigh*
Rest In Peace, Dr. Robert Moog. You will be missed, but your legacy lives on forever.
Space Daily reports that University of Toronto researchers are working on a project that could replace conventional satellites with a miniature version no larger than a milk carton.
Ouch - that's going to be a black eye. Although it isn't the first case of software shipping with malware, IIRC there was some kid's game on CD that included a Bonus Virus inside.
Now a comment and a question for the peanut gallery - it's always been a pet peeve of mine that software companies aren't held to any real sort of accountability for shipping product that is clearly flawed. They hide behind the "shrink wrap" license, and (at least IMHO) get away with murder. Imagine if GM or Ford or Daimler-Chrysler put such a waiver of liability on a sticker on the doors of their new cars. The courts would tear them a new one so fast it'd be like lightning.
The question - what sort of liability does Creative have in this case, and what's fair recompense for shipping a clearly flawed product where said flaw has the possibility of harming the user's computer, data integrity and / or privacy?
How much is enough? Should Creative be given a hard enough pranging to get the attention of other software manufacturers?
Personally, I say "Yes". GM spends a hell of a lot of time and energy making sure their brakes work, I'd like to see software companies (and you all know exactly who I've got my sights on here) make sure they ship product that isn't horribly broken right out of the box.
You can thank American Government pollution laws for that not happening....and...
China has 7 of the world's most polluted cities.
So the lesson here is that decade after of decade of democratic capitalism results in better environment, while decade after decade of socialism results in hell on earth.
Since it's going to screw up your golden age regardless of what's causing it, why aren't you interested in doing whatever is possible to reverse it?
If you don't mind, I'll take a run at this one, speaking only for myself, of course.
As a child of the 60's and 70's (I got to see the moon shots on live TV! Woo0t!1!) I remember a long, long parade of weepeers, whiners, moaners, groaners, tooth-gnashers, hand-wringers and other assorted chicken-little types. The ones that said we'd run out of food. We'd have to stand up because of the population explosion. We'd have to wear gas masks when we went outside, because of air pollution. The seas would be covered with oil. We'd be out of oil (evidently it was all floating in the ocean). The sonic boom would stop the chickens laying. DDT was the scourge of the world. Alligators dangled on the thread of extinction. And, yes, the Coming Ice Age would freeze us all. And our Pet Rocks would join forces with the Mood rings to enslave all of humanity! (OK, I made that last one up)
And given that track record I cast a rather jaundiced eye on the Doom Scenario De Jour and go "Meh". Particularly since the scientists of my youth managed to get from Kitty Hawk to Luna, and the current crop have been jerking off in low-earth orbit for the past few decades. Excuse my lack of gee-whizicles, but impressed I ain't.
Reality check: How often does the average member of the Slashdot community trot out the ancient and well-worn "640k is enough for anybody" canard while conveniently ignoring all the other "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE REAL SOON!!!!1!" failed predictions?
I say again: Global Warning? Meh. Take a number, you'll find the dispenser next to the Y2k countdown calendar.
Now if you'll pardon me I have to chase those kids off my lawn...
I remember when a floppy drive broke, you took it to someone who would actually fix it. The things were hand-assembled for the most part, used a good number of discrete (read: fixable) components, and were built like a brick outhouse.
They also cost the better part of a grand apiece.
So how much more are you willing to pay for quality?
oh come on, What is it with so many folks pissing all over the desires of others of late?
Whereas if the submitter had asked which kind of buggy he could harness to 100 horses to for some major stump-pulling action, you would cast scorn and derision on the suggestion he buy a gas-burning truck.
A solution is a solution, high-tech or no. Sometimes thinking outside the box is a Good Thing.
Next you're gonna remind us how you still walk to work, have no need for this fancy "Email" and "Internet" crap, and all your music is preserved in their original Wax Roll form.
Laugh while you can, monkey boy. Wax Rolls are EMP proof.
Crappy hardware means more replacements, more downtime for workers and more time reimaging and coordinating the scheduling techs or CEs to replace broken equipment. That translates to more staff and more money.
But doesn't the need for upgrading put the failure rate below the noise floor?
Otherwise a 10 year old PC that was still working just fine would be an incredible savings to your company.
As a doorstop, I guess. But I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you're replacing the old dinosaurs with newer, more capable upgrades. Otherwise you would have bought 10,000 dinosaurs ten years ago and be absolutely rolling in savings, right?
No, the notepad won't beep at a given time, nor will it play Solitaire. And yet, despite this severe handicap, hundreds of engineers managed to figure out how to put men on the moon and return them safely to earth, all without some goddamned gadget beeping at them on a regular schedule.
I mastered the art of how to use a clock about the time I was five. It's not that hard, really. See, when the little hand is on the four, and so is the big hand...
...but at these prices, who cares about failure rates?
For personal use the PC will most likely become obsolete (at least in the eyes of the user) before it becomes broken. On slashdot we've seen stories (over and over again:) about people buying whole new systems just because their current PC is loaded with spyware.
If it's for business use, and you've got to have 100% uptime, failure rate sill doesn't matter, since at these prices you buy multiple redundant systems and then sleep well at night.
Besides, how do you collect your data? It seems to me that by the time you've got good long-haul use data on your systems you won't be selling them anymore in favor of new models. And I don't see how extropolating data for new models based on old model performance is terribly useful.
By way of analogy - if new cars only cost a grand, you'd replace your car long before anything serious went wrong with it. About the time the ashtrays were full, a flat tire would be just the excuse you'd need to go shopping for the Latest Greatest Leetest Carxen.
The difference will be visible when you print large files, as they would take significantly longer to be transferred to your printer over a Parallel or USB 1.1 port as compared to USB 2.0.
That doesn't sound quite right to me. IIRC USB 1.1 can transfer at least megabyte per second. Assuming you need a full megabyte of data per page, that's 60 pages per minute before the printer overruns the port. You show me a cheap home PC printer that can blast ink onto paper that fast and I'll marry the thing;)
what i wonder is, are my children (ok, child at this point) going to look at today's wiz-bang games and think they look like clunky blocks?
Most probably they'll be saying "You mean you had to play everything flat like that? And everything was stuck on that one little square place, it couldn't fly over you or around you? Gaaahhh... how can you call that realistic?!";)
Slashdot Mirror
Because private industry did such a great job of evacuating the city of New Orleans before hurricane Katrina.
Private insurance companies will be writing billions of dollars in claims checks to the victims of the flood, so they can rebuild, relocate or just get on with their lives.
Insurance. Private industry. Billions of dollars.
That enough for ya?
And New Orleans had plans to redo the levee's to Cat5 strength. Wouldn't have been completed until 2020 or so. Katrina got there first.
If the build takes 15 years, what are the odds of a Cat5 coming along within that timespan to put you back to square one?
"The bottom line is we have a very unsafe planet."
Well that tears it. I'm leaving. Anyone coming with me?
Indeed they do, but alas, they ain't cheap. Until I get the scratch together for a Voyager I'll just have to content myself with my venerable MultiMoog.
Indeed, some time ago somebody managed to get a Genuine(r) Microsoft certificate. AFAIK no mischief was done, but if you ever needed a reason to avoid that bloody "Always trust [fill in blank]" click box, I'd say that's it.
At first glance I thought it was a referance to writing the software for those highway text display signs.
"Yeah, I code signs. Ever been by the I75 exit on the Ohio Turnpike? That's mine."
Hey, this painting I just bought at a garage sail is signed "Piccasso" - W00t! eBay, here I come! Untold riches are surely mine! ...which, I think, would kinda point out the flaw in the system. I hope.
Sorry, my bad, I was thinking of the Turing test.
Eliza's fooled her share :)
Of course that's a semicolon, indicating the computer should not force a newline at the end of printed list.
;)
Ah, BASIC. Is there nothing it cannot do?
Analog synthesizers. REAL analog, not some pseudo-kindalikeafilter-emulated plastic thing made of CPUs and DSPs, but beasts with discrete component muscles and op-amp souls, machines that could rip speaker cones apart at the twist of a knob.
Back in the day, you could build your own. Now... can you even get the Curtis chips anymore? *nostalgic sigh*
Rest In Peace, Dr. Robert Moog. You will be missed, but your legacy lives on forever.
Space Daily reports that University of Toronto researchers are working on a project that could replace conventional satellites with a miniature version no larger than a milk carton.
Or a thigh bone?
(Cue Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Ouch - that's going to be a black eye. Although it isn't the first case of software shipping with malware, IIRC there was some kid's game on CD that included a Bonus Virus inside.
Now a comment and a question for the peanut gallery - it's always been a pet peeve of mine that software companies aren't held to any real sort of accountability for shipping product that is clearly flawed. They hide behind the "shrink wrap" license, and (at least IMHO) get away with murder. Imagine if GM or Ford or Daimler-Chrysler put such a waiver of liability on a sticker on the doors of their new cars. The courts would tear them a new one so fast it'd be like lightning.
The question - what sort of liability does Creative have in this case, and what's fair recompense for shipping a clearly flawed product where said flaw has the possibility of harming the user's computer, data integrity and / or privacy?
How much is enough? Should Creative be given a hard enough pranging to get the attention of other software manufacturers?
Personally, I say "Yes". GM spends a hell of a lot of time and energy making sure their brakes work, I'd like to see software companies (and you all know exactly who I've got my sights on here) make sure they ship product that isn't horribly broken right out of the box.
Let's say I didn't know anything about graphics cards. How does this help me?
You can thank American Government pollution laws for that not happening. ...and...
China has 7 of the world's most polluted cities.
So the lesson here is that decade after of decade of democratic capitalism results in better environment, while decade after decade of socialism results in hell on earth.
Damn those neo-cons! Damn them to HELL!
Since it's going to screw up your golden age regardless of what's causing it, why aren't you interested in doing whatever is possible to reverse it?
If you don't mind, I'll take a run at this one, speaking only for myself, of course.
As a child of the 60's and 70's (I got to see the moon shots on live TV! Woo0t!1!) I remember a long, long parade of weepeers, whiners, moaners, groaners, tooth-gnashers, hand-wringers and other assorted chicken-little types. The ones that said we'd run out of food. We'd have to stand up because of the population explosion. We'd have to wear gas masks when we went outside, because of air pollution. The seas would be covered with oil. We'd be out of oil (evidently it was all floating in the ocean). The sonic boom would stop the chickens laying. DDT was the scourge of the world. Alligators dangled on the thread of extinction. And, yes, the Coming Ice Age would freeze us all. And our Pet Rocks would join forces with the Mood rings to enslave all of humanity! (OK, I made that last one up)
And given that track record I cast a rather jaundiced eye on the Doom Scenario De Jour and go "Meh". Particularly since the scientists of my youth managed to get from Kitty Hawk to Luna, and the current crop have been jerking off in low-earth orbit for the past few decades. Excuse my lack of gee-whizicles, but impressed I ain't.
Reality check: How often does the average member of the Slashdot community trot out the ancient and well-worn "640k is enough for anybody" canard while conveniently ignoring all the other "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE REAL SOON!!!!1!" failed predictions?
I say again: Global Warning? Meh. Take a number, you'll find the dispenser next to the Y2k countdown calendar.
Now if you'll pardon me I have to chase those kids off my lawn...
No, really, the shuttle thing is priceless. Man, you just made my weekend.
Nothing a neo-con likes more than BBQ astronaut. Nixon wanted to have "We came in pieces" on that plaque, but there was a typo on the soundstage.
I tip my tin-foil hat to you, sir.
I remember when a floppy drive broke, you took it to someone who would actually fix it. The things were hand-assembled for the most part, used a good number of discrete (read: fixable) components, and were built like a brick outhouse.
They also cost the better part of a grand apiece.
So how much more are you willing to pay for quality?
oh come on, What is it with so many folks pissing all over the desires of others of late?
Whereas if the submitter had asked which kind of buggy he could harness to 100 horses to for some major stump-pulling action, you would cast scorn and derision on the suggestion he buy a gas-burning truck.
A solution is a solution, high-tech or no. Sometimes thinking outside the box is a Good Thing.
Next you're gonna remind us how you still walk to work, have no need for this fancy "Email" and "Internet" crap, and all your music is preserved in their original Wax Roll form.
Laugh while you can, monkey boy. Wax Rolls are EMP proof.
Crappy hardware means more replacements, more downtime for workers and more time reimaging and coordinating the scheduling techs or CEs to replace broken equipment. That translates to more staff and more money.
But doesn't the need for upgrading put the failure rate below the noise floor?
Otherwise a 10 year old PC that was still working just fine would be an incredible savings to your company.
As a doorstop, I guess. But I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you're replacing the old dinosaurs with newer, more capable upgrades. Otherwise you would have bought 10,000 dinosaurs ten years ago and be absolutely rolling in savings, right?
"I got a 386! Woo0t!!1!"
No, the notepad won't beep at a given time, nor will it play Solitaire. And yet, despite this severe handicap, hundreds of engineers managed to figure out how to put men on the moon and return them safely to earth, all without some goddamned gadget beeping at them on a regular schedule.
I mastered the art of how to use a clock about the time I was five. It's not that hard, really. See, when the little hand is on the four, and so is the big hand...
...but at these prices, who cares about failure rates?
:) about people buying whole new systems just because their current PC is loaded with spyware.
For personal use the PC will most likely become obsolete (at least in the eyes of the user) before it becomes broken. On slashdot we've seen stories (over and over again
If it's for business use, and you've got to have 100% uptime, failure rate sill doesn't matter, since at these prices you buy multiple redundant systems and then sleep well at night.
Besides, how do you collect your data? It seems to me that by the time you've got good long-haul use data on your systems you won't be selling them anymore in favor of new models. And I don't see how extropolating data for new models based on old model performance is terribly useful.
By way of analogy - if new cars only cost a grand, you'd replace your car long before anything serious went wrong with it. About the time the ashtrays were full, a flat tire would be just the excuse you'd need to go shopping for the Latest Greatest Leetest Carxen.
The difference will be visible when you print large files, as they would take significantly longer to be transferred to your printer over a Parallel or USB 1.1 port as compared to USB 2.0.
;)
That doesn't sound quite right to me. IIRC USB 1.1 can transfer at least megabyte per second. Assuming you need a full megabyte of data per page, that's 60 pages per minute before the printer overruns the port. You show me a cheap home PC printer that can blast ink onto paper that fast and I'll marry the thing
...the slashdot effect: the new Nuclear Winter.
I like it.
what i wonder is, are my children (ok, child at this point) going to look at today's wiz-bang games and think they look like clunky blocks?
;)
Most probably they'll be saying "You mean you had to play everything flat like that? And everything was stuck on that one little square place, it couldn't fly over you or around you? Gaaahhh... how can you call that realistic?!"