Very true. Arrogance from a secondary wanna-be standard should be met with laughter, derision, and especially non-usage by the community. They CAN be replaced by GPL'd "products".
The problem is the cross-licensing and commercial tie-ins that these companies make -- for example, that some multimedia (trailers, white papers, videos, etc.) is only available in certain formats. They're saying, "if you want to see this you have to download/buy/install/use our proprietary product."
When will the majority of the PC users out there learn to vote with their OS or applications and stop using crap? Sorry, rhetorical question.
As for programmers making something off their encoders, I would suggest they sell to Real, Microsoft, Apple, etc. Just another example of why Open Source with thousands of programmers/developers beats proprietary source with a handful of stingy coders.
i don't want to rain on the long unemployment parade, but this article is really not a class act.
it's unorganized and it's mostly irrelavant. it's trying to sing the blues, but it doesn't have any soul.
worse, i find this "blog" only slightly applicable to the real world of job searching -- the worry like ohmigod, rewrite my resume over and over, work on cover letters, fax/email resume after resume, the anxiety over qualifying for unemployment and then making the checks cover my bills, read the want ads, try to dress up appropriately and prep for an interview, sign up for every internet job site, trying not to get depressed over not getting any responses, call ANY friends on my personal network, make cold calls out of the yellow pages to get job leads, stop eating out to save money, wonder who in the family you can hit up for money, and feeling guilty that you can't do more to get employed.
Having never been a fan of blacklists, it's good to see one fail.
A blacklist is like the death penalty -- there is no 100% surefire positive no-mistakes without prejudice way to protect the innocent.
Look at the results of blacklists as similar to the casualties produced in a war -- you may kill a good many of the enemy, but how many of them were civilians?
What we have here is another "why don't you/. dudes write this book for me?" attempt. Why not pull all the "newbie/help" posts out of those numerous Linux forums to jump start this project?
I can see that the typical slashdotter has more interest in making a possibly snide/cute/humorous/clever remark about Grant's lessons in the IT business than putting it to use. How sad.
From personal experience, however, it works. You may have to fine tune the techniques from city to city, but his common sense approach works consistently.
If I wasn't medically retired, I'd be thinking about starting up another business after reading his absolutely fantastic article.
i'm wondering if they could perhaps program in an answer to the "how much do you plan on drinking tonight?" question in, and then the compu--, er, table could keep track.
and maybe they could put a big LED on the table that keeps track of how many you've had.
i can see it as a good reminder for the human wait-er/-ress to ask, but i just don't see automatic drink refills -- too many problems.
and am i the only one to think that this might also be applied to food? like those all you can eat type of deals. "the compuuter said your plaate is almost empty, sir, do you want some more?"
good grief, i wish i had 2 million bucks to blow, i'd ride that idea of cringely's like it was seabiscuit in the 2 furlong.
BUT, while it's a good idea, don't count on it being implemented. Americans (and i am one) just aren't quick on the trigger anymore. the good ol' days when somebody jumped on a cause and rode it home come hell or high water seems to be gone with the wind.
the problem is, how do you stop those downloaders who have had all that free stuff they can peer2peer out there? there has to be a reason for music lovers to jump to the legal side of the fence and PAY, but i just don't see it. once you have gone to the dark side of p2p, you don't come back...
is that a 30 odd percentage increase in performance over similar machines (G5 over P4) is not worth a two or three hundred percent price difference (noted in last paragraph of review).
what i'd like to see is some G5 versus AMD XP+ 1.5GHz to 3.2GHz reviews, since P4 seems to be a dog compared to P3.
I had an '85 Nissan Sentra diesel, 1.7 liter, no A/C. I got 45 to 50 miles to the gallon of cheaper (!) diesel fuel. On the open roads, it was at least 55 miles to the gallon at highway speeds of 65 to 75. Top speed was almost 100 mph (but don't tell anybody)...
My question is, why don't they build'em that way anymore...?
. what i don't understand is that matter has three states -- like water has a solid, liquid, and gaseous state.
why isn't it possible that these 'particles' in tune with each other have 3 states as well -- like synched, synched opposite, and not synched...?
my guess is that when we finally discover the real synching going on, we'll see that it is independent of the speed of light (aren't they particles in themselves...?)
oh, well, such is the core of a good science fiction story... the kind that usually become science fact later on.
(1) there are new 3D monitors out there and more coming. why be stuck with a "flat" picture when a "new" GUI can be programmed to look behind or show icons, pictures, text, or other objects like our eyes see them...?
(2) spoken text recognition and playback machinery and code are in place -- why not make them part of a real intereactive "new" GUI...?
(3) man has always been subjected to the limitations of papyrus, quills, pens, paper, and on up to mice and stylii. why not make (in conjunction with 3D monitors) our manual or voice input actually do 3 dimensional things...?
(4) right now all man's senses are divided into computer processes: video and audio are well developed even into virtual realities, touch is limited to tactile interfaces, smell and taste are -- well, maybe not yet. what's wrong with an "object" that incorporates as many aspects of these senses as possible for us to use computer processes and data better...?
here's the bottom line -- as long as we have to translate back and forth the ordinary things we do as "things" the computer can use computers are useful but limited tools.
change it so computers operate with "objects" like we see and touch and hear (and taste and smell, etc.) in their dealins with us, then we become real masters of our tools.
10 Stars - It's the Honorable thing to do...
on
War of Honor
·
· Score: 2
. I bought "War of Honor" from Amazon pre-publication & read it in one sleepless overnight sitting. Yes, I am a fan...
Honor Harrington appeals for several reasons. I like David Weber's plausible, well thought out, pleasantly unpredictable, carefully crafted plots & background. While it may seem he injects too much detail into the series, underneath it all is even more cultural history & a detailed scientific environment (available for those that want to read it) that is the basis for everything he writes.
What's even better is that the important nuances of each character's actions & reactions, their motivations & personas, are laid out for the reader to follow (but not always predict).
But the most important factor in the series is Honor Harrington's honor. Weber presents a future where a strong female lead strives to always do the right thing. If there is one theme throughout the series, it's that gentle pun of Honor doing the honorable thing.
Baen Publishing has done some amazingly right things with publishing on the Internet -- read the details at Baen (http://www.baen.com/library/) -- but the most daring of all is including the complete Honor Harrington series on CD with the hardback.
if the profit margin is 85%, then the cost to produce it is $45. that means that selling it for $45 will only BREAK EVEN, not make a profit for Micro$oft.
if we take a typical "sell it for twice what it costs to be able to stay in business standard," then M$'s fair selling price would be $90. and that would be to those in the retail and other distribution channels, because those reseller need to make a profit as well...!
so if these resllers price it for twice the cost $90, they need to sell it for $180 to stay in business (by the same 2x cost rule).
so, what's actually happening is that M$ is overpricing something that they could sell for $90, and making a tidy profit.
good for them...!
if you've ever been in business, you quickly learn NOT to begrudge anyone their fair share of a profit -- lest they do it to you -- but you also learn that FAIR is something that is never defined to your satisfaction.
in reality, i say the price is whatever the seller and customer agree upon.
you have got to be kidding or you just kissed the dream fairy.
the homeless get and forget more blowjobs than you do because
a) homeless women do what it takes to get "protection" on the street,
b) there is a huge secondary market in drugs that must be paid for some way or other, and
c) violence is a part of the homeless environment.
finally, the only thing the homeless will remember is an easy mark, some bleeding heart liberal to hit up next time.
garbage by any other name is still...
on
My Compost Bin And I
·
· Score: 2, Funny
garbage...!
we're talking eco-garbage here, right...?
i just wonder what the SMELL will be like.
like most ecological efforts i'm aware of, in real life they STINK.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem is the cross-licensing and commercial tie-ins that these companies make -- for example, that some multimedia (trailers, white papers, videos, etc.) is only available in certain formats. They're saying, "if you want to see this you have to download/buy/install/use our proprietary product."
When will the majority of the PC users out there learn to vote with their OS or applications and stop using crap? Sorry, rhetorical question.
As for programmers making something off their encoders, I would suggest they sell to Real, Microsoft, Apple, etc. Just another example of why Open Source with thousands of programmers/developers beats proprietary source with a handful of stingy coders.
The last time I went to their site it was nothing more than an online store -- where did their free player go...?
I think DviX is nothing more than another attempt by some programmers to make money by trying to be monopolistic (like M$).
When I find files that will only play with DviX I go elsewhere or wait until somebody converts'em.
i don't want to rain on the long unemployment parade, but this article is really not a class act.
it's unorganized and it's mostly irrelavant. it's trying to sing the blues, but it doesn't have any soul.
worse, i find this "blog" only slightly applicable to the real world of job searching -- the worry like ohmigod, rewrite my resume over and over, work on cover letters, fax/email resume after resume, the anxiety over qualifying for unemployment and then making the checks cover my bills, read the want ads, try to dress up appropriately and prep for an interview, sign up for every internet job site, trying not to get depressed over not getting any responses, call ANY friends on my personal network, make cold calls out of the yellow pages to get job leads, stop eating out to save money, wonder who in the family you can hit up for money, and feeling guilty that you can't do more to get employed.
add in the VAT, shipping, the only 1,000 copies produced, and whatever else, and you can be sure the price will be higher.
however, i'm betting that within 1 month the entire collection will be available via bit torrent from some 3rd world server...
real space pioneers get cremated on reentry...
A blacklist is like the death penalty -- there is no 100% surefire positive no-mistakes without prejudice way to protect the innocent.
Look at the results of blacklists as similar to the casualties produced in a war -- you may kill a good many of the enemy, but how many of them were civilians?
That's not being a "writer", that's being an "editor".
What we have here is another "why don't you /. dudes write this book for me?" attempt. Why not pull all the "newbie/help" posts out of those numerous Linux forums to jump start this project?
From personal experience, however, it works. You may have to fine tune the techniques from city to city, but his common sense approach works consistently.
If I wasn't medically retired, I'd be thinking about starting up another business after reading his absolutely fantastic article.
This has to be important to the average /. reader, considering how fast the comments rolled in. Seriously.
and maybe they could put a big LED on the table that keeps track of how many you've had.
i can see it as a good reminder for the human wait-er/-ress to ask, but i just don't see automatic drink refills -- too many problems.
and am i the only one to think that this might also be applied to food? like those all you can eat type of deals. "the compuuter said your plaate is almost empty, sir, do you want some more?"
BUT, while it's a good idea, don't count on it being implemented. Americans (and i am one) just aren't quick on the trigger anymore. the good ol' days when somebody jumped on a cause and rode it home come hell or high water seems to be gone with the wind.
the problem is, how do you stop those downloaders who have had all that free stuff they can peer2peer out there? there has to be a reason for music lovers to jump to the legal side of the fence and PAY, but i just don't see it. once you have gone to the dark side of p2p, you don't come back...
what i'd like to see is some G5 versus AMD XP+ 1.5GHz to 3.2GHz reviews, since P4 seems to be a dog compared to P3.
Please, oh! To concentrate on weird sentence structures hard make it? On facts concetrate not structure. Enlightened you will then be.
It may not be April 1st, but the joke sure is.
/.-ers read before they post (hint: the answer is "all of the above: few")
Check out the site and you'll see it's a monumental collection of military aircraft and other ideas that make Howard Hughes seem like a pauper...
Just goes to show how many
I had an '85 Nissan Sentra diesel, 1.7 liter, no A/C. I got 45 to 50 miles to the gallon of cheaper (!) diesel fuel. On the open roads, it was at least 55 miles to the gallon at highway speeds of 65 to 75. Top speed was almost 100 mph (but don't tell anybody)...
My question is, why don't they build'em that way anymore...?
And Arthur C. Clarke is a great s-f writer, one of the best IMHO.
.
what i don't understand is that matter has three states -- like water has a solid, liquid, and gaseous state.
why isn't it possible that these 'particles' in tune with each other have 3 states as well -- like synched, synched opposite, and not synched...?
my guess is that when we finally discover the real synching going on, we'll see that it is independent of the speed of light (aren't they particles in themselves...?)
oh, well, such is the core of a good science fiction story... the kind that usually become science fact later on.
.
it's obvious -- it's for coders who go 'round in circles...
here's a couple ideas:
(1) there are new 3D monitors out there and more coming. why be stuck with a "flat" picture when a "new" GUI can be programmed to look behind or show icons, pictures, text, or other objects like our eyes see them...?
(2) spoken text recognition and playback machinery and code are in place -- why not make them part of a real intereactive "new" GUI...?
(3) man has always been subjected to the limitations of papyrus, quills, pens, paper, and on up to mice and stylii. why not make (in conjunction with 3D monitors) our manual or voice input actually do 3 dimensional things...?
(4) right now all man's senses are divided into computer processes: video and audio are well developed even into virtual realities, touch is limited to tactile interfaces, smell and taste are -- well, maybe not yet. what's wrong with an "object" that incorporates as many aspects of these senses as possible for us to use computer processes and data better...?
here's the bottom line -- as long as we have to translate back and forth the ordinary things we do as "things" the computer can use computers are useful but limited tools.
change it so computers operate with "objects" like we see and touch and hear (and taste and smell, etc.) in their dealins with us, then we become real masters of our tools.
.
I bought "War of Honor" from Amazon pre-publication & read it in one sleepless overnight sitting. Yes, I am a fan...
Honor Harrington appeals for several reasons. I like David Weber's plausible, well thought out, pleasantly unpredictable, carefully crafted plots & background. While it may seem he injects too much detail into the series, underneath it all is even more cultural history & a detailed scientific environment (available for those that want to read it) that is the basis for everything he writes.
What's even better is that the important nuances of each character's actions & reactions, their motivations & personas, are laid out for the reader to follow (but not always predict).
But the most important factor in the series is Honor Harrington's honor. Weber presents a future where a strong female lead strives to always do the right thing. If there is one theme throughout the series, it's that gentle pun of Honor doing the honorable thing.
Baen Publishing has done some amazingly right things with publishing on the Internet -- read the details at Baen (http://www.baen.com/library/) -- but the most daring of all is including the complete Honor Harrington series on CD with the hardback.
I give Honor 10 stars.
.
.
.
wait a minute, Michael.
if the profit margin is 85%, then the cost to produce it is $45. that means that selling it for $45 will only BREAK EVEN, not make a profit for Micro$oft.
if we take a typical "sell it for twice what it costs to be able to stay in business standard," then M$'s fair selling price would be $90. and that would be to those in the retail and other distribution channels, because those reseller need to make a profit as well...!
so if these resllers price it for twice the cost $90, they need to sell it for $180 to stay in business (by the same 2x cost rule).
so, what's actually happening is that M$ is overpricing something that they could sell for $90, and making a tidy profit.
good for them...!
if you've ever been in business, you quickly learn NOT to begrudge anyone their fair share of a profit -- lest they do it to you -- but you also learn that FAIR is something that is never defined to your satisfaction.
in reality, i say the price is whatever the seller and customer agree upon.
an EDUCATED buyer is what drives prices down.
FAIR ain't got nuthin' to do with real life...
uh...?
you have got to be kidding or you just kissed the dream fairy.
the homeless get and forget more blowjobs than you do because
a) homeless women do what it takes to get "protection" on the street,
b) there is a huge secondary market in drugs that must be paid for some way or other, and
c) violence is a part of the homeless environment.
finally, the only thing the homeless will remember is an easy mark, some bleeding heart liberal to hit up next time.
garbage...!
we're talking eco-garbage here, right...?
i just wonder what the SMELL will be like.
like most ecological efforts i'm aware of, in real life they STINK.
'tis easy...
put all your songs online only in Ogg Vorbis format.
that'll grab somebody's attention...