Depending on how long Microsoft can strech out the appeals process. I could easily be nearing retirement age by the time any such breakup happens. Personally, I think that a breakup would be the worst of a bad set of options.
Who's to say that the "best interest" of the baby bills would not be to keep a collusive arrangement between them?
Basically breaking the company up makes it harder for the government to oversee and allows the baby bills to shift blame to each other so that there's a lot of circular finger pointing.
If OS, apps, and internet are all separate companies, they can't join together and force new products down our throats while preventing the competition from entering the market.
Are you SURE on this?
Yes, there might be standards set to prevent collusion, but in this day of mergers, committees, etc, this would be extremely difficult to enforce. For a prime example, look at the DVD consortium.
I remember seeing an interview with Lucas shortly after TPM came out. I distinctly remember him stating that we wouldn't see DVDs of the movies until after Episode 3 hit the market.
George is still working on each of the already released eps to "perfect" them. Once all 6 movies are released, THEN he was going to release them on whatever the current standard for digital media would be at that time (so some time after Episode 3 hits the stores as a VHS release, 2006 or something like that...).
Is idiocy truly like the hydra? Knock one down, and two more idiots take the place of the first? Scuse me, I need to beat my head off my keyboard a little
gtgtyhbnjuyjuhitghy
rdef4576ui98uy7hj
frdeofr4debvg76yy76u
WELL! I don't know if I feel better, but I sure have a splefty bruise on my forehead now!
Actually, I'm no super-guru or anything. You could put me in Q&A testing as the ultimate stability tester. Turn me loose on the system and see what I can fsck up. If it CAN be fscked up, I WILL find a way to do it! Usually, completely by accident.
Oh no!
BAD HAIKU INSPIRATION!:
A government job Sit on my butt and break things That's my kinda job
Shady history of the founder, and a past venture that now exists at 1/10th the initial valuation.
A "linux company" that was, until very recently, completely unheard of within the Linux community. One with NO known factors from that community.
A "linux company" with no real product. Incorporated in Nevada so that they were not subject to the full disclosure (Like "Uhh. We have no real product") required by other states.
A "linux company" who's supposedly forthcoming product is basically RedHat (or Mandrake) with all the names and serial numbers filed off.
A "linux company" whose open source soloution is "get it from Mandrake", in clear violation of existing licensing.
A "linux company" that photocopies another company's IPO, save for underwriter support. The IPO service they're going with is extremely low profile and extremely green in the market.
A share price set, not by estimating value on an existing product (since one doesn't exist), but on an arbitrary "this is what we thing the stock is worth" guesstimate from the "people" who run the "company".
A "half million dollar contract" from a little storefront that wishes it was Walnut Creek. The announcement of which is almost certainly a violation of the SEC-imposed quiet period.
A storefront with a Hotmail account as it's business contact. Hosted by a provider whose own site is barely more than an "under construction" sign.
A storefront whose main customers appear to be small computer shows and flea markets.
Now, for some reason, this inspires ZERO confidence in me (not sure if there's such a thing as a negative level of confidence, so I won't go that far).
In fact. The only thing it inspires is haiku.
Big Ripoff I See Their business profile screams SCAM!!! No dough shall I waste
Let's hope that they run it a bit more professionally than their current business. With my domain name, I had to put in MULTIPLE change forms over a period of SIX MONTHS before the damnable domain name finally moved.
Scott seems to miss the point entirely on his way to his politically correct rant. We're not laughing at the "dumb" user. We're laughing at the comedy of the situation itself. The sheer outrageousness of the moment.
I'm sure he's offended, on behalf of women and minorities, by "All in the Family" because of the Archie Bunker character's overt racism and sexism.
I'm sure he's offended, on behalf of people with low motor skills, by Chevy Chase's "Saturday Night Live" pratfalls.
I'm sorry, but I'm offended by hyper-sensitive people who over-moralize everything.
We're not laughing a new users. We've all been "new" at one time or another (unless someone has discovered a way to imprint complete educations on a fetus prior to birth). Everyone who's worked tech support has gotten at least ONE really wierd situation (though I doubt anyone's used a permanent marker on a CRT screen in a good long while).
We're not picturing that other person. We're picturing OURSELVES in this situation. Like a guy who's assmebled computers for a living for years having absoloutely no luck getting a computer to boot up, only to find out, after severe, agonizing troubleshooting, that he's forgotten to plug the power supply into the motherboard.
One one level, people are going: "Yeah, I've been in that techsupport position."
But, on a deeper level, they're usually thinking: "God! If I were that user, I'd just DIE!
Again, not lauging at the person, or even the stereotype. They're laughing at THEMSELVES. Now if you cannot laugh at yourself, can you laugh at anything else without being a hypocrite?
Chas - The one, the only. THANK GOD!!!
Moderate this up. People need to see this.
on
The ROX Desktop
·
· Score: 4
EXCELLENT. You're hitting on what could be a sticking point for Linux. Similar to the Mac platform.
Over-evangelization.
It's great! It's wonderful! It doesn't do everything like we want it to but we love it anyhow and everything else is just a cheap hack!
WRONG attitude! That's pulling a bag over your head and dooming yourself to obsolescence.
If you don't stay critical, and either blind yourself to, or minimize, shortcomings within Linux (and let's be REAL people. Linux DOES have a lot of shortcomings.
You need to be able to acknowledge that something sucks and that it needs to be changed. This is for both the programmers AND the user-only-base out there.
Programmers, don't get pissed when a user mails you and tells you that your pet project(s) need work, or are buggy. Even if their ideas about what's broken aren't in-line with your conception of the project's goals, keep an open mind about it. Someone might spew for a genuine, bobdamned GOOD IDEA{TM} Remember, a TCP/IP stack wasn't essential to Windows at one time.
Userbase. Don't be afraid of hurting a programmer's feelings by criticising his work! (Note: But try to stay within the bounds of civility for pity's sake!) Even if you couldn't write a Perl script to save your life, even if you just installed Linux for the first time yesterday night, stay critical.
Think about what it is, SPECIFICALLY that you don't like about the program, or Linux itself. Write this stuff down.
Think about what you DO like. Write this down as well.
Think about something that could make it even BETTER, and (you guessed it) WRITE IT DOWN.
Take these notes and turn them into e-mails to the appropriate persons who are responsible for maintaining the software. Without honest input, their projects will stagnate sooner or later. No one man can have ALL the ideas.
Summary: Don't be afraid to say "This sucks and I want to help change it!"
Zag. You should know that it's not nice to tweak people.
Especially since you're inaccurate.
You CANNOT telnet into NT. You CAN find a shareware telnet service, but you cannot telnet into an OOB NT box. Period.
I know you're in love with your Win2K box, but sheesh. Please note that he DID mention Win2K being telnetable.
*SPANKSPANK*
Bad boy! Now you have to listen to Reba West again!
Chas - The one, the only. THANK GOD!!!
See what comes from playing with gadgets too long?
on
Good Bye Q
·
· Score: 2
My first movie theater experience was StarWars. Unfortunately, most of the Bond films hit theaters well before I ever had the cash to go see them.
Still, seeing them on TV did nothing to diminsh the gawp-factor. As I was too young to watch the movies for the girls (let's be honest, for all the really YOUNG viewers, "Pussy Galore" went right over our heads as little kids), the action sequences and the gadgets were what really got my attention. So many interesting ways of doing frag unto others before they do frag unto you (I'm convinced they consulted with Q on Q3 and UT).
I'm going to miss Q, and sincerely sorry that Mr Llewelyn died. Rest in peace sir.
Typical. Microsoft's bloat even extends to it's instructions.
You can make DOS/Windows FDISK remove non-DOS partitions.
I found this out at a LAN party way back when. And, on occasion, when I've needed HD space for something (usually putzing with a Bloatrosoft product), I can blow away my Linux partition.
Why blow away Linux?
Usually I need the space IMMEDIATELY, so running out for a new drive isn't feasible.
Limited budget (can't always be running out for a new drive).
Limited space (can't fit any more drives in my case)
I can restore my Linux setup to pre-fragged condition in under an hour. Since all my data is backed up regularly, I don't lose anything (other than my high scores in SameGnome). NOTE: I am NOT doing this on a server machine. This is my workstation/gaming machine.
How do you do it?
At the command prompt, type: FDISK/fprmt
This will enable you to blow away any non-DOS partitions from within FDISK. This works with PC-DOS7, Win95, Win95b, Win95c, Win98, Win98SE, WinNT4, and Win2K.
Note: I'm not advocating murdering your Linux partition! I'm just diseminating information.
This will enable MS FDISK to remove non-DOS/Windows partitions.
I know it works. I've done it numerous times (Linux is still in the "Hobby" stage for me right now) as occasionally MacroBloatasoft products sometimes need more space than I have on my Windows drive. Since I can restore Linux to a working state in under an hour, I can blow away Linux with no ill effects.
Please, keep your letters calm, to the point, and refrain from exhibiting the lower reaches of your vocabulary.
Chas - The one, the only. THANK GOD!!!
Re:The Good and the Bad.
on
Sex in Space
·
· Score: 1
You forget. Being in the military tends to strengthen a man's stomach. Also, a 2.5 year enforced abstinance regimen will do strange things to a mans thoughts. Like beer-goggling....only without the beer.
Chas - The one, the only. THANK GOD!!!
Re:Will SOMEONE please stand up?!
on
Sex in Space
·
· Score: 1
And, being a typical Slashdot Geek, the 74 second "test cycle" is probably well within operational parameters...
Why is it, that whenever people don't conform to an artificial, and usually unattainable, norm, they're considered ill or defective?
Someone who prefers to be a loner or not socially active. Someone who prefers computers to physical sports. Someone who'd rather read a book than go freeze at a football game. People with ideas and ideals that aren't "mainstream".
Similarly, we're medicating our children nowadays to make them conform. A child has trouble learning in school. But it's not the fault of the teachers or their teaching method. Do we change the way we teach that child? Vary from the cookie-cutter educational approach? No, it's Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. GIVE 'EM DRUGS!
A kid has some sort of emotional trauma. Do we work through it? Do we help the child out? No, it's a MENTAL PROBLEM. GIVE 'EM DRUGS!
Nowadays, CHILDREN are getting pregnant in high school. Do we try to reinforce the values of abstinance? Teach safe sex? Alert them to the potential health risks and other consequences? Nope! They need The Morning After Pill! GIVE 'EM DRUGS!
Does anyone else see the problem with this? All soloutions cannot be found in a pill. Better living through pharmacology is a MYTH. We don't need to change how we ACT. We need to change how we THINK
Slashdot Mirror
Depending on how long Microsoft can strech out the appeals process. I could easily be nearing retirement age by the time any such breakup happens. Personally, I think that a breakup would be the worst of a bad set of options.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Who's to say that the "best interest" of the baby bills would not be to keep a collusive arrangement between them?
Basically breaking the company up makes it harder for the government to oversee and allows the baby bills to shift blame to each other so that there's a lot of circular finger pointing.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
If OS, apps, and internet are all separate companies, they can't join together and force new products down our throats while preventing the competition from entering the market.
Are you SURE on this?
Yes, there might be standards set to prevent collusion, but in this day of mergers, committees, etc, this would be extremely difficult to enforce. For a prime example, look at the DVD consortium.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I remember seeing an interview with Lucas shortly after TPM came out. I distinctly remember him stating that we wouldn't see DVDs of the movies until after Episode 3 hit the market.
George is still working on each of the already released eps to "perfect" them. Once all 6 movies are released, THEN he was going to release them on whatever the current standard for digital media would be at that time (so some time after Episode 3 hits the stores as a VHS release, 2006 or something like that...).
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Hmmm. Anyone else besides me wish this were fully backwards compatible with the TNT2 and TNT cards?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Is idiocy truly like the hydra? Knock one down, and two more idiots take the place of the first? Scuse me, I need to beat my head off my keyboard a little
gtgtyhbnjuyjuhitghy
rdef4576ui98uy7hj
frdeofr4debvg76yy76u
WELL! I don't know if I feel better, but I sure have a splefty bruise on my forehead now!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Turn me loose boss!
I'm the perfect agent to bring down WINDOWS
Actually, I'm no super-guru or anything. You could put me in Q&A testing as the ultimate stability tester. Turn me loose on the system and see what I can fsck up. If it CAN be fscked up, I WILL find a way to do it! Usually, completely by accident.
Oh no!
BAD HAIKU INSPIRATION!:
A government job
Sit on my butt and break things
That's my kinda job
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Here's what I see.
Now, for some reason, this inspires ZERO confidence in me (not sure if there's such a thing as a negative level of confidence, so I won't go that far).
In fact. The only thing it inspires is haiku.
Big Ripoff I See
Their business profile screams SCAM!!!
No dough shall I waste
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Let's hope that they run it a bit more professionally than their current business. With my domain name, I had to put in MULTIPLE change forms over a period of SIX MONTHS before the damnable domain name finally moved.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Scott seems to miss the point entirely on his way to his politically correct rant. We're not laughing at the "dumb" user. We're laughing at the comedy of the situation itself. The sheer outrageousness of the moment.
I'm sure he's offended, on behalf of women and minorities, by "All in the Family" because of the Archie Bunker character's overt racism and sexism.
I'm sure he's offended, on behalf of people with low motor skills, by Chevy Chase's "Saturday Night Live" pratfalls.
I'm sorry, but I'm offended by hyper-sensitive people who over-moralize everything.
We're not laughing a new users. We've all been "new" at one time or another (unless someone has discovered a way to imprint complete educations on a fetus prior to birth). Everyone who's worked tech support has gotten at least ONE really wierd situation (though I doubt anyone's used a permanent marker on a CRT screen in a good long while).
We're not picturing that other person. We're picturing OURSELVES in this situation. Like a guy who's assmebled computers for a living for years having absoloutely no luck getting a computer to boot up, only to find out, after severe, agonizing troubleshooting, that he's forgotten to plug the power supply into the motherboard.
One one level, people are going:
"Yeah, I've been in that techsupport position."
But, on a deeper level, they're usually thinking:
"God! If I were that user, I'd just DIE!
Again, not lauging at the person, or even the stereotype. They're laughing at THEMSELVES. Now if you cannot laugh at yourself, can you laugh at anything else without being a hypocrite?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
EXCELLENT. You're hitting on what could be a sticking point for Linux. Similar to the Mac platform.
Over-evangelization.
It's great! It's wonderful! It doesn't do everything like we want it to but we love it anyhow and everything else is just a cheap hack!
WRONG attitude! That's pulling a bag over your head and dooming yourself to obsolescence.
If you don't stay critical, and either blind yourself to, or minimize, shortcomings within Linux (and let's be REAL people. Linux DOES have a lot of shortcomings.
You need to be able to acknowledge that something sucks and that it needs to be changed. This is for both the programmers AND the user-only-base out there.
Programmers, don't get pissed when a user mails you and tells you that your pet project(s) need work, or are buggy. Even if their ideas about what's broken aren't in-line with your conception of the project's goals, keep an open mind about it. Someone might spew for a genuine, bobdamned GOOD IDEA{TM} Remember, a TCP/IP stack wasn't essential to Windows at one time.
Userbase. Don't be afraid of hurting a programmer's feelings by criticising his work! (Note: But try to stay within the bounds of civility for pity's sake!) Even if you couldn't write a Perl script to save your life, even if you just installed Linux for the first time yesterday night, stay critical.
Summary: Don't be afraid to say "This sucks and I want to help change it!"
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
What would that be in Star-Date?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
It started with the Blair Witch Project, now it's reared it's ugly head in Galaxy Quest.
It's the "It's real. *SMIRK* I swear man!" type of advertising.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Zag. You should know that it's not nice to tweak people.
Especially since you're inaccurate.
You CANNOT telnet into NT. You CAN find a shareware telnet service, but you cannot telnet into an OOB NT box. Period.
I know you're in love with your Win2K box, but sheesh. Please note that he DID mention Win2K being telnetable.
*SPANKSPANK*
Bad boy! Now you have to listen to Reba West again!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
My first movie theater experience was StarWars. Unfortunately, most of the Bond films hit theaters well before I ever had the cash to go see them.
Still, seeing them on TV did nothing to diminsh the gawp-factor. As I was too young to watch the movies for the girls (let's be honest, for all the really YOUNG viewers, "Pussy Galore" went right over our heads as little kids), the action sequences and the gadgets were what really got my attention. So many interesting ways of doing frag unto others before they do frag unto you (I'm convinced they consulted with Q on Q3 and UT).
I'm going to miss Q, and sincerely sorry that Mr Llewelyn died. Rest in peace sir.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I think the release of that information at this time might be premature, and would taint any findings of fact being enacted by the police.
It'd also subject the person who was in the other vehicle to extreme amounts of publicity.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I don't know about that, so I'll take your word for it.
What I do know is that that particular series of switches has allowed me to remove Linux partitions on the occasions I've needed to.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Have you tried the method I suggested? It works for me.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Typical. Microsoft's bloat even extends to it's instructions.
You can make DOS/Windows FDISK remove non-DOS partitions.
I found this out at a LAN party way back when. And, on occasion, when I've needed HD space for something (usually putzing with a Bloatrosoft product), I can blow away my Linux partition.
Why blow away Linux?
NOTE: I am NOT doing this on a server machine. This is my workstation/gaming machine.
How do you do it?
At the command prompt, type: /fprmt
FDISK
This will enable you to blow away any non-DOS partitions from within FDISK. This works with PC-DOS7, Win95, Win95b, Win95c, Win98, Win98SE, WinNT4, and Win2K.
Note: I'm not advocating murdering your Linux partition! I'm just diseminating information.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
FDISK /fprmt
This will enable MS FDISK to remove non-DOS/Windows partitions.
I know it works. I've done it numerous times (Linux is still in the "Hobby" stage for me right now) as occasionally MacroBloatasoft products sometimes need more space than I have on my Windows drive. Since I can restore Linux to a working state in under an hour, I can blow away Linux with no ill effects.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/
Please, keep your letters calm, to the point, and refrain from exhibiting the lower reaches of your vocabulary.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
You forget. Being in the military tends to strengthen a man's stomach. Also, a 2.5 year enforced abstinance regimen will do strange things to a mans thoughts. Like beer-goggling....only without the beer.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
And, being a typical Slashdot Geek, the 74 second "test cycle" is probably well within operational parameters...
LOL!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Actually, AMD has a DDR 100Mhz bus. It transfers data on the rising and falling of the clock. Effectively it's about the same.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Why is it, that whenever people don't conform to an artificial, and usually unattainable, norm, they're considered ill or defective?
Someone who prefers to be a loner or not socially active. Someone who prefers computers to physical sports. Someone who'd rather read a book than go freeze at a football game. People with ideas and ideals that aren't "mainstream".
Similarly, we're medicating our children nowadays to make them conform. A child has trouble learning in school. But it's not the fault of the teachers or their teaching method. Do we change the way we teach that child? Vary from the cookie-cutter educational approach? No, it's Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. GIVE 'EM DRUGS!
A kid has some sort of emotional trauma. Do we work through it? Do we help the child out? No, it's a MENTAL PROBLEM. GIVE 'EM DRUGS!
Nowadays, CHILDREN are getting pregnant in high school. Do we try to reinforce the values of abstinance? Teach safe sex? Alert them to the potential health risks and other consequences? Nope! They need The Morning After Pill! GIVE 'EM DRUGS!
Does anyone else see the problem with this? All soloutions cannot be found in a pill. Better living through pharmacology is a MYTH. We don't need to change how we ACT. We need to change how we THINK
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!