Generating 800 Megs is easy. And it says nothing. The researchers better count the amount of 'information' or entropy in bits. But I guess that would be too hard, because a lot of data on my harddisk(s) is duplicated on other disks (for example OS's and programs) or has lots of overhead (think of the huge sizes of a Word document with nothing in it, or the recurring use of the brackets in a XML document).
Yep. That's right. That is also the reason why they always go to Alaska. (A quick view at their website says that is not true, but all the ads I always get from them is about cruises going to Alaska).
They real challenge then is when those 'extremely large numbers' are in fact the product of two very large prime numbers. That is where the problem lies. In that case you have only 2 (not counting 1 and itself) factors of a really large number, finding those will be hard.
Not necessarily terrifying. There are a lot of pages (for example banks) that only work on IE. When you have to boot up Windows (and thus have a copy installed)/just/ for making some money transactions, having it run on Linux is quite nice to have.
Must note by the way that it still is a workaround. Sites should work in all (modern) browsers. The site of my bank seems to work okay with Mozilla, so I am fine there.
I've also heard that for some drive makers "gigabyte" means 1^20*10^3 (i.e. one thousand megabytes) and things like that.
Sorry for being a nitpick, but that would resolve to 1000. (1^x is always 1, no matter what x is). I think you meant 2^20 * 10^3, or 10^6 * 2^10, or... no I don't think I know what you meant.
Addendum: If you want a controller just for fun, don't go for this one, it is way too expensive. Perhaps you could get its predecessor (S5), but I recommend something like an Atmel microcontroller. I am playing with the Atmega16 now, which has RS-232 and I2C built in. It has 4 8-bit I/O ports and A/D convertors. You could for example automate your house with it easily.
I know this sounds clichayed, but if you can't take the EULA stay out of the propritary kitchen.
And what it this proprietary piece of software is exactly what you need and works perfectly? Should you not buy a product because the terms are unacceptable? Strange also that these things are accepted in the software market and not in other markets (suppose you buy a car and the dealer tells you you cannot lend it to a friend or transport some specific stuff in it).
In the consumer market, I would doubt that. Most PCs come with Windows on it and people don't know they are paying for it. A lot of other people have it lying around somewhere or borrow it from a friend (nobody actually reads, let alone understand, the EULA). All my friends have computers and they all have Windows on it. Nobody has explicitly bought Windows. They just have it.
Euh, nice comparison (not!). Mickey and Goofy are cool, I like them, but you can't possible compare them to Asterix and Obelix. FYI, it is a (apparently not so) well known fact that Asterix and Obelix have add more to the knowledge of classical history then classical education. A lot of things in the strip (not cartoon) are genuine. You can actually learn stuff from Asterix. So, I'd say go out and read some.
As with anything, if people used common sense probably 95% of problems could be avoided.
Which is the problem. People are surfing the net, and will click away all boxes they didn't ask for. Most of the messages you get are total nonsense if you are a user and just want to look for that apple-pie recipe. For one reason or another people must have a clue when using computers/the internet but not when using other (evenly complex) devices such as CD players, DVD players, etc. To me that means that the product (IE in this case) is not designed correctly.
no one, but no one, uses Linux on the desktop except hacker freaks like you and me
Not entirely. When you read news on usenet, you'll find a lot of posts of people saying they wanted to try linux. Also people that don't know about filesystems, memory management, etc. The new distributions are so easy to setup and use that also non-hackers can (and do) use it. There are even people that don't know they use it, for example in thin clients.
When is the recording industry finally going to see that it must change? The world isn't the same as 10, 20 years ago. I see some people starting sites with another approach to distributing music. As a matter of fact, I am involved in such a project myself (to become online soon on www.localsounds.nl; sorry guys just for the Dutch speaking community for now).
Will the giants themselves become aware of those projects and participate in this?
to spam on the IM networks. I remember an option on ICQ (I use MSN now) to 'chat to a random person'. I'll say that sort of things will be used to spam people. You can't run from advertising. Just install a good filter, don't give everybody your e-mail address, don't post it plain text on a website and you will be okay.
I just got hired in a firm to migrate their entire network to Linux. Both the servers and all of the workstations will be running Linux in a few months, even the ones the secretaries use. It's not a big company (20 people), but still.
Slashdot Mirror
Generating 800 Megs is easy. And it says nothing. The researchers better count the amount of 'information' or entropy in bits. But I guess that would be too hard, because a lot of data on my harddisk(s) is duplicated on other disks (for example OS's and programs) or has lots of overhead (think of the huge sizes of a Word document with nothing in it, or the recurring use of the brackets in a XML document).
Yep. That's right. That is also the reason why they always go to Alaska. (A quick view at their website says that is not true, but all the ads I always get from them is about cruises going to Alaska).
They real challenge then is when those 'extremely large numbers' are in fact the product of two very large prime numbers. That is where the problem lies. In that case you have only 2 (not counting 1 and itself) factors of a really large number, finding those will be hard.
Nvu (pronounced N-view, for a "new view")
New view? Sure it is not announced as "Envy You"? Those Lindows guys just envy the people that can afford a real program like FrontPage.
Not necessarily terrifying. There are a lot of pages (for example banks) that only work on IE. When you have to boot up Windows (and thus have a copy installed) /just/ for making some money transactions, having it run on Linux is quite nice to have.
Must note by the way that it still is a workaround. Sites should work in all (modern) browsers. The site of my bank seems to work okay with Mozilla, so I am fine there.
According to the article (or the howto guide, which it is), you can browse 2 pages back and forth, so you can see the context in which it is used.
128 bits will never be practical
Depends on what you want to do. Philips has a 128 bits VLIW processor called TriMedia (I believe). Never say never.
I've also heard that for some drive makers "gigabyte" means 1^20*10^3 (i.e. one thousand megabytes) and things like that.
Sorry for being a nitpick, but that would resolve to 1000. (1^x is always 1, no matter what x is). I think you meant 2^20 * 10^3, or 10^6 * 2^10, or... no I don't think I know what you meant.
Since I got it, I almost exclusively use it. It has both a ballpoint and a pencil in it. No need to carry around two things.
Addendum: If you want a controller just for fun, don't go for this one, it is way too expensive. Perhaps you could get its predecessor (S5), but I recommend something like an Atmel microcontroller. I am playing with the Atmega16 now, which has RS-232 and I2C built in. It has 4 8-bit I/O ports and A/D convertors. You could for example automate your house with it easily.
According to the photo of the rack, it seems like a Siemens Simatic S7 PLC, an industrial strength controller, also used in automation.
How can they send to Amsterdam when only US universities and corporates are connected? I couldnt find any Dutch connections.
You wuzzes, I have been using Slackware since version 0.01 pre-alfa from the mid-80's.
I know this sounds clichayed, but if you can't take the EULA stay out of the propritary kitchen.
And what it this proprietary piece of software is exactly what you need and works perfectly? Should you not buy a product because the terms are unacceptable? Strange also that these things are accepted in the software market and not in other markets (suppose you buy a car and the dealer tells you you cannot lend it to a friend or transport some specific stuff in it).
In the consumer market, I would doubt that. Most PCs come with Windows on it and people don't know they are paying for it. A lot of other people have it lying around somewhere or borrow it from a friend (nobody actually reads, let alone understand, the EULA). All my friends have computers and they all have Windows on it. Nobody has explicitly bought Windows. They just have it.
I then guess telling Asterix is a cartoon character is just enough said. Why comparing it to a character that has nothing to do with it?
I mistyped. English is not my mother tongue, so please forgive me.
Euh, nice comparison (not!). Mickey and Goofy are cool, I like them, but you can't possible compare them to Asterix and Obelix. FYI, it is a (apparently not so) well known fact that Asterix and Obelix have add more to the knowledge of classical history then classical education. A lot of things in the strip (not cartoon) are genuine. You can actually learn stuff from Asterix. So, I'd say go out and read some.
As with anything, if people used common sense probably 95% of problems could be avoided.
Which is the problem. People are surfing the net, and will click away all boxes they didn't ask for. Most of the messages you get are total nonsense if you are a user and just want to look for that apple-pie recipe. For one reason or another people must have a clue when using computers/the internet but not when using other (evenly complex) devices such as CD players, DVD players, etc. To me that means that the product (IE in this case) is not designed correctly.
no one, but no one, uses Linux on the desktop except hacker freaks like you and me
Not entirely. When you read news on usenet, you'll find a lot of posts of people saying they wanted to try linux. Also people that don't know about filesystems, memory management, etc. The new distributions are so easy to setup and use that also non-hackers can (and do) use it. There are even people that don't know they use it, for example in thin clients.
When is the recording industry finally going to see that it must change? The world isn't the same as 10, 20 years ago. I see some people starting sites with another approach to distributing music. As a matter of fact, I am involved in such a project myself (to become online soon on www.localsounds.nl; sorry guys just for the Dutch speaking community for now).
Will the giants themselves become aware of those projects and participate in this?
to spam on the IM networks. I remember an option on ICQ (I use MSN now) to 'chat to a random person'. I'll say that sort of things will be used to spam people. You can't run from advertising. Just install a good filter, don't give everybody your e-mail address, don't post it plain text on a website and you will be okay.
Mind you, if it's not free and open, nobody will use it. Why is everybody using the MS-Office formats then?
I just got hired in a firm to migrate their entire network to Linux. Both the servers and all of the workstations will be running Linux in a few months, even the ones the secretaries use. It's not a big company (20 people), but still.