The freedom of interaction is guaranteed by open standards. Proprietary systems destroy interoperability as soon as you choose an alternative piece of software. Microsoft works towards destroying interoperability deliberately. The lack of interoperability between different applications is entirely the fault of proprietary software in general and Microsoft in particular.
Of course. This is just the normal effect of effective brainwashing (advertising). For the same reasons people buy cars with small motors and lots of PS.
The problem actually was deep-sea worms literally eating the organic insulation, causing more and more voltage to get lost. Eventually the signal was so low that the operators decided to up the power. The whole story about the first transatlantic cable is very exciting.
I do. I use Windows only to play games, or make a PowerPoint show. I've been too lazy to install something decent up until now, and MP6.4 does the job of playing a few MP3s now and then.
However, I know several Windows users (mostly XP, for some reason - their computers came with 2K) that actually use the bloated piece of lagware called WMP7.
While I see the need to adapt to kernel changes in the modutils, I found the lack of functionality in the new module-init-tools annoying.
For example, I had set up a line in modules.conf that would automagically load my sound drivers, restore the mixer settings and do some other things - all without the slow alsa init scripts.
Doesn't work anymore. post-install is gone, probeall is gone. Can somebody explain why the modutils were changed so much?
The problem is that most software patents patent principles and basic ideas, not actual inventions like an ingenious new algorithm or a specific implementation. You can't really program "around" a software patent - your only choice is not to implement the idea.
Software patents don't patent inventions, they patent the problem the invention was made to solve.
That's correct. The film (there is an actual metal cartridge inside the disposable camera) can't be removed without breaking the camera. It's also cheaper for the manufacturers to make a new camera, because putting new film into a disposible body is major fiddling inside a dark room or box.
Piracy already is a criminal offence. All the RIAA has to do is to lower the incentive for people to pirate music - the outrageous prices, the mediocre artistical quality and the at times horrendous technical quality of CDs.
No, what the world needs is efficient use of resources (not just in computer technology, but everywhere). If a given amount of bandwidth can transmit more information using compression technology, what is the reason not to use it?
Couldn't it be some way to put more "upgrading pressure" on customers? Quite a few people I know were quite pissed when XP came out and got themselves a used Win2K instead if they used 98, or just didn't care if they used 2K (as did I).
You're right. However, science has shown that the fear of hydrogen because of the Hindenburg was pointless, as the disastrous fire came from the flammable paint and coating. Hydrogen burns so quickly and cleanly that it would be less disastrous if it exploded than petrols.
I'm also still using my GeForce DDR. I'll perhaps buy a 9700 Pro or 9800 Pro some time next year. The other advantage of that scheme is that your performance improvement is huge. The 9800 would be how many times faster? Five? Six?
The 10GB iPod is $299 in the US, but 399 ($440) in Germany. That's almost 50% more. If I imported the iPod from the US and paid all the taxes, it would be cheaper than just buying it here. Now there's something worth complaining about.
About a year ago, the biggest German newspaper's PC magazine (Computer Bild), which isn't really competent but read by a lot, made a comparison of lossy audio codecs. Guess which codec came out on top?
That's right, Vorbis. It's not going to stay in the geek niche forever.
Most big cinemas today don't have anybody sitting in the projection booth anymore. The films sit completely on huge film plates that hold 3+ hours of material. They don't even have to be rewound. That's why many big cinema chains have such poor picture and audio quality - they have a low-paid student carry the plates around and switch the film on, and that's it.
The German authorities have always been very, very strict concerning violence in computer games. We've always had censored versions of the C&C series ("cyborgs" and black oil blood) and almost every 3D shooter "indexed", as the procedure is commonly called due to the "index of youth-endangering media" that the games are put on.
The only little novelty here is that war, and not violence and/or its graphical portrayal is stated as the primary reason for the indexing, which it at least unusual. How far the current political situation has influenced the authorities' decision I cannot say.
The practice in Germany with devices like copiers, tape recorders etc. has been that a little levy allows you not only to make your own copies - that would be legal also without any levy - but also to record broadcasts, make copies of media you have lent out from a videotheque or even a friend, and give small amounts of copies away for personal use.
The levy would get PCs as copying devices out of the legal grey area they are currently in. Of course, the industry won't stop lobbying for stricter laws telling the people that all copying is evil and must stop, or everybody will die.
Sadly, it's not. It takes energy to produce hydrogen, and, thanks to the laws of thermodynamics, even more than the burnt hydrogen will return later on (if you make it from water). Hydrogen is a way of storing energy, not an energy source.
Well, fossil energy is just as dead an end. It'll just run out some time... and uranium will as well. Our only way is to start exploiting renewable energy sources, and to decrease energy consumption A LOT. Science is making progress, but when today's fossil energy sources are gone, there will be no way to sustain the current levels of energy supply, no matter how good solar panels will be in 2050.
Europe already has stopped using paper money.
on
Cashless Society
·
· Score: 1
The Euro bills are made of a paper that consists of mainly cotton. Their only problem is that they shrink if they get in the washing machine.
Slashdot Mirror
The freedom of interaction is guaranteed by open standards. Proprietary systems destroy interoperability as soon as you choose an alternative piece of software. Microsoft works towards destroying interoperability deliberately. The lack of interoperability between different applications is entirely the fault of proprietary software in general and Microsoft in particular.
I suspect that this high performance is only attainable for the field the GPU is specialized for, i.e. graphics-related things. Or isn't it?
Of course. This is just the normal effect of effective brainwashing (advertising). For the same reasons people buy cars with small motors and lots of PS.
The problem actually was deep-sea worms literally eating the organic insulation, causing more and more voltage to get lost. Eventually the signal was so low that the operators decided to up the power. The whole story about the first transatlantic cable is very exciting.
I do. I use Windows only to play games, or make a PowerPoint show. I've been too lazy to install something decent up until now, and MP6.4 does the job of playing a few MP3s now and then.
However, I know several Windows users (mostly XP, for some reason - their computers came with 2K) that actually use the bloated piece of lagware called WMP7.
While I see the need to adapt to kernel changes in the modutils, I found the lack of functionality in the new module-init-tools annoying.
For example, I had set up a line in modules.conf that would automagically load my sound drivers, restore the mixer settings and do some other things - all without the slow alsa init scripts.
Doesn't work anymore. post-install is gone, probeall is gone. Can somebody explain why the modutils were changed so much?
The problem is that most software patents patent principles and basic ideas, not actual inventions like an ingenious new algorithm or a specific implementation. You can't really program "around" a software patent - your only choice is not to implement the idea.
Software patents don't patent inventions, they patent the problem the invention was made to solve.
The maximum resolution of DV is 720x576, which is 0.4 megapixels.
That's correct. The film (there is an actual metal cartridge inside the disposable camera) can't be removed without breaking the camera. It's also cheaper for the manufacturers to make a new camera, because putting new film into a disposible body is major fiddling inside a dark room or box.
Piracy already is a criminal offence. All the RIAA has to do is to lower the incentive for people to pirate music - the outrageous prices, the mediocre artistical quality and the at times horrendous technical quality of CDs.
No, what the world needs is efficient use of resources (not just in computer technology, but everywhere). If a given amount of bandwidth can transmit more information using compression technology, what is the reason not to use it?
Couldn't it be some way to put more "upgrading pressure" on customers? Quite a few people I know were quite pissed when XP came out and got themselves a used Win2K instead if they used 98, or just didn't care if they used 2K (as did I).
You're right. However, science has shown that the fear of hydrogen because of the Hindenburg was pointless, as the disastrous fire came from the flammable paint and coating. Hydrogen burns so quickly and cleanly that it would be less disastrous if it exploded than petrols.
I'm also still using my GeForce DDR. I'll perhaps buy a 9700 Pro or 9800 Pro some time next year. The other advantage of that scheme is that your performance improvement is huge. The 9800 would be how many times faster? Five? Six?
The 10GB iPod is $299 in the US, but 399 ($440) in Germany. That's almost 50% more. If I imported the iPod from the US and paid all the taxes, it would be cheaper than just buying it here. Now there's something worth complaining about.
About a year ago, the biggest German newspaper's PC magazine (Computer Bild), which isn't really competent but read by a lot, made a comparison of lossy audio codecs. Guess which codec came out on top?
That's right, Vorbis. It's not going to stay in the geek niche forever.
Progressive NTSC DVD is actually just 480p24 due to the telecine (3:2 pull-down) process.
Most big cinemas today don't have anybody sitting in the projection booth anymore. The films sit completely on huge film plates that hold 3+ hours of material. They don't even have to be rewound. That's why many big cinema chains have such poor picture and audio quality - they have a low-paid student carry the plates around and switch the film on, and that's it.
The German authorities have always been very, very strict concerning violence in computer games. We've always had censored versions of the C&C series ("cyborgs" and black oil blood) and almost every 3D shooter "indexed", as the procedure is commonly called due to the "index of youth-endangering media" that the games are put on.
The only little novelty here is that war, and not violence and/or its graphical portrayal is stated as the primary reason for the indexing, which it at least unusual. How far the current political situation has influenced the authorities' decision I cannot say.
The practice in Germany with devices like copiers, tape recorders etc. has been that a little levy allows you not only to make your own copies - that would be legal also without any levy - but also to record broadcasts, make copies of media you have lent out from a videotheque or even a friend, and give small amounts of copies away for personal use.
The levy would get PCs as copying devices out of the legal grey area they are currently in. Of course, the industry won't stop lobbying for stricter laws telling the people that all copying is evil and must stop, or everybody will die.
Really? I've once seen a statistic that showed the energy reserve of available uranium as less than that of oil. I guess I need to check up on that.
Sadly, it's not. It takes energy to produce hydrogen, and, thanks to the laws of thermodynamics, even more than the burnt hydrogen will return later on (if you make it from water). Hydrogen is a way of storing energy, not an energy source.
Well, fossil energy is just as dead an end. It'll just run out some time... and uranium will as well. Our only way is to start exploiting renewable energy sources, and to decrease energy consumption A LOT. Science is making progress, but when today's fossil energy sources are gone, there will be no way to sustain the current levels of energy supply, no matter how good solar panels will be in 2050.
The Euro bills are made of a paper that consists of mainly cotton. Their only problem is that they shrink if they get in the washing machine.
OK, so my computer is a 700 MHz P3 with a GeForce DDR and, granted, 512 MB of RAM. I don't feel a burning urge to upgrade. Who offers less?