I truly hope that nothing disasterous happens with Bryce or any of the other graphic software packages that Corel produced. For those who don't know, Corel acquired Bryce after Metacreations fell apart. Bryce is a relatively inexpensive "natural landscape renderer" similar to World Construction Set or other packages. Some very beautiful renderings were made with Bryce.
In spite of all of the snide comments posted in response to the article, this is in fact a good thing. Using a team of subject matter experts to make bets on the probability of events has been used with effectiveness when targeted against a specific problem. Specifically, I am recalling when the US lost a B-52 carrying a nuclear bomb over the Med. in the 1960s. The Navy used a team of scientists who "made bets" on the likelihood of events occuring in the loss of the aircraft. (Aircraft turning right - 60%, headwind - 65%, etc) Based on the last known coordinates - they used this technique to "predict" where the aircraft (and its more valuable cargo) would be located. This was found to have eliminated the extremely large search area because the team was dead on. IIRC, the odds were applied using bayesian analysis.
In DARPA's case, they can tap in to a larger set of people who each watch the news and, for the most part, independently make their own opinion on what will happen in the Middle East or elsewhere. It is not frivolous, it is extremely smart.
This is seriously a lot of topics to even focus on in one go. My head is spinning just trying to decide on which topic to respond to... When faced with large numbers of topics to read and respond to, people as a large group will invariably choose the same ones and ignore others.
So, I am now taking bets on which topic will be the unpopular one!
My bet is the "My nanodots can fit inside your nanodots" story. **YAWN**
Of course, by submitting this, I have now created a discussion thread on that topic, thereby invalidating my bet. DOH!
It's better for the Army than the ASVAB to see who has great potential as a soldier. You don't think that they keep the stats on everyone just for fun do you?
Interestingly enough, it's not just companies that this kind of thing applies to. With the release of America's Army, interested gamers take a "test drive" at what its like being in the Army. Maybe they'll even like it so much that they enlist!
If you read many of your EULA's carefully, you'll find that you have a right to use the software, but you don't actually own the software... Really depends on the software company, but this is fairly common.
The other interesting case is where use of the software implies acknowledgement of and binds you to the service agreement. This case is one that happens without actually clicking on the "Yes / No" buttons. How legally binding is this?
It only goes to show that you should read everything before you sign it. This is similar to discovering on your car lease that the company reserves the right to use the car when you aren't.
The problem that any number of underdog OS's have these days is overcoming consumer inertia. What I mean by that statement is this: once a set of products has hit a certain point and gains consumer acceptance, it is very hard to change the direction that that market is going. Microsoft has done this again and again with both its operating systems and its application suites, both of which are very closely tied together and tend to pull each other along.
What Young is doing is trying to get Red Hat into those markets where there either isn't consumer inertia toward a product or where the market is unsettled. If he can gain acceptance, then his end goal (making money through pushing Linux) is achieved. All in all it is a pretty smart move.
What Linux needs in general is a robust set of applications that consumers can use transparently with Microsoft products. If attractively priced, this could conceivably pull users to the OS, especially in light of Microsofts new licensing trends.
2 more cents down the drain...
Drones Are Grown In Cubicle Farms!
on
The Drone War
·
· Score: 1
Well, they are....:)
Now back to that powerpoint brief my sub-manager wants
Re:Science fiction/Fantasy is not interesting anym
on
Hugo Award Voting Open
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I would disagree. As an example, if you've ever read Kim Stanley Robinson's
Red Mars /
Green Mars /
Blue Mars
series, you would agree that there is a great deal of plot depth. When I read these sci-fi novels, I was captivated not by the technology, but by the characters. Each one was believable with motivations, hopes, and fears and it was their interactions in the plot that made the book, not the technology.
I would also recommend that you read anything from Larry Niven. Niven has an almost magical way of wrapping a great story around a fascinating bit of science. (What was that quote about science being so advanced to a primitive technology that it is indistinguishable from magic?
I look at it like this: I use the winners of Hugos and Nebulas as starting points for my book shopping list. Winners of these go on my list - I know that if they've won an award like a Hugo they are more than a scientific manual. I've been doing this for years and have yet to be disapointed.
As I've read through all of this, I've come across a number of posts talking about the learning curve and how Linux is too difficult to learn. Here's some of my thoughts on this:
Quite a few people learn to drive automatics (Mac, Windows) and are perfectly happy with that. This is in spite of the fact that there is untapped potential with driving the same car as a standard.
Others are either brought up driving standards or at some point make the transition from automatics. These people realize that they have a greater amount of control over their vehicle or are simply comfortable driving this type of car. I'd point out that the level of complexity has gone up, but standard drivers are comfortable with this because they have dealt with the learning curve.
Then there are those people to whom driving is a passion. These folks have no problems fine tuning their car be it standard or automatic. For them, learning curves don't really matter - they will overcome them.
The point is this: Its true that learning curves vary by the person, however, I'm certain that these same people would comfortably perform the same tasks on Linux as they do on Windows if the alternatives were taken away from them. Similarly, if they took the plunge and learned and practiced using the OS they would have no problems using it. I have no doubt in my mind that if we took away all the automatic cars out there and left standards, that people would gain a comfortable level use because they had no other alternative, in spite of the increased level of complexity.
The biggest problem the user community has is inertia. There is too much inertia going right now in favor of MS based products to easily sway the general public to alternatives. We need to find a way to bridge the gap!
You gotta read this guy's...
on
SNES Portable
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
...alt tags.
I swear the comic is funny enough, but get read the alt tags for a bigger laugh... Montezuma's Revenge... Hehe
This would be ideal. When temperatures get into the correct range, we could likely start placing algae or some other similar plant onto the surface to terraform it.
This is nothing to get completely bent out of shape about
If an organization forming a distro wants to be particularly zealous in its pursuit of what it considers to be the best OS out there - more power to em
There are enough Linux distros around to keep anyone and everyone happy. If someone is partial to having the full LDP, even though it is "not free," it is almost guaranteed that another distro will pick it up
Personally, I have better things to do than get caught up in semantics
You should probably ask this guy what IT companies he invests in - and then pull your cash out of them immediately. Might save you some heartache later.
The number of ways to exploit TEMPEST has inspired quite a few authors. A real good primer is Information Warfare by Shwartau. There are number of great chapters on this sort of thing.
While your monitor may also be used to transmit AM signals, ANYTHING that conducts may be used as an antenna to receive or transmit. In light of this, devices have been built for the modest price of a few hundred bucks that direct a High Energy Radio Frequency (HERF) pulse at a car, building, etc. Effectively blows out any electronics that it is directed against.
Re:mame? how about bleem? - Huh?
on
MAME On Xbox
·
· Score: 1
Why anyone would want to run bleem! on a PS2 is beyond me. Why would I want to spend $300 on a PS2 to run a buggy, emulated PS1 game when I can do that ALREADY, natively on a PS2?
The lure of enhanced graphics are not worth the hassle and aggravation of dealing with bleem!
Port 80 is not necessarily an open door. While it's true that there will be a multitude of SOAP calls running through port 80, the idea is to have the applications control the security. Your application that you develop should have enough control to accept only those calls that you want to go through and throw out anything that is invalid.
Control your infrastructure and control your applications and you will be much better off.
Slashdot Mirror
I truly hope that nothing disasterous happens with Bryce or any of the other graphic software packages that Corel produced. For those who don't know, Corel acquired Bryce after Metacreations fell apart. Bryce is a relatively inexpensive "natural landscape renderer" similar to World Construction Set or other packages. Some very beautiful renderings were made with Bryce.
In spite of all of the snide comments posted in response to the article, this is in fact a good thing. Using a team of subject matter experts to make bets on the probability of events has been used with effectiveness when targeted against a specific problem. Specifically, I am recalling when the US lost a B-52 carrying a nuclear bomb over the Med. in the 1960s. The Navy used a team of scientists who "made bets" on the likelihood of events occuring in the loss of the aircraft. (Aircraft turning right - 60%, headwind - 65%, etc) Based on the last known coordinates - they used this technique to "predict" where the aircraft (and its more valuable cargo) would be located. This was found to have eliminated the extremely large search area because the team was dead on. IIRC, the odds were applied using bayesian analysis.
In DARPA's case, they can tap in to a larger set of people who each watch the news and, for the most part, independently make their own opinion on what will happen in the Middle East or elsewhere. It is not frivolous, it is extremely smart.
I betcha that Robin Williams will be picked up by the first company to really do something with these as a product.
They'll dress him up as Mork on TV and he'll say "Nano Nano" over and over again.
You would get hit by a bomb before you would hear the plane go by! That's one helluva suckerpunch!
Ouch! Who did that???
This is seriously a lot of topics to even focus on in one go. My head is spinning just trying to decide on which topic to respond to... When faced with large numbers of topics to read and respond to, people as a large group will invariably choose the same ones and ignore others.
So, I am now taking bets on which topic will be the unpopular one!
My bet is the "My nanodots can fit inside your nanodots" story. **YAWN**
Of course, by submitting this, I have now created a discussion thread on that topic, thereby invalidating my bet. DOH!
Thousands of people have a new set of coasters!
Was I the only one who saw the title Help Write An Open Data Format Bill and thought "Yeah right, like Bill's ever gonna do that."
Rock on M$
Yes, I know they are embracing XML now...
It's better for the Army than the ASVAB to see who has great potential as a soldier. You don't think that they keep the stats on everyone just for fun do you?
Interestingly enough, it's not just companies that this kind of thing applies to. With the release of America's Army, interested gamers take a "test drive" at what its like being in the Army. Maybe they'll even like it so much that they enlist!
Both are very current and are intended for laymen.
-B
If you read many of your EULA's carefully, you'll find that you have a right to use the software, but you don't actually own the software... Really depends on the software company, but this is fairly common.
The other interesting case is where use of the software implies acknowledgement of and binds you to the service agreement. This case is one that happens without actually clicking on the "Yes / No" buttons. How legally binding is this?
"Huh? - Can they do that?"
It only goes to show that you should read everything before you sign it. This is similar to discovering on your car lease that the company reserves the right to use the car when you aren't.
The problem that any number of underdog OS's have these days is overcoming consumer inertia. What I mean by that statement is this: once a set of products has hit a certain point and gains consumer acceptance, it is very hard to change the direction that that market is going. Microsoft has done this again and again with both its operating systems and its application suites, both of which are very closely tied together and tend to pull each other along.
What Young is doing is trying to get Red Hat into those markets where there either isn't consumer inertia toward a product or where the market is unsettled. If he can gain acceptance, then his end goal (making money through pushing Linux) is achieved. All in all it is a pretty smart move.
What Linux needs in general is a robust set of applications that consumers can use transparently with Microsoft products. If attractively priced, this could conceivably pull users to the OS, especially in light of Microsofts new licensing trends.
2 more cents down the drain...
Now back to that powerpoint brief my sub-manager wants
I would disagree. As an example, if you've ever read Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars / Green Mars / Blue Mars series, you would agree that there is a great deal of plot depth. When I read these sci-fi novels, I was captivated not by the technology, but by the characters. Each one was believable with motivations, hopes, and fears and it was their interactions in the plot that made the book, not the technology.
I would also recommend that you read anything from Larry Niven. Niven has an almost magical way of wrapping a great story around a fascinating bit of science. (What was that quote about science being so advanced to a primitive technology that it is indistinguishable from magic?
I look at it like this: I use the winners of Hugos and Nebulas as starting points for my book shopping list. Winners of these go on my list - I know that if they've won an award like a Hugo they are more than a scientific manual. I've been doing this for years and have yet to be disapointed.
Just my 2 cents
As I've read through all of this, I've come across a number of posts talking about the learning curve and how Linux is too difficult to learn. Here's some of my thoughts on this:
Quite a few people learn to drive automatics (Mac, Windows) and are perfectly happy with that. This is in spite of the fact that there is untapped potential with driving the same car as a standard.
Others are either brought up driving standards or at some point make the transition from automatics. These people realize that they have a greater amount of control over their vehicle or are simply comfortable driving this type of car. I'd point out that the level of complexity has gone up, but standard drivers are comfortable with this because they have dealt with the learning curve.
Then there are those people to whom driving is a passion. These folks have no problems fine tuning their car be it standard or automatic. For them, learning curves don't really matter - they will overcome them.
The point is this: Its true that learning curves vary by the person, however, I'm certain that these same people would comfortably perform the same tasks on Linux as they do on Windows if the alternatives were taken away from them. Similarly, if they took the plunge and learned and practiced using the OS they would have no problems using it. I have no doubt in my mind that if we took away all the automatic cars out there and left standards, that people would gain a comfortable level use because they had no other alternative, in spite of the increased level of complexity.
The biggest problem the user community has is inertia. There is too much inertia going right now in favor of MS based products to easily sway the general public to alternatives. We need to find a way to bridge the gap!
...alt tags.
I swear the comic is funny enough, but get read the alt tags for a bigger laugh... Montezuma's Revenge... Hehe
This would be ideal. When temperatures get into the correct range, we could likely start placing algae or some other similar plant onto the surface to terraform it.
Here's some things to keep in mind:
- This is nothing to get completely bent out of shape about
- If an organization forming a distro wants to be particularly zealous in its pursuit of what it considers to be the best OS out there - more power to em
- There are enough Linux distros around to keep anyone and everyone happy. If someone is partial to having the full LDP, even though it is "not free," it is almost guaranteed that another distro will pick it up
Personally, I have better things to do than get caught up in semanticsYou should probably ask this guy what IT companies he invests in - and then pull your cash out of them immediately. Might save you some heartache later.
Now you can play it on the road too - Wolf 3D has been ported to the PocketPC!
http://www.pocketgamer.org/archives/00000574.shtml
The binaries for ARM devices will be released tomorrow
The number of ways to exploit TEMPEST has inspired quite a few authors. A real good primer is Information Warfare by Shwartau. There are number of great chapters on this sort of thing.
While your monitor may also be used to transmit AM signals, ANYTHING that conducts may be used as an antenna to receive or transmit. In light of this, devices have been built for the modest price of a few hundred bucks that direct a High Energy Radio Frequency (HERF) pulse at a car, building, etc. Effectively blows out any electronics that it is directed against.
Why anyone would want to run bleem! on a PS2 is beyond me. Why would I want to spend $300 on a PS2 to run a buggy, emulated PS1 game when I can do that ALREADY, natively on a PS2?
The lure of enhanced graphics are not worth the hassle and aggravation of dealing with bleem!
Port 80 is not necessarily an open door. While it's true that there will be a multitude of SOAP calls running through port 80, the idea is to have the applications control the security. Your application that you develop should have enough control to accept only those calls that you want to go through and throw out anything that is invalid.
Control your infrastructure and control your applications and you will be much better off.