I find it amusing that one of the laziest branches of the workforce, the IT/programming sector, is so quick to denounce the first hint of hard work as "not so hard" or "whatever."
I wonder why they can't lose the obesity they share as quickly as they can turn on one another.
One problem you may have noticed with the corporate/professional Linux world is they need a fucking marketing dept. This site looks cheesy, as every Linux for $$$ site I can find. Linux programmers may be ugly (no offense) and care not, but an attractive presentation sells, baby.
Taiwan Background: In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan, however it reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the native population within its governing structure. Throughout this period, the island has prospered to become one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issue continues to be the relationship between Taiwan and China and the question of eventual reunification.
Taiwan Geography Top of Page
Location: Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the Philippines, off the southeastern coast of China
Geographic coordinates: 23 30 N, 121 00 E
Map references: Southeast Asia
Area: total: 35,980 sq km
land: 32,260 sq km
water: 3,720 sq km
note: includes the Pescadores, Matsu, and Quemoy
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Maryland and Delaware combined
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 1,566.3 km
Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate: tropical; marine; rainy season during southwest monsoon (June to August); cloudiness is persistent and extensive all year
Terrain: eastern two-thirds mostly rugged mountains; flat to gently rolling plains in west
Elevation extremes: lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Yu Shan 3,997 m
Natural resources: small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, and asbestos
Land use: arable land: 24%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 5%
forests and woodland: 55%
other: 15%
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: earthquakes and typhoons
Environment - current issues: air pollution; water pollution from industrial emissions, raw sewage; contamination of drinking water supplies; trade in endangered species; low-level radioactive waste disposal
Environment - international agreements: party to: none of the selected agreements
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Taiwan People Top of Page
Population: 22,370,461 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 21.22% (male 2,470,270; female 2,276,108)
65 years and over: 8.81% (male 1,034,230; female 938,152) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.8% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 14.31 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.09 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.09 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.1 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 6.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 76.54 years
male: 73.81 years
female: 79.51 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.76 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA
HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA
Nationality: noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese
Ethnic groups: Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%
Religions: mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%
Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 86% (1980 est.); note - literacy for the total population has reportedly increased to 94% (1998 est.)
male: 93% (1980 est.)
female: 79% (1980 est.)
Taiwan Government Top of Page
Country name: conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Taiwan
local long form: none
local short form: T'ai-wan
former: Formosa
Government type: multiparty democratic regime headed by popularly elected president
Capital: Taipei
Administrative divisions: since in the past the authorities claimed to be the government of all China, the central administrative divisions include the provinces of Fu-chien (some 20 offshore islands of Fujian Province including Quemoy and Matsu) and Taiwan (the island of Taiwan and the Pescadores islands); note - the more commonly referenced administrative divisions are those of Taiwan Province - 16 counties (hsien, singular and plural), 5 municipalities* (shih, singular and plural), and 2 special municipalities** (chuan-shih, singular and plural); Chang-hua, Chia-i, Chia-i*, Chi-lung*, Hsin-chu, Hsin-chu*, Hua-lien, I-lan, Kao-hsiung, Kao-hsiung**, Miao-li, Nan-t'ou, P'eng-hu, P'ing-tung, T'ai-chung, T'ai-chung*, T'ai-nan, T'ai-nan*, T'ai-pei, T'ai-pei**, T'ai-tung, T'ao-yuan, and Yun-lin; the provincial capital is at Chung-hsing-hsin-ts'un
note: Taiwan uses the Wade-Giles system for romanization
National holiday: Republic Day (Anniversary of the Chinese Revolution), 10 October (1911)
Constitution: 1 January 1947, amended in 1992, 1994, 1997, and 1999
Legal system: based on civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state: President CHEN Shui-bien (20 May 2000) and Vice President Annette LU (since 20 May 2000)
head of government: Premier (President of the Executive Yuan) CHANG Chun-hsiung (since NA October 2000) and Vice Premier (Vice President of the Executive Yuan) LAI In-jaw (since NA October 2000)
cabinet: Executive Yuan appointed by the president
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held 18 March 2000 (next to be held NA March 2004); premier appointed by the president; vice premiers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the premier
election results: CHEN Shui-bien elected president; percent of vote - CHEN Shui-bien (DPP) 39.3%, James SOONG (independent) 36.84%, LIEN Chan (KMT) 23.1%, HSU Hsin-liang (independent) 0.63%, LEE Ao (CNP) 0.13%
Legislative branch: unicameral Legislative Yuan (225 seats - 168 elected by popular vote, 41 elected on the basis of the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties, eight elected from overseas Chinese constituencies on the basis of the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties, eight elected by popular vote among the aboriginal populations; members serve three-year terms) and unicameral National Assembly (300 seats, note - total number of seats has been reduced from 334 to 300 since the last election; members are elected by proportional representation based on the election of the Legislative Yuan and serve four-year terms)
elections: Legislative Yuan - last held 5 December 1998 (next to be held NA December 2001); National Assembly - last held 23 March 1996 (next to be held NA June 2002)
election results: Legislative Yuan - percent of vote by party - KMT 46%, DPP 29%, CNP 7%, independents 10%, other parties 8%; seats by party - KMT 123, DPP 70, CNP 11, independents 15, other parties 6; subsequent to the election there have been some changes in the distribution of seats in the Legislative Yuan due to new party formation and party defections, the new distribution is as follows - KMT 114, DPP 66, PFP 17, NP 9, other/independent 19; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - KMT 55%, DPP 30%, CNP 14%, other 1%; seats by party - KMT 183, DPP 99, CNP 46, other 6
Judicial branch: Judicial Yuan (justices appointed by the president with the consent of the National Assembly; note - beginning in 2003, justices will be appointed by the president with the consent of the Legislative Yuan)
Political parties and leaders: Chinese New Party or CNP [HAU Lang-bin]; Democratic Progressive Party or DPP [Frank HSIEH, chairman]; Kuomintang or KMT (Nationalist Party) [LIEN Chan, chairman]; New Party or NP [LI Ching-hwa]; People First Party or PFP [James SOONG, chairman]; other minor parties
Political pressure groups and leaders: Taiwan independence movement, various business and environmental groups
note: debate on Taiwan independence has become acceptable within the mainstream of domestic politics on Taiwan; political liberalization and the increased representation of opposition parties in Taiwan's legislature have opened public debate on the island's national identity; a broad popular consensus has developed that Taiwan currently enjoys de facto independence and - whatever the ultimate outcome regarding reunification or independence - that Taiwan's people must have the deciding voice; advocates of Taiwan independence oppose the stand that the island will eventually reunify with mainland China; goals of the Taiwan independence movement include establishing a sovereign nation on Taiwan and entering the UN; other organizations supporting Taiwan independence include the World United Formosans for Independence and the Organization for Taiwan Nation Building
International organization participation: APEC, AsDB, BCIE, ICC, ICFTU, IFRCS, IOC, WCL, WTrO (observer)
Diplomatic representation in the US: none; unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people of the US are maintained through a private instrumentality, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US with headquarters in Taipei and field offices in Washington and 12 other US cities
Diplomatic representation from the US: none; unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people on Taiwan are maintained through a private corporation, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which has its headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia (telephone: [1] (703) 525-8474 and FAX: [1] (703) 841-1385) and offices in Taipei at #7 Lane 134, Hsin Yi Road, Section 3, telephone [886] (2) 2709-2000, FAX [886] (2) 2702-7675, and in Kao-hsiung at #2 Chung Cheng 3rd Road, 5th Floor, telephone [886] (7) 224-0154 through 0157, FAX [886] (7) 223-8237, and the American Trade Center at Room 3208 International Trade Building, Taipei World Trade Center, 333 Keelung Road Section 1, Taipei 10548, telephone [886] (2) 2720-1550, FAX [886] (2) 2757-7162
Flag description: red with a dark blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays
Taiwan Economy Top of Page
Economy - overview: Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing guidance of investment and foreign trade by government authorities. In keeping with this trend, some large government-owned banks and industrial firms are being privatized. Real growth in GDP has averaged about 8% during the past three decades. Exports have grown even faster and have provided the primary impetus for industrialization. Inflation and unemployment are low; the trade surplus is substantial; and foreign reserves are the world's fourth largest. Agriculture contributes 3% to GDP, down from 35% in 1952. Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being moved offshore and replaced with more capital- and technology-intensive industries. Taiwan has become a major investor in China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The tightening of labor markets has led to an influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal. Because of its conservative financial approach and its entrepreneurial strengths, Taiwan suffered little compared with many of its neighbors from the Asian financial crisis in 1998-99. Growth in 2001 will depend largely on conditions in Taiwan's export markets and may be about 5%.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $386 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6.3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $17,400 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3%
industry: 33%
services: 64% (1999 est.)
Population below poverty line: 1% (1999 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.3% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 9.8 million (2000 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: services 55%, industry 37%, agriculture 8% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate: 3% (2000 est.)
Budget: revenues: $42.74 billion
expenditures: $48.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)
Industries: electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing
Industrial production growth rate: 8% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production: 139.676 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 67.26%
hydro: 6.32%
nuclear: 26.42%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 129.899 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish
Exports: $148.38 billion (f.o.b., 2000)
Exports - commodities: machinery and electrical equipment 51%, metals, textiles, plastics, chemicals
Exports - partners: US 23.5%, Hong Kong 21.1%, Europe 16%, ASEAN 12.2%, Japan 11.2% (2000)
Imports: $140.01 billion (c.i.f., 2000)
Imports - commodities: machinery and electrical equipment 51%, minerals, precision instruments
Imports - partners: Japan 27.5%, US 17.9%, Europe 13.6% (2000)
Debt - external: $40 billion (2000)
Currency: new Taiwan dollar (TWD)
Currency code: TWD
Exchange rates: new Taiwan dollars per US dollar - 33.082 (yearend 2000), 31.395 (yearend 1999), 32.216 (1998), 32.052 (1997), 27.5 (1996)
Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June (up to FY98/99); 1 July 1999 - 31 December 2000 for FY00; calendar year (after FY00)
Taiwan Communications Top of Page
Telephones - main lines in use: 12.49 million (September 2000)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 16 million (September 2000)
Telephone system: general assessment: provides telecommunications service for every business and private need
international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean); submarine cables to Japan (Okinawa), Philippines, Guam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Middle East, and Western Europe (1999)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 218, FM 333, shortwave 50 (1999)
Radios: 16 million (1994)
Television broadcast stations: 29 (plus two repeaters) (1997)
Televisions: 8.8 million (1998)
Internet country code:.tw
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 8 (2000)
Internet users: 6.4 million (2000)
Taiwan Transportation Top of Page
Railways: total: 4,600 km (519 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 4,600 km 1.067-m
note: only 1,108 km of route length (including the electrified part) is used in common carrier service by the Taiwan Railway Administration; the remaining 3,492 km is dedicated to industrial use (1999)
Highways: total: 34,901 km
paved: 31,271 km (including 538 km of expressways)
unpaved: 3,630 km (1998 est.)
Waterways: NA
Pipelines: petroleum products 3,400 km; natural gas 1,800 km (1999)
Ports and harbors: Chi-lung (Keelung), Hua-lien, Kao-hsiung, Su-ao, T'ai-chung
Merchant marine: total: 167 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,768,145 GRT/7,508,941 DWT
ships by type: bulk 45, cargo 29, combination bulk 1, container 65, petroleum tanker 17, refrigerated cargo 8, roll on/roll off 2 (2000 est.)
Airports: 39 (2000 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 35
over 3,047 m: 8
2,438 to 3,047 m: 9
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m: 7
under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 4
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.)
Heliports: 3 (2000 est.)
Taiwan Military Top of Page
Military branches: Army, Navy (includes Marines), Air Force, Coastal Patrol and Defense Command, Armed Forces Reserve Command, Combined Service Forces
Military manpower - military age: 19 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 6,575,689 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 5,025,856 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 198,766 (2001 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $8.042 billion (FY98/99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.8% (FY98/99)
Taiwan Transnational Issues Top of Page
Disputes - international: involved in complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; Paracel Islands occupied by China, but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; claims Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu Tai), as does China
Illicit drugs: transit point for heroin and methamphetamine; major problem with domestic consumption of methamphetamine and heroin
The thing that all of you want to try, or keep trying, is to not allow this to fall into an increasingly cultural niche (afterstep, amiga, anyone?) but to press forward. The desktop, of course. I like Linux a great deal, at home, I dev. at work with Linux, but maybe I'll just do Mac OSX for my multi-stuff needs. Why? I can't keep risking my entire environment for an XFree86 update, or another process sharing foul up. Its a wonderful environment, but not a wonderfully (or easily) dynamic one.
For most technology companies, the fall of 2001 was a season to forget, with its deepening sales slump, losses and layoffs. But for Microsoft (news/quote), it was a time of triumph, even some vindication. In the federal antitrust case that Microsoft fought so long, with so little success, things turned in the company's favor when the Bush administration decided to settle in November.
Within weeks, Microsoft announced a settlement with plaintiffs in more than 100 private class-action antitrust suits. To be sure, protests remain. Some states that sued Microsoft are urging a federal judge to toughen provisions of the settlement with the Justice Department, and there are objections to the class- action deal. A European investigation also continues, although Microsoft says it wants to settle that case as well. In all, however, Microsoft has made rapid, dramatic strides toward finally putting its antitrust troubles behind it.
The proposed settlement in the crucial federal case is widely seen as a Microsoft victory. It would not restrict the company's product designs, allowing Microsoft to fold software into its Windows operating system for potentially huge new markets, including online shopping, personal identification and downloading music and movies over the Internet. Those features are found in the recently released Windows XP.
And the drastic sanction of splitting Microsoft up -- the remedy championed by the Clinton administration, and approved by a lower court judge, but regarded quite skeptically in a federal appeals court ruling in June -- was rejected by the Bush administration.
But the settlement terms do require Microsoft to share technical information with competitors and industry partners more openly. In addition, Microsoft would be prohibited from bullying other companies with anticompetitive contracts.
Some Microsoft rivals and industry commentators argue that the case could do a lot to encourage competition, by forcing Microsoft to change its corporate behavior.
Microsoft's legal team is certainly echoing the behavioral theme. "The client has learned a lot through all this," said William H. Neukom, the tall, silver-haired general counsel and legal field general in Microsoft's antitrust battles.
Mr. Neukom, 60, is stepping down next year, and his designated successor, Bradley P. Smith, suggested that priorities for Microsoft would be to establish a "strong track record of compliance" with the settlement order and to "strengthen our ties with the rest of the industry."
But legal pressure is not the only thing forcing Microsoft to change. Technology trends -- notably the spread of Internet technology -- are equally responsible.
Over all, investment in technology may have slowed, but Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman, believes that some cooling off may be healthy. With the get-rich-instantly mentality of the dot-com bubble gone, Mr. Gates said, chatting with journalists in October, "I think the environment for doing major research and development -- real innovation -- is better now than it was before." Certainly it is for Microsoft, which is sitting on $36 billion in cash.
Microsoft is putting some of its capital to work by investing heavily in the development of "Web services," mainly clever software sent over the Internet to automate all kinds of business and personal tasks. A company's data will be linked with a supplier's to replenish needed parts automatically, for example. Or a person's scheduling data, stored on a PC or hand-held computer, will interact with the dentist's data to set up an appointment or with an airline to arrange travel.
To realize these goals will require open communications in software, which raises privacy and security issues that must be resolved. The move will also require businesses to form partnerships and trusted relationships with other companies. This will mean a change of many corporate cultures, including Microsoft's.
Consequently, over the next several years, it will be very difficult to determine the legacy of Microsoft's antitrust conflicts, because so many other forces will also be shaping the company and the industry.
Frances E. Holberton, 84, Early Computer Programmer
By STEVE LOHR
Frances Elizabeth Holberton, one of the first computer programmers, whose contributions to software over the years ranged from an early data- sorting program to helping develop the business programming language Cobol, died on Dec. 8 at a nursing home in Rockville, Md. She was 84.
The cause was heart disease, diabetes and complications from a stroke that she suffered several years ago, according to her daughter, Priscilla Holberton of Silver Spring, Md.
"Betty Holberton was a real software pioneer," said Donald E. Knuth, a professor emeritus at Stanford University and author of the three-volume "The Art of Computer Programming," the profession's defining treatise.
Mrs. Holberton, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, was one of the six young women recruited by the Army to program the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, which became known by its evocative acronym, Eniac. The Eniac is credited with being the first all-electronic digital computer.
The Eniac's job was to calculate the firing trajectories for artillery shells. The young women programmers were selected for their skills in mathematics. The work they did was "hard-wired" programming, laboriously setting switches and cables inside the 30-ton black behemoth of a machine.
Mrs. Holberton, colleagues recall, was particularly adept at figuring out the best path for guiding the complex calculations through the electronic labyrinth of the Eniac. Frequently, these insights came to her overnight.
"Betty had an amazing logical mind, and she solved more problems in her sleep than other people did awake," recalled Jean J. Bartik, another of the Eniac programmers.
The Eniac was demonstrated in February 1946, too late for use in World War II, but it helped open the door to modern computing. The Eniac programming team broke up, but Mrs. Holberton was the one of the six who stayed longest in the field.
After the war, she joined the Eniac designers, John Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly, in their effort to develop the Univac, an early commercial computer, which was introduced in 1951. While working on the Univac, Mrs. Holberton did some of her most innovative work. She developed a program for sorting and merging large data files, which at the time were stored on reels of magnetic tape. Any such updating of data files was an arduous programming task at the time, and her program vastly simplified that job.
"That was a huge tour de force," said Paul E. Ceruzzi, a computer historian at the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1953, Mrs. Holberton joined the Navy's Applied Math Lab at the David Taylor Model Basin in Maryland as the supervisor of advanced programming, where she worked until 1966. In 1959, she was a crucial member of the committee that developed Cobol, or Common Business Oriented Language. The committee worked for six months on the standards and specifications for a business programming language, which was introduced in 1960.
The committee's work was seen as a temporary solution to the growing problem created by the increasing need for a standard programming language for handling business data at a time when computing was moving into the mainstream of the corporate world. Yet Cobol, updated many times over the years, is still widely used.
Computer scientists often criticize Cobol as a hasty, inelegantly designed programming language. But it gave computing a way to handle and visually describe business data, making it easier to program business problems on computers.
Mrs. Holberton, who joined the National Bureau of Standards in 1966 and worked there for two decades, once echoed those views. In a 1983 interview conducted for the Charles Babbage Institute, a computing history center at the University of Minnesota, Mrs. Holberton conceded some of the criticisms of the language she helped develop. But, she added, "Cobol, I felt, was very important because of its ability to describe data."
According to Kathryn Kleiman, a lawyer who is working on a documentary film on the women Eniac programmers and their contribution to the field, Mrs. Holberton consistently worked on trying to make computers easier to program.
"She took that hard-won knowledge on the Eniac and applied it over the next 40 years, in nearly everything she did in the field," Ms. Kleiman said.
In addition the her daughter Priscilla, Mrs. Holberton is survived by her husband, John Vaughn Holberton, and another daughter, Pamela Holberton, both of Rockville.
It's an unusual way to make a living -- the game guys at Interact earn $28,000 to $60,000 a year --
This is peanuts. People cleaning the NYC subway make this much. New Orleans garbage men make this much. Both fine professions. But really, it's an amalgamation of the guy at Electronic Boutique and the high school kid scouring astalavista.box.sk.
"The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed--would have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper--the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you." --pg 19
Thats ridiculous. Oh, you got it from the GPL. Why don't you look at some warranties. Extensive no, but they are there. It's good you can only feed the fire massive on this site, as opposed to somewhere that mattered, no?
Overview Sun Microsystems offers comprehensive warranty services to its end-user customers and to its product resellers. Under Sun's general warranty policy, equipment is warranted to be free from defects in workmanship or material for the applicable warranty period. Software is warranted to conform to published specifications for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery. As of August 1, 1999, Sun began implementing a new Global Warranty Program to supercede all local product warranties with new, globally consistent terms for our customers.
Please refer to Sun's price list or your sales agreement contract for exact terms and conditions concerning the warranty offered.
Type of Service: Description of Service: Contact Locations:
Warranty Services System failures, during warranty term of the product or system. Sun Solution Centers
Online service requests are also available to SunSpectrum customers.
Customer Return
For Credit (CRFC) Non-defective sales return issues: misquotes, booking errors, shipping problems or incorrect product shipments. Sun Solution Centers
In the US/Canada, use auto-reply E-mail or call 1-800-23-RETURN.
Requesting Warranty Services
Customers are asked to provide the following information when requesting Warranty or CRFC services:
Description of problem
Customer name, address, and contact information
Description of product and/or system configuration
Product Identification: Product Number, Model Number, Part Number
For Software Products: Original P.O. Number and/or Date-of-Purchase
For Hardware Products: Product Serial Number
For Corporate or Passport Accounts: Purchase Agreement and/or Passport Agreement Numbers
Global Warranty Program
With today's rapidly expanding global economy, multinational corporation have increased requirements for consistent, global warranty coverage from their systems vendors.
Sun is pleased to announce that effective August 1, 1999, a uniform, globally consistent warranty offering for Sun products has been established to meet our customers' needs. Both Sun and its partners will be engaged to fulfill these global warranty terms, subject to the rollout schedule outlined below.
Global Warranty Features Matrix by Product
Global Warranty Term Definitions
Support Services
Support Services: Sun Support Programs and SunSpectrum Services
Information about Sun Global Services: Global Service Programs
SunSpectrum Pac Warranty Upgrade option is available for purchase with selected product models.
Only in the United States could this be happening. Why is there no counter from a megacorp? Maybe we can get the Dutch govt to step in, they seem fairly level headed.
Re:can we please evolve
on
Looking At Turing
·
· Score: -1, Offtopic
I think what he's saying with the quote is evolve
beyond people like Pat Robertson, and past the same intolerance that killed Turing.
I often wish England would get buried, if anything to change the course laid forth
in such things as Guns
Germs and Steel . Florida would also be a nice.
So we have a recycled story from a happier time in Mr. Katz's life, before he was fired from Wired. I for one do not want to relive his past, nor any part of Mr. Katz's future. I just can't understand why this website insists Mr. Katz is the only writer. There are so many others. Why not dump the detritus of a failed career and move on toward a better future?
Interesting the medium by which they access/assess you.
Even more interesting is the extent to which they do.
Anyone ever get you FBI file throughout the freedom of information act? You don't have an FBI file? You do now.
Also of interest: many of the/. crowd were perhaps in gifted programs throught elementary/secondary education. Guess who they start up a file for as soon as you enter special education. Don't believe me? Neither does Larry Ellison. Which is why it'll all be alright
But I do suggest checking out whats churning through the soon to be oracle tentacles. You may be surprised.
In the '70s and '80s, prostaglandin drugs were used to induce violent premature labor and delivery. When used alone, there was: "...a large complication rate (42.6%) is associated with its use. Few risks in obstetrics are more certain than that which occurs to a pregnant woman undergoing abortion after the 14th week of pregnancy." Duenhoelter & Grant, "Complications Following Prostaglandin F-2 Alpha Induced Mid-trimester Abortion." Jour. of OB & GYN, Sept. 1975
Because of these problems, the D&E or Dilatation & Evacuation method was developed and largely replaced the above. It involves the live dismemberment of the baby and piecemeal removal from below.
A pliers-like instrument is used because the baby's bones are calcified, as is the skull. There is no anesthetic for the baby. The abortionist inserts the instrument up into the uterus, seizes a leg or other part of the body, and, with a twisting motion, tears it from the baby's body. This is repeated again and again. The spine must be snapped, and the skull crushed to remove them. The nurse's job is to reassemble the body parts to be sure that all are removed.
ENLIST THE POWER OF PRAYER! When the temptation to masturbate is strong, yell, "Stop!" to those thoughts as loudly as you can in your mind. Then recite a portion of the Bible or sing a hymn.
SET GOALS! If you masturbate, color that day black. Your goal will be to have no black days. The calendar becomes a strong visual reminder, and should be looked at when you are tempted to add another black day. * Set up a reward system. Each time you reach a goal, award yourself with a quarter. Spend it on something that delights you.
USE PHYSICAL RESTRAINTS! * Put on several layers of clothing that would be difficult to remove while half-asleep.
* Hold an object -- for example, a Bible -- even in bed at night.
* In severe cases, tie a hand to the bed frame.
BE ALERT TO EMOTIONS! * Employ aversion therapy. To cancel out the pleasureableness of masturbation, associate something very distasteful with the act. For example, imagine bathing in a tub of worms and eating some of them.
* Be outgoing and friendly. Force yourself to be with others and learn to enjoy working and talking with them.
Slashdot Mirror
I find it amusing that one of the laziest branches of the workforce, the IT/programming sector, is so quick to denounce the first hint of hard work as "not so hard" or "whatever."
I wonder why they can't lose the obesity they share as quickly as they can turn on one another.
One problem you may have noticed with the corporate/professional Linux world is they need a fucking marketing dept. This site looks cheesy, as every Linux for $$$ site I can find. Linux programmers may be ugly (no offense) and care not, but an attractive presentation sells, baby.
Ever been to China?
The wealthy, the ones with phones, if they are in a city, not a village, they have access provided by the local gov't, by way of Red China.
In another note, while the Communist party is the only party, it is nonetheless a new sort of socialism, mostly, economically speaking.
Taiwan
.tw
Background: In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan, however it reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the native population within its governing structure. Throughout this period, the island has prospered to become one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issue continues to be the relationship between Taiwan and China and the question of eventual reunification.
Taiwan Geography Top of Page
Location: Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the Philippines, off the southeastern coast of China
Geographic coordinates: 23 30 N, 121 00 E
Map references: Southeast Asia
Area: total: 35,980 sq km
land: 32,260 sq km
water: 3,720 sq km
note: includes the Pescadores, Matsu, and Quemoy
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Maryland and Delaware combined
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 1,566.3 km
Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate: tropical; marine; rainy season during southwest monsoon (June to August); cloudiness is persistent and extensive all year
Terrain: eastern two-thirds mostly rugged mountains; flat to gently rolling plains in west
Elevation extremes: lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Yu Shan 3,997 m
Natural resources: small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, and asbestos
Land use: arable land: 24%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 5%
forests and woodland: 55%
other: 15%
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: earthquakes and typhoons
Environment - current issues: air pollution; water pollution from industrial emissions, raw sewage; contamination of drinking water supplies; trade in endangered species; low-level radioactive waste disposal
Environment - international agreements: party to: none of the selected agreements
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Taiwan People Top of Page
Population: 22,370,461 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 21.22% (male 2,470,270; female 2,276,108)
15-64 years: 69.97% (male 7,944,451; female 7,707,250)
65 years and over: 8.81% (male 1,034,230; female 938,152) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.8% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 14.31 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.09 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.09 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.1 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 6.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 76.54 years
male: 73.81 years
female: 79.51 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.76 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA
HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA
Nationality: noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese
Ethnic groups: Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%
Religions: mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%
Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 86% (1980 est.); note - literacy for the total population has reportedly increased to 94% (1998 est.)
male: 93% (1980 est.)
female: 79% (1980 est.)
Taiwan Government Top of Page
Country name: conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Taiwan
local long form: none
local short form: T'ai-wan
former: Formosa
Government type: multiparty democratic regime headed by popularly elected president
Capital: Taipei
Administrative divisions: since in the past the authorities claimed to be the government of all China, the central administrative divisions include the provinces of Fu-chien (some 20 offshore islands of Fujian Province including Quemoy and Matsu) and Taiwan (the island of Taiwan and the Pescadores islands); note - the more commonly referenced administrative divisions are those of Taiwan Province - 16 counties (hsien, singular and plural), 5 municipalities* (shih, singular and plural), and 2 special municipalities** (chuan-shih, singular and plural); Chang-hua, Chia-i, Chia-i*, Chi-lung*, Hsin-chu, Hsin-chu*, Hua-lien, I-lan, Kao-hsiung, Kao-hsiung**, Miao-li, Nan-t'ou, P'eng-hu, P'ing-tung, T'ai-chung, T'ai-chung*, T'ai-nan, T'ai-nan*, T'ai-pei, T'ai-pei**, T'ai-tung, T'ao-yuan, and Yun-lin; the provincial capital is at Chung-hsing-hsin-ts'un
note: Taiwan uses the Wade-Giles system for romanization
National holiday: Republic Day (Anniversary of the Chinese Revolution), 10 October (1911)
Constitution: 1 January 1947, amended in 1992, 1994, 1997, and 1999
Legal system: based on civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state: President CHEN Shui-bien (20 May 2000) and Vice President Annette LU (since 20 May 2000)
head of government: Premier (President of the Executive Yuan) CHANG Chun-hsiung (since NA October 2000) and Vice Premier (Vice President of the Executive Yuan) LAI In-jaw (since NA October 2000)
cabinet: Executive Yuan appointed by the president
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held 18 March 2000 (next to be held NA March 2004); premier appointed by the president; vice premiers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the premier
election results: CHEN Shui-bien elected president; percent of vote - CHEN Shui-bien (DPP) 39.3%, James SOONG (independent) 36.84%, LIEN Chan (KMT) 23.1%, HSU Hsin-liang (independent) 0.63%, LEE Ao (CNP) 0.13%
Legislative branch: unicameral Legislative Yuan (225 seats - 168 elected by popular vote, 41 elected on the basis of the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties, eight elected from overseas Chinese constituencies on the basis of the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties, eight elected by popular vote among the aboriginal populations; members serve three-year terms) and unicameral National Assembly (300 seats, note - total number of seats has been reduced from 334 to 300 since the last election; members are elected by proportional representation based on the election of the Legislative Yuan and serve four-year terms)
elections: Legislative Yuan - last held 5 December 1998 (next to be held NA December 2001); National Assembly - last held 23 March 1996 (next to be held NA June 2002)
election results: Legislative Yuan - percent of vote by party - KMT 46%, DPP 29%, CNP 7%, independents 10%, other parties 8%; seats by party - KMT 123, DPP 70, CNP 11, independents 15, other parties 6; subsequent to the election there have been some changes in the distribution of seats in the Legislative Yuan due to new party formation and party defections, the new distribution is as follows - KMT 114, DPP 66, PFP 17, NP 9, other/independent 19; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - KMT 55%, DPP 30%, CNP 14%, other 1%; seats by party - KMT 183, DPP 99, CNP 46, other 6
Judicial branch: Judicial Yuan (justices appointed by the president with the consent of the National Assembly; note - beginning in 2003, justices will be appointed by the president with the consent of the Legislative Yuan)
Political parties and leaders: Chinese New Party or CNP [HAU Lang-bin]; Democratic Progressive Party or DPP [Frank HSIEH, chairman]; Kuomintang or KMT (Nationalist Party) [LIEN Chan, chairman]; New Party or NP [LI Ching-hwa]; People First Party or PFP [James SOONG, chairman]; other minor parties
Political pressure groups and leaders: Taiwan independence movement, various business and environmental groups
note: debate on Taiwan independence has become acceptable within the mainstream of domestic politics on Taiwan; political liberalization and the increased representation of opposition parties in Taiwan's legislature have opened public debate on the island's national identity; a broad popular consensus has developed that Taiwan currently enjoys de facto independence and - whatever the ultimate outcome regarding reunification or independence - that Taiwan's people must have the deciding voice; advocates of Taiwan independence oppose the stand that the island will eventually reunify with mainland China; goals of the Taiwan independence movement include establishing a sovereign nation on Taiwan and entering the UN; other organizations supporting Taiwan independence include the World United Formosans for Independence and the Organization for Taiwan Nation Building
International organization participation: APEC, AsDB, BCIE, ICC, ICFTU, IFRCS, IOC, WCL, WTrO (observer)
Diplomatic representation in the US: none; unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people of the US are maintained through a private instrumentality, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US with headquarters in Taipei and field offices in Washington and 12 other US cities
Diplomatic representation from the US: none; unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people on Taiwan are maintained through a private corporation, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which has its headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia (telephone: [1] (703) 525-8474 and FAX: [1] (703) 841-1385) and offices in Taipei at #7 Lane 134, Hsin Yi Road, Section 3, telephone [886] (2) 2709-2000, FAX [886] (2) 2702-7675, and in Kao-hsiung at #2 Chung Cheng 3rd Road, 5th Floor, telephone [886] (7) 224-0154 through 0157, FAX [886] (7) 223-8237, and the American Trade Center at Room 3208 International Trade Building, Taipei World Trade Center, 333 Keelung Road Section 1, Taipei 10548, telephone [886] (2) 2720-1550, FAX [886] (2) 2757-7162
Flag description: red with a dark blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays
Taiwan Economy Top of Page
Economy - overview: Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing guidance of investment and foreign trade by government authorities. In keeping with this trend, some large government-owned banks and industrial firms are being privatized. Real growth in GDP has averaged about 8% during the past three decades. Exports have grown even faster and have provided the primary impetus for industrialization. Inflation and unemployment are low; the trade surplus is substantial; and foreign reserves are the world's fourth largest. Agriculture contributes 3% to GDP, down from 35% in 1952. Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being moved offshore and replaced with more capital- and technology-intensive industries. Taiwan has become a major investor in China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The tightening of labor markets has led to an influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal. Because of its conservative financial approach and its entrepreneurial strengths, Taiwan suffered little compared with many of its neighbors from the Asian financial crisis in 1998-99. Growth in 2001 will depend largely on conditions in Taiwan's export markets and may be about 5%.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $386 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6.3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $17,400 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3%
industry: 33%
services: 64% (1999 est.)
Population below poverty line: 1% (1999 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.3% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 9.8 million (2000 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: services 55%, industry 37%, agriculture 8% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate: 3% (2000 est.)
Budget: revenues: $42.74 billion
expenditures: $48.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)
Industries: electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing
Industrial production growth rate: 8% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production: 139.676 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 67.26%
hydro: 6.32%
nuclear: 26.42%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 129.899 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish
Exports: $148.38 billion (f.o.b., 2000)
Exports - commodities: machinery and electrical equipment 51%, metals, textiles, plastics, chemicals
Exports - partners: US 23.5%, Hong Kong 21.1%, Europe 16%, ASEAN 12.2%, Japan 11.2% (2000)
Imports: $140.01 billion (c.i.f., 2000)
Imports - commodities: machinery and electrical equipment 51%, minerals, precision instruments
Imports - partners: Japan 27.5%, US 17.9%, Europe 13.6% (2000)
Debt - external: $40 billion (2000)
Currency: new Taiwan dollar (TWD)
Currency code: TWD
Exchange rates: new Taiwan dollars per US dollar - 33.082 (yearend 2000), 31.395 (yearend 1999), 32.216 (1998), 32.052 (1997), 27.5 (1996)
Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June (up to FY98/99); 1 July 1999 - 31 December 2000 for FY00; calendar year (after FY00)
Taiwan Communications Top of Page
Telephones - main lines in use: 12.49 million (September 2000)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 16 million (September 2000)
Telephone system: general assessment: provides telecommunications service for every business and private need
domestic: thoroughly modern; completely digitalized
international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean); submarine cables to Japan (Okinawa), Philippines, Guam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Middle East, and Western Europe (1999)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 218, FM 333, shortwave 50 (1999)
Radios: 16 million (1994)
Television broadcast stations: 29 (plus two repeaters) (1997)
Televisions: 8.8 million (1998)
Internet country code:
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 8 (2000)
Internet users: 6.4 million (2000)
Taiwan Transportation Top of Page
Railways: total: 4,600 km (519 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 4,600 km 1.067-m
note: only 1,108 km of route length (including the electrified part) is used in common carrier service by the Taiwan Railway Administration; the remaining 3,492 km is dedicated to industrial use (1999)
Highways: total: 34,901 km
paved: 31,271 km (including 538 km of expressways)
unpaved: 3,630 km (1998 est.)
Waterways: NA
Pipelines: petroleum products 3,400 km; natural gas 1,800 km (1999)
Ports and harbors: Chi-lung (Keelung), Hua-lien, Kao-hsiung, Su-ao, T'ai-chung
Merchant marine: total: 167 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,768,145 GRT/7,508,941 DWT
ships by type: bulk 45, cargo 29, combination bulk 1, container 65, petroleum tanker 17, refrigerated cargo 8, roll on/roll off 2 (2000 est.)
Airports: 39 (2000 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 35
over 3,047 m: 8
2,438 to 3,047 m: 9
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m: 7
under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 4
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.)
Heliports: 3 (2000 est.)
Taiwan Military Top of Page
Military branches: Army, Navy (includes Marines), Air Force, Coastal Patrol and Defense Command, Armed Forces Reserve Command, Combined Service Forces
Military manpower - military age: 19 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 6,575,689 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 5,025,856 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 198,766 (2001 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $8.042 billion (FY98/99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.8% (FY98/99)
Taiwan Transnational Issues Top of Page
Disputes - international: involved in complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; Paracel Islands occupied by China, but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; claims Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu Tai), as does China
Illicit drugs: transit point for heroin and methamphetamine; major problem with domestic consumption of methamphetamine and heroin
I know.
Why the fuck don't they make a bomb ass game just for Linux? And don't say fucking Tuxracer.
The thing that all of you want to try, or keep trying, is to not allow this to fall into an increasingly cultural niche (afterstep, amiga, anyone?) but to press forward. The desktop, of course. I like Linux a great deal, at home, I dev. at work with Linux, but maybe I'll just do Mac OSX for my multi-stuff needs. Why? I can't keep risking my entire environment for an XFree86 update, or another process sharing foul up. Its a wonderful environment, but not a wonderfully (or easily) dynamic one.
Eight months out of zzzzzzzzzzz. . .
. .
Can't talk know, gotta be entertained.
Does anyone attempt to better things around them? Or if one is comfortable already, is there nothing more to do but to maintain the sofa stance?
I'm using Windows 2000 server right now. This is the caption, to the left under the c:\WINNT\system32 folder: What else needs to be said is left to you.
For Microsoft, a Season of Triumph
By STEVE LOHR
For most technology companies, the fall of 2001 was a season to forget, with its deepening sales slump, losses and layoffs. But for Microsoft (news/quote), it was a time of triumph, even some vindication. In the federal antitrust case that Microsoft fought so long, with so little success, things turned in the company's favor when the Bush administration decided to settle in November.
Within weeks, Microsoft announced a settlement with plaintiffs in more than 100 private class-action antitrust suits. To be sure, protests remain. Some states that sued Microsoft are urging a federal judge to toughen provisions of the settlement with the Justice Department, and there are objections to the class- action deal. A European investigation also continues, although Microsoft says it wants to settle that case as well. In all, however, Microsoft has made rapid, dramatic strides toward finally putting its antitrust troubles behind it.
The proposed settlement in the crucial federal case is widely seen as a Microsoft victory. It would not restrict the company's product designs, allowing Microsoft to fold software into its Windows operating system for potentially huge new markets, including online shopping, personal identification and downloading music and movies over the Internet. Those features are found in the recently released Windows XP.
And the drastic sanction of splitting Microsoft up -- the remedy championed by the Clinton administration, and approved by a lower court judge, but regarded quite skeptically in a federal appeals court ruling in June -- was rejected by the Bush administration.
But the settlement terms do require Microsoft to share technical information with competitors and industry partners more openly. In addition, Microsoft would be prohibited from bullying other companies with anticompetitive contracts.
Some Microsoft rivals and industry commentators argue that the case could do a lot to encourage competition, by forcing Microsoft to change its corporate behavior.
Microsoft's legal team is certainly echoing the behavioral theme. "The client has learned a lot through all this," said William H. Neukom, the tall, silver-haired general counsel and legal field general in Microsoft's antitrust battles.
Mr. Neukom, 60, is stepping down next year, and his designated successor, Bradley P. Smith, suggested that priorities for Microsoft would be to establish a "strong track record of compliance" with the settlement order and to "strengthen our ties with the rest of the industry."
But legal pressure is not the only thing forcing Microsoft to change. Technology trends -- notably the spread of Internet technology -- are equally responsible.
Over all, investment in technology may have slowed, but Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman, believes that some cooling off may be healthy. With the get-rich-instantly mentality of the dot-com bubble gone, Mr. Gates said, chatting with journalists in October, "I think the environment for doing major research and development -- real innovation -- is better now than it was before." Certainly it is for Microsoft, which is sitting on $36 billion in cash.
Microsoft is putting some of its capital to work by investing heavily in the development of "Web services," mainly clever software sent over the Internet to automate all kinds of business and personal tasks. A company's data will be linked with a supplier's to replenish needed parts automatically, for example. Or a person's scheduling data, stored on a PC or hand-held computer, will interact with the dentist's data to set up an appointment or with an airline to arrange travel.
To realize these goals will require open communications in software, which raises privacy and security issues that must be resolved. The move will also require businesses to form partnerships and trusted relationships with other companies. This will mean a change of many corporate cultures, including Microsoft's.
Consequently, over the next several years, it will be very difficult to determine the legacy of Microsoft's antitrust conflicts, because so many other forces will also be shaping the company and the industry.
Frances E. Holberton, 84, Early Computer Programmer
By STEVE LOHR
Frances Elizabeth Holberton, one of the first computer programmers, whose contributions to software over the years ranged from an early data- sorting program to helping develop the business programming language Cobol, died on Dec. 8 at a nursing home in Rockville, Md. She was 84.
The cause was heart disease, diabetes and complications from a stroke that she suffered several years ago, according to her daughter, Priscilla Holberton of Silver Spring, Md.
"Betty Holberton was a real software pioneer," said Donald E. Knuth, a professor emeritus at Stanford University and author of the three-volume "The Art of Computer Programming," the profession's defining treatise.
Mrs. Holberton, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, was one of the six young women recruited by the Army to program the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, which became known by its evocative acronym, Eniac. The Eniac is credited with being the first all-electronic digital computer.
The Eniac's job was to calculate the firing trajectories for artillery shells. The young women programmers were selected for their skills in mathematics. The work they did was "hard-wired" programming, laboriously setting switches and cables inside the 30-ton black behemoth of a machine.
Mrs. Holberton, colleagues recall, was particularly adept at figuring out the best path for guiding the complex calculations through the electronic labyrinth of the Eniac. Frequently, these insights came to her overnight.
"Betty had an amazing logical mind, and she solved more problems in her sleep than other people did awake," recalled Jean J. Bartik, another of the Eniac programmers.
The Eniac was demonstrated in February 1946, too late for use in World War II, but it helped open the door to modern computing. The Eniac programming team broke up, but Mrs. Holberton was the one of the six who stayed longest in the field.
After the war, she joined the Eniac designers, John Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly, in their effort to develop the Univac, an early commercial computer, which was introduced in 1951. While working on the Univac, Mrs. Holberton did some of her most innovative work. She developed a program for sorting and merging large data files, which at the time were stored on reels of magnetic tape. Any such updating of data files was an arduous programming task at the time, and her program vastly simplified that job.
"That was a huge tour de force," said Paul E. Ceruzzi, a computer historian at the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1953, Mrs. Holberton joined the Navy's Applied Math Lab at the David Taylor Model Basin in Maryland as the supervisor of advanced programming, where she worked until 1966. In 1959, she was a crucial member of the committee that developed Cobol, or Common Business Oriented Language. The committee worked for six months on the standards and specifications for a business programming language, which was introduced in 1960.
The committee's work was seen as a temporary solution to the growing problem created by the increasing need for a standard programming language for handling business data at a time when computing was moving into the mainstream of the corporate world. Yet Cobol, updated many times over the years, is still widely used.
Computer scientists often criticize Cobol as a hasty, inelegantly designed programming language. But it gave computing a way to handle and visually describe business data, making it easier to program business problems on computers.
Mrs. Holberton, who joined the National Bureau of Standards in 1966 and worked there for two decades, once echoed those views. In a 1983 interview conducted for the Charles Babbage Institute, a computing history center at the University of Minnesota, Mrs. Holberton conceded some of the criticisms of the language she helped develop. But, she added, "Cobol, I felt, was very important because of its ability to describe data."
According to Kathryn Kleiman, a lawyer who is working on a documentary film on the women Eniac programmers and their contribution to the field, Mrs. Holberton consistently worked on trying to make computers easier to program.
"She took that hard-won knowledge on the Eniac and applied it over the next 40 years, in nearly everything she did in the field," Ms. Kleiman said.
In addition the her daughter Priscilla, Mrs. Holberton is survived by her husband, John Vaughn Holberton, and another daughter, Pamela Holberton, both of Rockville.
"The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed--would have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper--the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you." --pg 19
Thats ridiculous. Oh, you got it from the GPL. Why don't you look at some warranties. Extensive no, but they are there. It's good you can only feed the fire massive on this site, as opposed to somewhere that mattered, no?
Odd silence to your request. Here's one example.
Overview
Sun Microsystems offers comprehensive warranty services to its end-user customers and to its product resellers. Under Sun's general warranty policy, equipment is warranted to be free from defects in workmanship or material for the applicable warranty period. Software is warranted to conform to published specifications for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery. As of August 1, 1999, Sun began implementing a new Global Warranty Program to supercede all local product warranties with new, globally consistent terms for our customers.
Please refer to Sun's price list or your sales agreement contract for exact terms and conditions concerning the warranty offered.
Type of Service: Description of Service: Contact Locations:
Warranty Services System failures, during warranty term of the product or system. Sun Solution Centers
Online service requests are also available to SunSpectrum customers.
Customer Return
For Credit (CRFC) Non-defective sales return issues: misquotes, booking errors, shipping problems or incorrect product shipments. Sun Solution Centers
In the US/Canada, use auto-reply E-mail or call 1-800-23-RETURN.
Requesting Warranty Services
Customers are asked to provide the following information when requesting Warranty or CRFC services:
Description of problem
Customer name, address, and contact information
Description of product and/or system configuration
Product Identification: Product Number, Model Number, Part Number
For Software Products: Original P.O. Number and/or Date-of-Purchase
For Hardware Products: Product Serial Number
For Corporate or Passport Accounts: Purchase Agreement and/or Passport Agreement Numbers
Global Warranty Program
With today's rapidly expanding global economy, multinational corporation have increased requirements for consistent, global warranty coverage from their systems vendors.
Sun is pleased to announce that effective August 1, 1999, a uniform, globally consistent warranty offering for Sun products has been established to meet our customers' needs. Both Sun and its partners will be engaged to fulfill these global warranty terms, subject to the rollout schedule outlined below.
Global Warranty Features Matrix by Product
Global Warranty Term Definitions
Support Services
Support Services: Sun Support Programs and SunSpectrum Services
Information about Sun Global Services: Global Service Programs
SunSpectrum Pac Warranty Upgrade option is available for purchase with selected product models.
If you pay $$, you get a warranty.
Only in the United States could this be happening. Why is there no counter from a megacorp? Maybe we can get the Dutch govt to step in, they seem fairly level headed.
This jackass has been posting his car on Slasdot for years. He finally has his article. Shameless.
I often wish England would get buried, if anything to change the course laid forth in such things as Guns Germs and Steel . Florida would also be a nice.
Right. Tell your tow truck plan to the 15 year old who just smashed and stole your white boy audi.
So we have a recycled story from a happier time in Mr. Katz's life, before he was fired from Wired. I for one do not want to relive his past, nor any part of Mr. Katz's future. I just can't understand why this website insists Mr. Katz is the only writer. There are so many others. Why not dump the detritus of a failed career and move on toward a better future?
Interesting the medium by which they access/assess you.
/. crowd were perhaps in gifted programs throught elementary/secondary education. Guess who they start up a file for as soon as you enter special education. Don't believe me? Neither does Larry Ellison. Which is why it'll all be alright
Even more interesting is the extent to which they do.
Anyone ever get you FBI file throughout the freedom of information act? You don't have an FBI file? You do now.
Also of interest: many of the
But I do suggest checking out whats churning through the soon to be oracle tentacles. You may be surprised.
In the '70s and '80s, prostaglandin drugs were used to induce violent premature labor and delivery. When used alone, there was: "...a large complication rate (42.6%) is associated with its use. Few risks in obstetrics are more certain than that which occurs to a pregnant woman undergoing abortion after the 14th week of pregnancy." Duenhoelter & Grant, "Complications Following Prostaglandin F-2 Alpha Induced Mid-trimester Abortion." Jour. of OB & GYN, Sept. 1975
Because of these problems, the D&E or Dilatation & Evacuation method was developed and largely replaced the above. It involves the live dismemberment of the baby and piecemeal removal from below.
A pliers-like instrument is used because the baby's bones are calcified, as is the skull. There is no anesthetic for the baby. The abortionist inserts the instrument up into the uterus, seizes a leg or other part of the body, and, with a twisting motion, tears it from the baby's body. This is repeated again and again. The spine must be snapped, and the skull crushed to remove them. The nurse's job is to reassemble the body parts to be sure that all are removed.
ENLIST THE POWER OF PRAYER!
When the temptation to masturbate is strong, yell, "Stop!" to those thoughts as loudly as you can in your mind. Then recite a portion of the Bible or sing a hymn.
SET GOALS!
If you masturbate, color that day black. Your goal will be to have no black days. The calendar becomes a strong visual reminder, and should be looked at when you are tempted to add another black day. * Set up a reward system. Each time you reach a goal, award yourself with a quarter. Spend it on something that delights you.
USE PHYSICAL RESTRAINTS!
* Put on several layers of clothing that would be difficult to remove while half-asleep.
* Hold an object -- for example, a Bible -- even in bed at night.
* In severe cases, tie a hand to the bed frame.
BE ALERT TO EMOTIONS!
* Employ aversion therapy. To cancel out the pleasureableness of masturbation, associate something very distasteful with the act. For example, imagine bathing in a tub of worms and eating some of them.
* Be outgoing and friendly. Force yourself to be with others and learn to enjoy working and talking with them.