There were already Mac "clones" (i.e. Windos PCs with iMac-style case) during the first iMac wave and Apple sued them into oblivion. I suppose, Apple will it make soon impossible to pretend being smart by buying a special computer case.
There are mainly 2 basic uses of an operating system: professional use and non-professional use. Linux problems in non-professional use are well known for years and mainly boil down to the two points hardware support and usability for non-tech users. This article is just blurb around these old facts. I would mod it as redundant. But Linux key problems arise on the professional side - the late integration of modern technologies develop in computer science.
An old issue with Linux is the microkernel. Don't say now that it won't work 'cos both NT and MacOS X have one. The upcoming issue will be the integration of web services at system level. MS is pushing Windows into this direction.
Other issues are AI integration in apps - MS has Baysian Networks in Office for some time now. And don't fool yourself by Linux support by big players like IBM/SUN etc.
These guys just want to take a free ride on OSS and use it as cannon fodder against MS.
But the Euro coins can be most easily distinguished by taste. Really. The higher valued coins taste more sweet, but the lowers valued one more salty. I'm from Europe - I know what I'm talking about.
On the one hand they othen introduce new, exciting
features like Window-based UI, microkernels etc.
The technology of Apple systems is often very next-century orientated and not orientated at the past like many other systems like MS Windows, Linux or *BSD.
The high technological level makes these systems
of course more prone to attract academics.
And academics can usually pay the ridiculously overrated prices of Apple computers. On the other hand their high pricing system makes them only attainable for rich people. This is extremly bad for poorer and less smarter people are blocked from the technological highlights of the coming generations by this way. Apple in fact drives the technological divide between poor and rich further than it already is. Can you imagine some poor souls from 3rd world countries affording apple gadgeds, which cost amounts of money they don't earn over several years ? No surprise that the educational levels are much lower in these countries. I think Apple should take the social dues reponsibly an bring out some cheaper systems for the poor and the less intelligent.
Well, there isn't really such a thing like a secure system. So all this pro-OpenBSD propaganda by Theo de Rat
saying "OpenBSD is secure, really, always" is rather a bad thing. I lulls sysadms into the belief that their system is save, making them unaware of the fact that a system is never secure at all. Of course, the sources of every OS should be explicitly checked for security holes. But this shouldn't be the single feature of an OS. In fact claiming an OS "secure" just due to these checks is serving security rather badly. I sometimes wonder if the OpenBSD project hasn't excatly the opposite effects than intended by it's maintainers for these very reasons. On the other hand there are some cynical commentators out there, who claim that the main intend of OpenBSD is to boost Theo's ego.
Flooding the net with crap (oh...high quality content of course) streams. The p2p protocols are very suitable for multicasting. These retards doesn't even seems to know that there are a lot of exsting MC protocols out there. End-2-end connections from a central server is definitely not the way to do it. Well, why do I rant about it ? Theoretically I could just don't care. But crappy applications like this on the one hand and illegal apps like Napster are definitely killing the net. People here at/. always whine about the commercialization of the net. But this is the direct result of such shitty apps. If you want the net to remain free, don't support such stuff !
Re:Did something similar
on
Am I Hot or Not
·
· Score: 2, Funny
How do you measure the "success" of the control of an automatic horse feeder ? By the number of horses which don't starve ?
An attractor is a shape that is specific to the given PRNG function, and reveals the complex nature of dependencies between subsequent results generated by the implementation.
The author should be hit with a stick.
Hard.
Several times.
There is a standard definition for an attractor in mathematics.
If the author wants to use mathematics, then he should use the well-agreed mathematical definitions and not vague pseudo-mathematical babble.
And yes, I am a mathematician.
What they basically do is to guess the
(internal) dimension of the system
and trying to get non-trivial attracting
set out of it. It's a rather trivial fact
that if you get both things right, you can
attack the PRNG. However, a decent PRNG
won't have any non-trivial attractors.
If O'Reilly really wonders why all open source vendors disappeared, then they should just
open source all their books and provide then contents in electronic form and they will see what happens.
This is also called the infamous "we don't have anything more to sell" surprise.
Only happens once, 'cos after that you are out of business.
All forms of wireless connections are
much more prone to manipulation and
hax0ring than the good old fashioned
fiber connections.
While wireless might be much easier
to set up the total cost of ownership might
be much higher due to hacking attacks
and financial damages caused by the theft
of personal information like credit card
numbers etc. There are, of course, ways
to secure wireless channels but usually
administrators which non-academic background
and managers without technical skills
ignore the problems of open channels
and therefore no decent security measures
are applied. It's also questionable if the
existing encryption possibilities are strong
enough. For some critical data doesn't become
uncritical after a long time, therefore
introducing new possibilities for a hacker
with some decent equipment and enough time
(3-4 months) on his hands.
I also wonder if the bad weather conditions
in Scottland might render the service
useless too. After all, in a decent thounderstorm
both optical and radiobased wireless links
become pretty useless.
If they don't to be linked, well, don't link them. Don't link them at all.
Throw them out of any search engine/web guides/etc.
After some months they'll see the effects of their linking policy.
And change it...or sell their servers.
I've always wanted a program which sends email to my friends that I'm missing and they should call the police when I just went on holidays.
Ha, but it encrypts all my pr0n.
Speaking of football, I have to mention that I'm very surprised that Slashdot didn't have any information about the historic loss of the US football team against Germany.
As far as I understand football is considered to be a "weird" or "nerd" sport in the US, so this would be "News for Nerd. Stuff that matters."
Or are you just rejecting stories which shed a bad light at the US ?
Re:So let me get this straight.
on
Wolframania
·
· Score: 2
I suppose Wolfram, being a physicist and therefore having no real clue of math, means that a model consisting just of smooth operator equations won't be sufficient.
This theory shouldn't be rejected per se,
because there could be very well some non-continuous at least at quantum level.
But Wolfram obviously hasn't grasped the usefulness of a clean mathematical formalism. Otherwise his book won't be so diffuse.
However Wolfram doesn't seem to understand the complexity which arises even from continuous systems and that in fact non-continuous dependencies can turn up in continuous systems.
Do I even have to mention the Lorentz system at all, everyone should know it.
But he is just a physicist after all.
Has anyone here ever heard...
on
Wolframania
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
about a serious scientist claiming that his theories would replace the entire physical model of the universe ?
Some geniuses did such work, but I never have heard anyone of them making such claims without the in-depth review of others. I must admit I've never heard of any genius exaggerating his own theories so much at all.
Some people say that's a relatively sure sign for being a crackpot.
Thugs sue house owners over use of locks.
"Making breaking in impossible."
"Restriction of constitutional rights of liberty of action."
"High costs and substantial effort needed in breaking open doors."
The company is legally obliged to inform their customers of the theft.
If they won't, they are (at least partially) responsible for any
damages caused by the criminals.
The sysad should inform his manager and point out all legal consequences. This should sort out all problems.
Hereby I troll for Natalie Portman in space !
Naked and pertified of course.
This would be rather expensive,
because a pertified Natalie Postman is heavier
than a non-pertified Natalie Portman, even naked.
But I think it's worth the money.
By means by definition that you're all a bunch of retards who have nothing better to do then crapflood a message board instead of posting intelligent commentary. And now you think that you can write a science fiction series??
A comment from someone who posts AC just to preserve his precious "karma". Did you ever realize that this "karma" is an imaginary value added by Taco to get better control of his message board ? Did you ever realize that this "karma" has no real value at all and that it doesn't matter if you are at 50 or -4536 points ? And therefore is no reason to preserve this "karma" ? And that it's the most retarded thing at all to post anonymously just the keep this "karma" save ?
As far as I understand the article,
a main part of Cyg consists of an expert system.
Expert systems are basically theorem provers.
If they get inconsistent assertions into the database,
the system would be able to derive an unsatisfyable assertion like "to be and not to be".
However from such an assertion you can derive any thing - any other true or false assertion.
So an inconsistency in the database would fuck up their entire system and must be avoided at any costs.
He does mainly tank-rush science,
throwing as much information as possible
into an expert system, hoping something
which seems like AI get out of it.
Big innovation.
Killing the problems of AI be sheer computation
force.
If you are honest you have to admit that
most Sci-Fi series plainly suck.
Either they 100% fucked in scientific respects,
like Start Trek or even worse Stargate
(I wonder why the Däniken crap is still popular).
Or their storyline sucks like hell, being extremely childish (Farscape) or retarded
(Lexx).
So, I purpose hereby that we, teh Trolls of Slashdot, write a high quality, not sucking Sci-Fi series. Most of us have high writing skills
or a high-level science education, or sometimes evens both. It should be a very simple task to create an decent series.
It is our most holy task to fight against immature content and retardedness.
So I say: Lets get it on !
for Microsofts attitude toways open source.
Unlike the pro-open source evangelists like RMS, ESR etc. the whole pro and cons OSS thing is not an ideological question for MS.
The problem is that some open source program are a threat to MS market dominance. And MS gained that dominance by ruthlessly destroying all competitors. They act shark like - see, attack, kill. This made them the no. 1 in the software business. And not the quality of their products. (Some of their products are good despite what OSS zealots say.) If they give up their attitude towards OSS, they would have to give up their attitude towards competitors. And this would destroy their market dominance, making them an ordinary software company like any other.
So, "convincing MS of the benefits of OSS" is nonsense. There is no real benefit for them and
they will never be convinced. And they have at least one very good argument for their behavoir - their outstanding economic success. You cannot convert a predator to a vegetarian.
Slashdot Mirror
There were already Mac "clones" (i.e. Windos PCs with iMac-style case) during the first iMac wave and Apple sued them into oblivion.
I suppose, Apple will it make soon impossible to pretend being smart by buying a special computer case.
There are mainly 2 basic uses of an operating system: professional use and non-professional use.
Linux problems in non-professional use are well known for years and mainly boil down to the two points hardware support and usability for non-tech users. This article is just blurb around these old facts. I would mod it as redundant.
But Linux key problems arise on the professional side - the late integration of modern technologies develop in computer science. An old issue with Linux is the microkernel. Don't say now that it won't work 'cos both NT and MacOS X have one. The upcoming issue will be the integration of web services at system level. MS is pushing Windows into this direction. Other issues are AI integration in apps - MS has Baysian Networks in Office for some time now.
And don't fool yourself by Linux support by big players like IBM/SUN etc. These guys just want to take a free ride on OSS and use it as cannon fodder against MS.
But the Euro coins can be most easily distinguished by taste. Really.
The higher valued coins taste more sweet, but the lowers valued one more salty.
I'm from Europe - I know what I'm talking about.
On the one hand they othen introduce new, exciting features like Window-based UI, microkernels etc. The technology of Apple systems is often very next-century orientated and not orientated at the past like many other systems like MS Windows, Linux or *BSD. The high technological level makes these systems of course more prone to attract academics. And academics can usually pay the ridiculously overrated prices of Apple computers.
On the other hand their high pricing system makes them only attainable for rich people. This is extremly bad for poorer and less smarter people are blocked from the technological highlights of the coming generations by this way. Apple in fact drives the technological divide between poor and rich further than it already is.
Can you imagine some poor souls from 3rd world countries affording apple gadgeds, which cost amounts of money they don't earn over several years ?
No surprise that the educational levels are much lower in these countries.
I think Apple should take the social dues reponsibly an bring out some cheaper systems for the poor and the less intelligent.
Well, there isn't really such a thing like a secure system.
So all this pro-OpenBSD propaganda by Theo de Rat saying "OpenBSD is secure, really, always" is rather a bad thing. I lulls sysadms into the belief that their system is save, making them unaware of the fact that a system is never secure at all.
Of course, the sources of every OS should be explicitly checked for security holes. But this shouldn't be the single feature of an OS. In fact claiming an OS "secure" just due to these checks is serving security rather badly.
I sometimes wonder if the OpenBSD project hasn't excatly the opposite effects than intended by it's maintainers for these very reasons. On the other hand there are some cynical commentators out there, who claim that the main intend of OpenBSD is to boost Theo's ego.
Flooding the net with crap (oh...high quality content of course) streams. /. always whine about the commercialization of the net.
The p2p protocols are very suitable for multicasting. These retards doesn't even seems to know that there are a lot of exsting MC protocols out there. End-2-end connections from a central server is definitely not the way to do it.
Well, why do I rant about it ?
Theoretically I could just don't care.
But crappy applications like this on the one hand and illegal apps like Napster are definitely killing the net.
People here at
But this is the direct result of such shitty apps.
If you want the net to remain free, don't support such stuff !
How do you measure the "success" of the control of an automatic horse feeder ?
By the number of horses which don't starve ?
Monte Carlo methods like genetic algorithms are usually the last resort for the clueless to get some kind of solution for an optimization problem.
The author should be hit with a stick.
Hard.
Several times.
There is a standard definition for an attractor in mathematics.
If the author wants to use mathematics, then he should use the well-agreed mathematical definitions and not vague pseudo-mathematical babble.
And yes, I am a mathematician.
What they basically do is to guess the (internal) dimension of the system and trying to get non-trivial attracting set out of it. It's a rather trivial fact that if you get both things right, you can attack the PRNG. However, a decent PRNG won't have any non-trivial attractors.
If O'Reilly really wonders why all open source vendors disappeared, then they should just open source all their books and provide then contents in electronic form and they will see what happens.
This is also called the infamous "we don't have anything more to sell" surprise.
Only happens once, 'cos after that you are out of business.
All forms of wireless connections are much more prone to manipulation and hax0ring than the good old fashioned fiber connections.
While wireless might be much easier to set up the total cost of ownership might be much higher due to hacking attacks and financial damages caused by the theft of personal information like credit card numbers etc. There are, of course, ways to secure wireless channels but usually administrators which non-academic background and managers without technical skills ignore the problems of open channels and therefore no decent security measures are applied.
It's also questionable if the existing encryption possibilities are strong enough. For some critical data doesn't become uncritical after a long time, therefore introducing new possibilities for a hacker with some decent equipment and enough time (3-4 months) on his hands.
I also wonder if the bad weather conditions in Scottland might render the service useless too. After all, in a decent thounderstorm both optical and radiobased wireless links become pretty useless.
If they don't to be linked, well, don't link them.
Don't link them at all.
Throw them out of any search engine/web guides/etc.
After some months they'll see the effects of their linking policy.
And change it...or sell their servers.
I've always wanted a program which sends email to my friends that I'm missing and they should call the police when I just went on holidays.
Ha, but it encrypts all my pr0n.
I suppose that the main point of the article is that "web thinkers" are rather slow thinkers.
Hmmm, is that news ?
Speaking of football, I have to mention that I'm very surprised that Slashdot didn't have any information about the historic loss of the US football team against Germany.
As far as I understand football is considered to be a "weird" or "nerd" sport in the US, so this would be "News for Nerd. Stuff that matters."
Or are you just rejecting stories which shed a bad light at the US ?
I suppose Wolfram, being a physicist and therefore having no real clue of math, means that a model consisting just of smooth operator equations won't be sufficient.
This theory shouldn't be rejected per se, because there could be very well some non-continuous at least at quantum level.
But Wolfram obviously hasn't grasped the usefulness of a clean mathematical formalism. Otherwise his book won't be so diffuse.
However Wolfram doesn't seem to understand the complexity which arises even from continuous systems and that in fact non-continuous dependencies can turn up in continuous systems. Do I even have to mention the Lorentz system at all, everyone should know it. But he is just a physicist after all.
about a serious scientist claiming that his theories would replace the entire physical model of the universe ?
Some geniuses did such work, but I never have heard anyone of them making such claims without the in-depth review of others. I must admit I've never heard of any genius exaggerating his own theories so much at all.
Some people say that's a relatively sure sign for being a crackpot.
Thugs sue house owners over use of locks.
"Making breaking in impossible."
"Restriction of constitutional rights of liberty of action."
"High costs and substantial effort needed in breaking open doors."
The company is legally obliged to inform their customers of the theft.
If they won't, they are (at least partially) responsible for any damages caused by the criminals.
The sysad should inform his manager and point out all legal consequences. This should sort out all problems.
Hereby I troll for Natalie Portman in space !
Naked and pertified of course.
This would be rather expensive, because a pertified Natalie Postman is heavier than a non-pertified Natalie Portman, even naked.
But I think it's worth the money.
A comment from someone who posts AC just to preserve his precious "karma".
Did you ever realize that this "karma" is an imaginary value added by Taco to get better control of his message board ?
Did you ever realize that this "karma" has no real value at all and that it doesn't matter if you are at 50 or -4536 points ?
And therefore is no reason to preserve this "karma" ?
And that it's the most retarded thing at all to post anonymously just the keep this "karma" save ?
As far as I understand the article, a main part of Cyg consists of an expert system. Expert systems are basically theorem provers.
If they get inconsistent assertions into the database, the system would be able to derive an unsatisfyable assertion like "to be and not to be". However from such an assertion you can derive any thing - any other true or false assertion. So an inconsistency in the database would fuck up their entire system and must be avoided at any costs.
He does mainly tank-rush science, throwing as much information as possible into an expert system, hoping something which seems like AI get out of it.
Big innovation.
Killing the problems of AI be sheer computation force.
If you are honest you have to admit that most Sci-Fi series plainly suck.
Either they 100% fucked in scientific respects, like Start Trek or even worse Stargate (I wonder why the Däniken crap is still popular). Or their storyline sucks like hell, being extremely childish (Farscape) or retarded (Lexx).
So, I purpose hereby that we, teh Trolls of Slashdot, write a high quality, not sucking Sci-Fi series. Most of us have high writing skills or a high-level science education, or sometimes evens both. It should be a very simple task to create an decent series.
It is our most holy task to fight against immature content and retardedness.
So I say: Lets get it on !
Unlike the pro-open source evangelists like RMS, ESR etc. the whole pro and cons OSS thing is not an ideological question for MS.
The problem is that some open source program are a threat to MS market dominance. And MS gained that dominance by ruthlessly destroying all competitors. They act shark like - see, attack, kill. This made them the no. 1 in the software business. And not the quality of their products. (Some of their products are good despite what OSS zealots say.) If they give up their attitude towards OSS, they would have to give up their attitude towards competitors. And this would destroy their market dominance, making them an ordinary software company like any other.
So, "convincing MS of the benefits of OSS" is nonsense. There is no real benefit for them and they will never be convinced. And they have at least one very good argument for their behavoir - their outstanding economic success. You cannot convert a predator to a vegetarian.