You're right.
If there were no chainsaws, people wouldn't cut
off their fingers with them.
But that would also mean that other people won't
be able to effectively do their work.
My point is, that
when your first priority is to protect
stupid people from doing stupid things,
you often also protect smart people from
doing smart things.
Maybe I'm just old-fashioned,
but I like to understand decisions
which I make.
But I don't know if you understood me,
I was commenting:
Just like a Word file that asks if you want to run macros. How many users
always know when they should say yes?
and I said, that:
It's a good practice to not agree for anything you don't understand... When you don't know
if you should say yes - just say no.
Thank you for putting things into perspective.
I have never been to Poland, so can hardly
picture what life is like there.
Was in USSR in the eighties,
and if that was any indication...
Well, back in eighties we were still
a communistic
Peoples Republic of Poland,
under a strong
influence of USSR.
In 1989 we had the first democratic election
after the World War II,
but even after all of those years,
the today Polish economy still suffers from
the past communist regime.
Most of the 20th century
meant wars or occupation for Poland
(I personally know people who were prisoners
of the extermination camps in Oswiecim
(Auschwitz),
so I've heard a lot of really terrible stories),
but there were times, where we had
an empire that reached from the
Baltic to the Black Sea,
being a very important power in Europe,
not only as a military power,
but also in the terms of culture and science.
Those were times of the great Aztecs
civilisation in America.
Living in the exact centre of Europe
is nice, but being exactly between
the Germany and USSR used to be very unfortunate.
Now we're part of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
and soon we'll join the
European Union.
I do hope that things will change for better, and
that the 21st century will mean,
unlike the 20th century,
first of all peace and freedom, but also
a fast economical and technological
growth for Poland.
You can find more general info on Encyclopedia.com,
on Wikipedia
and on Britannica.com.
If you're interested,
there are lots of links to information
about Poland on Polska.pl (Polska means Poland in Polish).
If you are ever on the West Coast of the US,
drop me a line. Email is the last bit of
my URL at the domain name in front of it.
I'd be happy to show you one way of
providing bandwidth to a community.
Thanks, maybe when I win the Google contest
I'll be around...:)
Otherwise, I won't be near the
United States any time soon.
I want to study in the U.S. but that's rather
a very far future, unfortunately, if I ever realize those plans, that is...
But thanks, anyway.:)
Why this is any better than an ultraslim laptop, which has pretty much all the same
features plus the ability to use it without a docking station when needed, is not
immediately clear to me.
Actually I see more use for it in the other way
around. I.e. to have a portable
docking station
and stationary very small computer, e.g.
in car or somewhere...
I don't think that it's impossible to code
directly for VLIW
(in fact, I'm quite sure it's possible).
IBM has been on object code translation
for running code written for CISCs
on RISCs and VLIW chips,
but it doesn't mean that's impossible (or even
less effective) to write native RISC or VLIW
code in the first place.
It's just important for
an easy migration path, mostly
from 80x86 to better architectures.
The 80x86 instruction set is a real mess
(we have to deal with design mistakes from
the time of 8088),
the only advantage it has is a backward
compatibility, so my point is,
why Transmeta does introduce a needless
translation layer
between their own OS and their own chip.
Even if the chip has to be x86-compatible to
compete on the desktop market, it should be
possible to turn the translation layer off
and get to the native instruction set,
in the same way as we switch between
real and protected mode on 80386+ chips.
The processor would be cooler and faster,
the code could be optimized for the processor,
not for the emulation layer.
They know how to translate the binary machine
code from x86 to native instruction set
(and it gives great performance results),
so they surely know how to write a good
compiler or, better yet, a good GCC backend.
Even if they don't (which I doubt) they can
always compile to x86 and translate to native.
I'm just curious why doesn't Transmeta do that,
provide x86 emulation for smoother migration,
but also allow to directly use their great
architecture.
However I don't see much useful info
on Transmeta's website,
mostly just buzzwords...
So I don't know why their chips can only be
used through the x86 software
(on chip, but still software)
emulation...
The Crusoe processor, as most of you already know, is a software-based
processor. This means that the native language this X86 compatible chip
operates under is 128-bit VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word). VLIW is
something that bears no resemblance to that of traditional Intel chips,
which are also known as X86 processors.
Is there any way
to reach that 128-bit VLIW directly,
without the whole overhead of translating from
x86 code?
If that processor is so fast with the translation
step, it would be a very fast without it.
Wouldn't that be a good idea for Transmeta to
run Midori Linux natively on their own chip,
instead of emulating Intel instruction set?
I know that the compatibility with x86 is
important for a chip today, but when they're
using their own OS, it seems to be, well,
not the best idea,
even considering the ammount of work to
port the software (which is still nothing
compared to designing the translation layer).
Sorry if this is off.. everything I know about Poland is a little old but last I checked you guys
were still riding horses and using swords and flintlock rifles when the Nazis invaded with tanks right?:-)
I'm not surprised that you post as
Anonymous Coward then...
I pay $25 per month, and am certain to get at least 3000kbps down and usually no less
than 900 up. Usually, it's more like 5000/1000, but who's counting?
I hope you appereciate how lucky you are.
Average monthly salary in Poland is about
the same as fees for 768kbps, so you can imagine
how hard it is for young people here to
afford the Internet connection, when they need
it to learn.
I'd be in heaven if I needed to pay $25 for 3Mbps,
it's 10,000% performance:cost ratio increase
of what I have now.
And the Internet is the main source of
my knowledge, so it's also the main cost of
my education.
Anyway, it's very sad how much different start
people have, depanding on where they live,
but I'm glad that at least some people don't
have to take bank loans just to get a good
Internet connection, with hope that they'll
be able to pay them off later.
It's a 21st century, for God's sake.
I don't know what exactly does
the high-speed Internet service
mean, but I'd love to pay
$80/month for what I consider a high-speed link.
I live in Poland where I pay about $450/month
for 768kb/s DSL...
And it's not even a guaranteed bandwidth.
you seem to be confusing open-source with copy-lefted.
No.
When I see that something is "open source"
but "being licensed by a big corporation might lead them to become anal on us..
ie, charging fees?"
I just ask if it can be used in
free software, i.e. software under GPL,
LGPL, X11, BSD, Apache, W3C, MPL, Artictic, PHP,
Python or whatever free software license,
not only under a
Copyleft license.
That's why I prefer the term
free software,
not
open source, because it's clear what can be done with the software in the sense of freedom.
I've also kicked around the idea of a programming language based on Latin based on
Chris' thoughts on using inflection in a programming language, but it's not one of
those things that seems to come together easily...
The Lingua::Romana::Perligata makes it possible to write Perl
programs in Latin. (If you have to ask "Why?", then the answer probably
won't make any sense to you either.)
The linguistic principles behind Perligata are described in:
The module is `use'd at the start of the program, and installs a filter
which allows the rest of the program to be written in (modified) Latin,
as described in the accompanying documentation.
What if the legislature in your jurisdiction passes a law similar to the
SSSCA draft, requiring all camcorders sold after $DATE to recognize and act on
watermarks embedded in each frame of the video?
I'm really scared with such perspective.
It reminds me visions of
George Orwell and
Franz Kafka.
First of all people have to realize that it can't be illegal
to copy per se.
It's not even important if it allows fair use.
It's a matter of principle.
Today most of people seem to think that it's
wrong to copy the copyrighted material. It doesn't matter if I copy a CD
to listen in my car. It's evil. Even the term: "copy protection", it protects
from copying. Not from violating the
copyright license. From copying.
Also notice, that those ideas like watermarks
depend on one thing: that nobody has tools
that don't obey those rules, while those
tool are in fact much simpler
than the new ones which respect the
copy protection.
It's like inventing very complicated hammers,
which can hit only nails and voila,
problem solved, no one will ever
kill with hammer again!
What? Some people still have the old hammers?
So let's make them illegal, no problem.
What next?
Will the free software be illegal, because I
can dangerously control my computer?
When I first read
The Right to Read
it was like a science fiction to me.
Now I'm scared. Really scared.
It's sad that the leader in such laws are
The United States of America,
the symbol of freedom.
I do hope that people will wake up soon.
Otherwise, soon we'll see American scientists
emigrating to Russia, looking for freedom.
It's very sad.
I'm figuring most of 'them' have learned long ago already. It's just that they need to
mention copy-protection because that's what the investors want to hear...
Probably you're right.
I was laughing at Y2K problem, but I should've made some bucks "solving" the problem instead,
like everyone else did.
But there's something I find really
amazing every time we have new
copy-protection, compression, etc.
Don't those people who invest their money,
ever search for similar ideas from
just few months ago?
So, When will they learn? By them I mean the investors.
Slashdot Mirror
My point is, that when your first priority is to protect stupid people from doing stupid things, you often also protect smart people from doing smart things.
Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I like to understand decisions which I make.
But I don't know if you understood me, I was commenting:
and I said, that: Do you really disagree with that?I'm only saying that it's stupid, that's it. :)
Most of the 20th century meant wars or occupation for Poland (I personally know people who were prisoners of the extermination camps in Oswiecim (Auschwitz), so I've heard a lot of really terrible stories), but there were times, where we had an empire that reached from the Baltic to the Black Sea, being a very important power in Europe, not only as a military power, but also in the terms of culture and science. Those were times of the great Aztecs civilisation in America.
Living in the exact centre of Europe is nice, but being exactly between the Germany and USSR used to be very unfortunate.
Now we're part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and soon we'll join the European Union. I do hope that things will change for better, and that the 21st century will mean, unlike the 20th century, first of all peace and freedom, but also a fast economical and technological growth for Poland.
A good introduction to Polish history is the History of Poland on Encyclopedia.com and the History of Poland on Wikipedia.
You can find more general info on Encyclopedia.com, on Wikipedia and on Britannica.com. If you're interested, there are lots of links to information about Poland on Polska.pl (Polska means Poland in Polish).
Thanks, maybe when I win the Google contest I'll be around...The 80x86 instruction set is a real mess (we have to deal with design mistakes from the time of 8088), the only advantage it has is a backward compatibility, so my point is, why Transmeta does introduce a needless translation layer between their own OS and their own chip.
Even if the chip has to be x86-compatible to compete on the desktop market, it should be possible to turn the translation layer off and get to the native instruction set, in the same way as we switch between real and protected mode on 80386+ chips.
The processor would be cooler and faster, the code could be optimized for the processor, not for the emulation layer. They know how to translate the binary machine code from x86 to native instruction set (and it gives great performance results), so they surely know how to write a good compiler or, better yet, a good GCC backend. Even if they don't (which I doubt) they can always compile to x86 and translate to native.
I'm just curious why doesn't Transmeta do that, provide x86 emulation for smoother migration, but also allow to directly use their great architecture.
However I don't see much useful info on Transmeta's website, mostly just buzzwords... So I don't know why their chips can only be used through the x86 software (on chip, but still software) emulation...
Wouldn't that be a good idea for Transmeta to run Midori Linux natively on their own chip, instead of emulating Intel instruction set? I know that the compatibility with x86 is important for a chip today, but when they're using their own OS, it seems to be, well, not the best idea, even considering the ammount of work to port the software (which is still nothing compared to designing the translation layer).
What the hell is so funny about it?!
Average monthly salary in Poland is about the same as fees for 768kbps, so you can imagine how hard it is for young people here to afford the Internet connection, when they need it to learn.
I'd be in heaven if I needed to pay $25 for 3Mbps, it's 10,000% performance:cost ratio increase of what I have now.
And the Internet is the main source of my knowledge, so it's also the main cost of my education.
Anyway, it's very sad how much different start people have, depanding on where they live, but I'm glad that at least some people don't have to take bank loans just to get a good Internet connection, with hope that they'll be able to pay them off later. It's a 21st century, for God's sake.
I don't know what exactly does the high-speed Internet service mean, but I'd love to pay $80/month for what I consider a high-speed link. I live in Poland where I pay about $450/month for 768kb/s DSL... And it's not even a guaranteed bandwidth.
But thanks for explaining, anyway. :)
How does the DivX compare to the first Ogg Tarkin ideas?
From the README:
I don't need caffeine anymore!
And when I see 734 comments I'm just in heaven!
Thank you Slashdot! :)
Moderation Totals: Troll=1, Insightful=1, Informative=2, Underrated=1, Total=5.
I think I wont troll again, that will teach me!
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted! Reason: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.
Strange... Maybe I'll send an Unlambda example at least:
It calculates and prints the Fibonacci numbers as lines of asterisks.It's quite challanging to parse that code, once you know the syntax.
I also like Unlambda, but Brainf*** is my language of choice.
First of all people have to realize that it can't be illegal to copy per se. It's not even important if it allows fair use. It's a matter of principle. Today most of people seem to think that it's wrong to copy the copyrighted material. It doesn't matter if I copy a CD to listen in my car. It's evil. Even the term: "copy protection", it protects from copying. Not from violating the copyright license. From copying.
Also notice, that those ideas like watermarks depend on one thing: that nobody has tools that don't obey those rules, while those tool are in fact much simpler than the new ones which respect the copy protection.
It's like inventing very complicated hammers, which can hit only nails and voila, problem solved, no one will ever kill with hammer again! What? Some people still have the old hammers? So let's make them illegal, no problem.
What next? Will the free software be illegal, because I can dangerously control my computer?
When I first read The Right to Read it was like a science fiction to me. Now I'm scared. Really scared.
It's sad that the leader in such laws are The United States of America, the symbol of freedom. I do hope that people will wake up soon. Otherwise, soon we'll see American scientists emigrating to Russia, looking for freedom. It's very sad.
But there's something I find really amazing every time we have new copy-protection, compression, etc. Don't those people who invest their money, ever search for similar ideas from just few months ago?
So, When will they learn? By them I mean the investors.