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User: Dan-DAFC

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Comments · 167

  1. Re:Gimme a break! on The Looming Battle Over Online Gambling · · Score: 1

    The recent explosion in the popularity of poker is down to the Internet. Those people who have got into the game playing from the comfort and safety of their own home for a couple of dollars are increasingly trying out the "real thing", which can only be good for the real casinos. It's interesting to see the US choosing to go down this route when other Western countries such as the UK are doing the opposite and opening up to accommodate these operators. Online gambling is becoming increasingly legitimate in the rest of the world, and there is a lot of money to be made from it.

  2. Documents and Folders on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users? · · Score: 1

    People have used the terms Folder and Document since long before Windows 2000. Something isn't new just because you hadn't heard of it.

    I believe Microsoft introduced the terminology with Windows 95. DOS, like Unix, had "files" and "directories". Folders and documents probably make more sense to an inexperienced user since they correspond more closely to real world equivalents. In the real world documents go in files (folders). The term folders was no doubt chosen to avoid confusion with the legacy use of the term files.

  3. Re:ARRGH! Too much information! on X Prizes for DNA, Nanotech, Autos, Education · · Score: 1

    The real question is why did they choose only people covered earlier on Slashdot? And which 100 people?

    I'm guessing that Jon von Tetzchner, Sid Meier, Wil Wheaton, Mark Shuttleworth and Cowboy Neal will be included but what's the selection criteria? I think we deserve to know.

  4. Re:It bears repeating. on Challenger Tragedy - In Depth, and Deeply Felt · · Score: 1

    "A single death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin

  5. Re:The fact that all the measurements were... on Firefox Usage Climbing In Europe · · Score: 1

    Not relevant, we're all godless commies in Europe.

  6. Re:How does Eclipse fit in with this? on Oracle and Sun Team Up to Provide .NET Alternative · · Score: 1

    Maybe it would fit in on the development tool side of things if it weren't for the fact that Sun has nothing to do with Eclipse, it's IBM's baby. Even Sun's notoriously stupid marketing department wouldn't call a Sun product 'Eclipse'. And given that name, Sun are unlikely to ever get involved even if they wanted to (which they don't). Expect to see Sun pushing the improving NetBeans platform as part of this offering.

  7. Re:Could be good! on 'The IT Crowd' UK Sit-com · · Score: 1

    Father Ted was also a Channel 4 show but shown on BBC America.

  8. Re:Nice work of fiction on Google's Secret Plans For All That Dark Fiber? · · Score: 1

    You could ship them to a different continent

    But what are they going to put these things in for the journey?

  9. Re:Google is Skynet? on Google's Secret Plans For All That Dark Fiber? · · Score: 1

    1) Processing ability
    2) Data storage
    3) Information

    Put all these together ... and you have your sentinent AI system

    Riiiiight. I'm not so sure it's quite that easy, or we'd have sentient AI already.

    I think you might also need some rather clever, some would even say intelligent, software. And that seems to be the elusive ingredient.

  10. Tenuous link to facilitate a dig at the Aussies... on Microsoft Lauds Scrum · · Score: 1

    On yesterday's evidence, we should hope that Microsoft have been modelling themselves on an English scrum rather than an Australian one.

  11. Re:What's the use... on Venus Express Blasts Off · · Score: 1

    Osama bin Laden and Batman both live in caves, and they're both successful millionaires, so it doesn't have to be a disadvantage.

  12. Re:Not a very good analogy on A Monroe Doctrine for the Internet · · Score: 1

    Except that wasn't a case of establishing new colonies in the Western hemisphere, it was a case of evicting the invaders of an existing "colony".

  13. Re:Forced upgrade? on GPL 3.0 Rewrite Drive Is No Democracy · · Score: 3, Informative

    The notice that you are supposed to attach to each file covered by the GPL (2.0) includes the following text:

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

    So you can choose to be bound by a later licence if you like, or stick with the version that you agreed to.

  14. Problems with AdSense on Google's Smart Advertising Leads to More Clicks · · Score: 3, Informative

    The ads on their own pages may work well, but AdSense is not without its problems.

  15. Re:Apple Campus Reps on Use of Student Plants to Pitch Products Rising · · Score: 2, Informative

    Microsoft have also been doing this for years in the UK. I had the opportunity to get involved when I was at university back in 1998. Bascially they bought off students by giving them free (as in beer) software and promotional stuff to try and get them to spread the word among their peers.

  16. Re:Hmmmm on The Rovers That Just Won't Quit · · Score: 1

    Redundancy is actually good, with more data you can confirm the observations made in another sets of redundant data.

    Also the probability of finding something out of the ordinary get's higher with more data. If on 1 in a 10000 pictures would capture some rare kind of rock in mars, with the extended lifetime of the rovers it will be more probable to find that rock, among the data.

  17. Re:Don't worry, be happy on Behind the Fight to Control the Internet · · Score: 2, Informative

    As for Europe ... they couldn't help us even if they woke up and smelled the coffee because they long ago surrendered both their military capacity to do so and the moral authority to even try.

    You do realise that the EU, rightly or wrongly, provided tens of thousands of troops to support the invasion of Iraq, don't you? Not to mention hundreds of aircraft, and several ships. Not as big as the US contigent for sure, but Spain, Poland, Italy, and most of all the UK, all sent combat troops and accounted for a significant chunk of the military presence there.

    The American public's apparent perception of "Europe" as some single irreligious, decadent, socialist entity is inconsistent with reality. The US' closest allies are European states and there are many different factions within the EU with different ideas as to what should be Europe's future. Germany has just elected a pro-Bush, pro-Blair, pro-free market Chancellor, albeit as head of an impotent coallition government, and France is likely to shift in the same direction in next year's elections when Sarkozy is expected to replace Chirac. With Blair and Berlusconi already in place, we could well see a return to more cooperation between the the US and Europe.

  18. Re:Charity Shield now Community Shield on Microsoft Becomes Wembley Stadium's Backer · · Score: 1

    I know, I also still refer to the Champions League as the European Cup and it's well over a decade since that changed. I must be getting old.

  19. Re:Hmm.. on Microsoft Becomes Wembley Stadium's Backer · · Score: 1

    In Australia it rather depends on which state you are in. In Victoria and Western Australia, "football" generally refers to Australian Rules Football, in some parts it means to Rugby League and in others it is the one true football.

  20. Re:A great place to put the logo... on Microsoft Becomes Wembley Stadium's Backer · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is no home team as such, it is the new English national stadium. It is the neutral venue for the major football and rugby league cup finals. While the ground has been redeveloped the FA Cup final, League Cup final and Charity Shield have been been played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (the Welsh national stadium).

    The England national team (who have being playing most of their matches in Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham in recent years) will be playing their home matches at Wembley, but in association football, national teams do not have shirt sponsors in the same way as club sides do (it is still considered somewhat vulgar to sell out your country to some corporate interest, though no doubt things will eventually change as most other sports have gone this way).

    The new Wembley stadium has taken longer than first forecast and run a long way over budget but it should be a spectacular venue. It will be the largest capacity sports venue in the world in which every seat is under cover, with a sliding roof so that the grass can be protected from/exposed to the weather as required, and each seat will have more leg room than the seats in the royal box at the old Wembley. In the words of Tony Banks, "it will make the Stade de France look like a dog kennel". Surprisingly, it will only be used for football at the 2012 Olympics, with a smaller, 80,000 seat Olympic stadium being built in the East of the city.

  21. Re:Next thing you know on iTunes Australia to Launch Next Week · · Score: 1

    Are you sure that it's not just that they really like shiny white plastic?

  22. Re:Civ Dissapoints Met on Sid Meier Responds · · Score: 2, Insightful

    CIV III could have stood to have been a bit more humerous.

    I found the following amusing when trying to change governments:

    You say you want a revolution?

    • Yes. You know it's gonna be alright.
    • No. You can count me out.
  23. Re:Quite Ammusing on Dilbert Hiding On Your CPU · · Score: 1

    Try explaining at 16 to your dad that he need to go buy you that chip because you can't buy it yourself because there's a 1:10000 scale penis on it.

    It's 1:1 you insensitive clod.

  24. Re:Searching for Prior Art? on 1/5 of All Human Genes Have Been Patented · · Score: 1

    "If God didn't exist it would be necessary to invent him."

  25. Re:Outlook Web Access 2003 on Preview of New MSN Hotmail · · Score: 1

    If you switch Opera to identify as "Opera" rather than IE, you'll get the simplified version of the Outlook Web Access, which works fine. It's only when Opera is identifying as IE that things break.