Re:Sacrifice hardware for the good of software?
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How Cheap Can A PC Be?
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Its a trick... 99% of people only need Word. So the only way you can get word is to buy: Access, Publishier, Power Point, Front Page, Info Path and Excel. Same thing with your cable company: you *WANT* sci fi, but you have to buy a "package" and get it with 10 other channels you don't want.
Downward pressure on wages (although no where near the levels in russia) has made music a luxury to a large portion of the population. Work for $6.25 an hour, 25 hours a week, and tell me if you can afford a 15-25$ cd.
Sometimes you see like only a square or two of the video show up and the rest of the screen is black. This leads me to believe that there's a mosaic of sorts that gets sent. Probably each packet is at the MTU size with a few bits of timecode, a upper left corner coordinate and then 32x32 pixels of image. Thus you could actually have 10x10 or 100 streams per channel and if most of them got thru you'd have a decent picture (missing a few squares at most), enough to understand what's going on at least. You could even JPG each little square for less bandwidth and you wouldn't have the missing frames and other such crap that you see on internet streaming video. Then your audio could be on one or two streams with timecode as well.
You pretty much just described the mpeg codec which is what you're seeing.
Pest Patrol catches *plenty* of things that neither Ad-Aware nor Spy Bot catch. You have to realize that it is impossible for a few developers to keep up with all the spyware out there, regardless of their dedication -- it takes a large team to download software all day, install it, and look for trouble. And that takes money...
It's expensive, but its the only thing that will do the job, that and really strict AD policy...
Even then, C is probably one of the worst languages to write a game in (except maybe assembler). If you are using C because you are too lazy to learn C++, you're in for a world of pain. It's possible to do OOP in C -- it's just a horrible, horrible pain in the ass.
Seriously, people, read one of Bruce Eckel's books or something. They are available for free on his website and they are the the best programming books I have seen so far.
Amen! The correct way is of course to write the engine in somethign fast C/C++ then design the GAME in something easy like lua or python. Thats how its been since the begining of time.
They use commissioned salepeople that arguably dont have a clue
Yep, fry's is terrible. Everytime I've bought something there I've had a problem. 10 Years ago I bought a 486-33 from them... The guys were scam artists, you'd get one price then "oh they were out of that one" and the next model up was only 200$ more! A few years ago my father bought a printer from them for 100$. It was open box, but he asked the lady if anything was wrong with it, she said no. He opens it up, someone has used the ink cartridges ($14 x 4 cartridges, almost half the cost of the printer). He goes back, demands and unopened one, eventually gets it... goes to buy extra ink for it -- a salesman tells him he needs new black PRINT HEADS which come with ink as well (like 70$). On the way out another salesman stopped him and said "hey, you just need these ink carts that guy gets a comission off all the printer stuff" and he handed him the 14$ black ink.
I know you're being funny. But in reality, the reason college students aren't allowed to cook is A: Hot plates present a ceartin risk regardless of their operator (my george foreman grill just electrocuted me about an hour ago). And B: Support overpriced college meal plans!
You know what? Fuck you! Yes, Fuck you! I don't give a shit about poor indians. I'm 26, a college graduate, highly trained, and until recently I worked at WALMART where I shot the shit with a bunch of aerospace engineers who worked there.
I give a shit about *me* first and poor Indians second, they aren't looking out for my welfare!
Eh, that might have been true 20 years ago. Very few products are actually *designed* in the US. Nowadays, they are designed in Taiwan by cheap and efficent engineers.
PEOPLE, I am going to say this once: OUTSOURCING is about *WEALTH TRANSFER*. The loss of manufacturing jobs in the US coincided with massive ammounts of middle class workers shifting to the working poor. The *ONLY* kind of jobs being created in any numbers in the US are *SERVICE INDUSTRY* (minimum wage) jobs.
Outsourcing is a "commons" problem. Outsourcing benefits any individual company. However the whole is very damaging to the country.
I would provide some links but I have to go meet a client: I'm an unemployed programmer doing piecemeal work.
My guess is that all those English-speakers in India and Pakistan would count as English-English. Since India alone outnumbers the US almost 4-1, I would say that English-English is by far the more broadly spoken.
Um lets think for a second? Who colonized India for 100's of years? Wasn't us Americans... History is your friend
Furthermore, since 1.06B is about 1/3 of Sun's cash on hand (here), what will that mean for Sun? It's 7% of their total value, so this can't be good for them.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. How many software patents does Sun have?
All logic functions are decomposable into smaller functions. However, if you look at things with that fine a microscope, then you are really just a collection of atoms. Obviosuly you're much more then atoms, and a program is much more then logic. Here's a joke Consultants tell themselves (I believe there is a version for mechanics):
A network consultant gets an urgent call from a company manager, their network is down and they need him *NOW*. He walks into the company, looks everything over, says "hmmm" strokes his chin, pulls a patch cable out of his bag and makes a connection. Instantly everything starts working. The frantic manager is relieved, and the consultant writes out his bill, for "network consultation, $500". The manager says, "this is outrageous, I won't pay this bill! I demand you rewrite it!" So the contractor writes another one -- "$5 patch cable.... $495 Knowing where to plug it in".
The lesson is this really... That although programs are only logic, they aren't just logic:) Just like plugging a patch cable in, isn't just plugging a patch cable in. Now, I happen to agree with you actually. Software patents are rediculous, and I think a better argument would go something like this:
Programs are expressible in *languages*. To a programmer, these languages are every bit as real as spoken languages. If a statement in a language coresponds to a word in human languages, then a paragraph might corespond to a function, and a chapter a module, a book a program perhaps?
So basically, we have people patenting the plots to short stories. And they're saying, *NOBODY* can use this plot, its ours, we invented it. Well really a plot is just linguistic expression, and frankly there aren't that many.
The biggest proof that macro evolution is possible, is a research field I'm involved in called Genetic Programming. Using a system that is directly analagous to biological evolution, computers are directed to discover solutions to problems. Wanna know the SCARY thing? It works like crazy. Here's a quote:
"There are now 36 instances where genetic programming has automatically produced a result that is competitive with human performance, including 15 instances where genetic programming has created an entity that either infringes or duplicates the functionality of a previously patented 20th-century invention, 6 instances where genetic programming has done the same with respect to a 21st-centry invention, and 2 instances where genetic programming has created a patentable new invention.".
Now the computational power of these computers is faily meager. I think the largest cluster applied so far has been 1000 pentium 350's. The "computational" power of a population of species is massive. If quantum computers can be developed, and genetic programming algorithms can be written in such a way that takes advantadge of the properties of quantum machines, we *really* will be entering a new era in humanity (however there is no indication this is possible or not possible, I am just speculating)
I'm just saying -- our country SUCKS. Corporations have rights that citizens do not -- if I write a program that takes over your computer and spies on you -- I'm a hacker/terrorist. A company does it -- its legit (spyware/adware).
Have you seen on TV advertisements for drug companies now selling drugs whose purpose is to "Provide positive energy?" another drugs actual slogan is "It takes the edge off" Yet if I want to do the same thing with marijuana I'm the criminal?
For the record, selling bootlegs is wrong. And so is everything the RIAA does. We are at the point where the government is taking away our rights so corporations can sell them back to us... Sorry for the bile -- I've just had it with our country right now.
But there's nothing to cheer about a store making money by selling unauthorized copies of a musician's work, and giving nothing to the musician in return.
Yea... well for a long time MS felt that the home series was supposed to be the "fun" OS, and NT was supposed to be the serious/stable business OS. NT never had USB support, limited DX support, the last time I used NT4 you coudln't even use a PCI modem with it? Given the incredible failure rate of the 9x series overall, I think MS realized they had to give up the notion that a business OS didn't have "frills" like proper background, and more importantly (from their standpoint) they coudln't have two teirs of pricing/functionality.
XP Versus Previous Things
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Less Might Be More
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· Score: 4, Insightful
running Windows XP just so that it could connect via a terminal to another server and run the store's application
Um? Have you tried to deal with 95/98/ME before? They make me cry, seriously. XP, while not perfect is a 100 fold improvement over ME. I've been trying to start a business consulting company -- and I've started to notice something -- every time I'm out ona job and there's a 9x machine involved, the job will be invariably hindered by hte 9x machine. I have hundreds of war stories if you want to hear them... Its gotten to the point where I am considering saying we simply refues to support 9x (95/98/Me).
Slashdot Mirror
Its a trick... 99% of people only need Word. So the only way you can get word is to buy: Access, Publishier, Power Point, Front Page, Info Path and Excel. Same thing with your cable company: you *WANT* sci fi, but you have to buy a "package" and get it with 10 other channels you don't want.
My god thats *TERRIBLE*, you're supposed to pay 1$ a month for music trickled to you at 8k/s?
Actually its been around a lot longer then you think. The Apple II used a form of sub pixel rendering written by steve wozniak himself.
Downward pressure on wages (although no where near the levels in russia) has made music a luxury to a large portion of the population. Work for $6.25 an hour, 25 hours a week, and tell me if you can afford a 15-25$ cd.
You pretty much just described the mpeg codec which is what you're seeing.
and therefore suck?
I can hope it will :) Just waiting for the time and the money to bring it to life :) Have most of the money and none of the time :)
Sorry, no bob here :) Are you telling me theres another band called monkelectric? :(
It's expensive, but its the only thing that will do the job, that and really strict AD policy...
Amen! The correct way is of course to write the engine in somethign fast C/C++ then design the GAME in something easy like lua or python. Thats how its been since the begining of time.
Yep, fry's is terrible. Everytime I've bought something there I've had a problem. 10 Years ago I bought a 486-33 from them ... The guys were scam artists, you'd get one price then "oh they were out of that one" and the next model up was only 200$ more! A few years ago my father bought a printer from them for 100$. It was open box, but he asked the lady if anything was wrong with it, she said no. He opens it up, someone has used the ink cartridges ($14 x 4 cartridges, almost half the cost of the printer). He goes back, demands and unopened one, eventually gets it... goes to buy extra ink for it -- a salesman tells him he needs new black PRINT HEADS which come with ink as well (like 70$). On the way out another salesman stopped him and said "hey, you just need these ink carts that guy gets a comission off all the printer stuff" and he handed him the 14$ black ink.
I stand corrected :)
Although rare, Gazillo said it wasn't the first time he has investigated a fire caused by a lizard and a heat lamp.
I know you're being funny. But in reality, the reason college students aren't allowed to cook is A: Hot plates present a ceartin risk regardless of their operator (my george foreman grill just electrocuted me about an hour ago). And B: Support overpriced college meal plans!
The reason you should care about what happens to jobs in your country is -- You're field is PROBABLY next. What is your field? :)
I give a shit about *me* first and poor Indians second, they aren't looking out for my welfare!
PEOPLE, I am going to say this once: OUTSOURCING is about *WEALTH TRANSFER*. The loss of manufacturing jobs in the US coincided with massive ammounts of middle class workers shifting to the working poor. The *ONLY* kind of jobs being created in any numbers in the US are *SERVICE INDUSTRY* (minimum wage) jobs.
Outsourcing is a "commons" problem. Outsourcing benefits any individual company. However the whole is very damaging to the country.
I would provide some links but I have to go meet a client: I'm an unemployed programmer doing piecemeal work.
Um lets think for a second? Who colonized India for 100's of years? Wasn't us Americans... History is your friend
Live by the sword, die by the sword. How many software patents does Sun have?
A network consultant gets an urgent call from a company manager, their network is down and they need him *NOW*. He walks into the company, looks everything over, says "hmmm" strokes his chin, pulls a patch cable out of his bag and makes a connection. Instantly everything starts working. The frantic manager is relieved, and the consultant writes out his bill, for "network consultation, $500". The manager says, "this is outrageous, I won't pay this bill! I demand you rewrite it!" So the contractor writes another one -- "$5 patch cable .... $495 Knowing where to plug it in".
The lesson is this really... That although programs are only logic, they aren't just logic :) Just like plugging a patch cable in, isn't just plugging a patch cable in. Now, I happen to agree with you actually. Software patents are rediculous, and I think a better argument would go something like this:
Programs are expressible in *languages*. To a programmer, these languages are every bit as real as spoken languages. If a statement in a language coresponds to a word in human languages, then a paragraph might corespond to a function, and a chapter a module, a book a program perhaps?
So basically, we have people patenting the plots to short stories. And they're saying, *NOBODY* can use this plot, its ours, we invented it. Well really a plot is just linguistic expression, and frankly there aren't that many.
"There are now 36 instances where genetic programming has automatically produced a result that is competitive with human performance, including 15 instances where genetic programming has created an entity that either infringes or duplicates the functionality of a previously patented 20th-century invention, 6 instances where genetic programming has done the same with respect to a 21st-centry invention, and 2 instances where genetic programming has created a patentable new invention.".
Now the computational power of these computers is faily meager. I think the largest cluster applied so far has been 1000 pentium 350's. The "computational" power of a population of species is massive. If quantum computers can be developed, and genetic programming algorithms can be written in such a way that takes advantadge of the properties of quantum machines, we *really* will be entering a new era in humanity (however there is no indication this is possible or not possible, I am just speculating)
Have you seen on TV advertisements for drug companies now selling drugs whose purpose is to "Provide positive energy?" another drugs actual slogan is "It takes the edge off" Yet if I want to do the same thing with marijuana I'm the criminal?
For the record, selling bootlegs is wrong. And so is everything the RIAA does. We are at the point where the government is taking away our rights so corporations can sell them back to us... Sorry for the bile -- I've just had it with our country right now.
The RIAA does it every day.
Yea ... well for a long time MS felt that the home series was supposed to be the "fun" OS, and NT was supposed to be the serious/stable business OS. NT never had USB support, limited DX support, the last time I used NT4 you coudln't even use a PCI modem with it? Given the incredible failure rate of the 9x series overall, I think MS realized they had to give up the notion that a business OS didn't have "frills" like proper background, and more importantly (from their standpoint) they coudln't have two teirs of pricing/functionality.
Um? Have you tried to deal with 95/98/ME before? They make me cry, seriously. XP, while not perfect is a 100 fold improvement over ME. I've been trying to start a business consulting company -- and I've started to notice something -- every time I'm out ona job and there's a 9x machine involved, the job will be invariably hindered by hte 9x machine. I have hundreds of war stories if you want to hear them ... Its gotten to the point where I am considering saying we simply refues to support 9x (95/98/Me).
Then I lectured you for nothing :) thanks for taking it so well ;-)