JLG was right. The DOJ & co are winning the "battles" while MS mearly "changes" the war to another battleground!
It's really the lower courts that have to change things. MS ALWAYS wins in the lower courts out of "fairness" issues. Things like the OEM contracts have been tossed out so low down they can't set any prececent--or worse the WRONG precedent. MS has hid most of their monopolistic behavior behind "confidential contracts" that none of the lower courts will bust thru. No lower court or trade committee will prevent them from buying up patents, companies, etc...even though they are a monopoly in one area already! The Public and DOJ can't see the REAL issues...like the BootLoader rules!...that hose AltOS by making it impossible to install. Or even tell WHY you can't co-install!
The BootLoader rule is still in effect AFIK! That was the crux of the BeOS argument, and BeOS was the only company to have a legit claim for that little slice of monopoly pie! That means that you will NEVER see a commercial dual-boot system from a major vendor -- small shops that don't qualify for discounts & hence enforcement excluded...but only until MS decides to crack down to protect the Majors!
don't know about the rest, but the Mini-itx boards are a Unique niche VIA has carved for itself. Even though the ITX boards may suck for performance, there is no comparible intel or amd product out there....ESPECIALLY at the itx price points. For $150 you can't even touch intels mobile offerings which is why everbody is so goo-goo for them.
Ati and Nvidia should be getting involved with this! This could be huge! Consoles are still limited by their huge license fees--they have to gaurantee to sell copies. A properly constructed DirectX 9 game could do wonders! We've all seen "Dawn" and DOA beach volleyball. This would be a great excuse for nekid, 3d accelerated, computer animated chicks! [Every/.ers wet dream!] They would of course need a Linux port---even OSS geeks need "some".
A truly "X" rated game would be cool... more so if it had "tasteful" "adventures". Done right such a game could actually be fun too. but they might have "regulatory" issues...release it as "R" rated then allow you to verify online that you are old enough to view the "good" stuff. Actually speaking of "online" it could bring a whole new dimension to MMORGs! combine Chat, Cybersex, and 3d realtime gameing and you'd have a Winner!
Of course this could have great system benchmarking purposes as well. The latest crop of test suites is pretty bo-ring...any benchmark involving ## of 3D jiggly boobies per second would be welcome!
You can run your iTunes on Mac OR Windows...try that with WMA! As long as Apple makes it easy to choose to move your files to something else...say A MAC then you've got plenty of choice...at least more than you get with MS.
Lets see, Airport [wireless + modem] iPod, apple cinema displays...all work with PCs too...but work even better with a mac. When apple REALLY figures this out [and they're starting to!] MS will finally have to pay the piper for abusing their market!
They have a point. I'd check with the printer on what software they were using first. Perhaps you need to scale your pictures to fit the DPI/aliasing requirements of the end printing process.
But, if you're serious about doing printing work, Laser printing proofs is the only way to go! even the best inkjest pale in comparison to Lasers...that's the standard for printwork. but your problem is most likely software and not hardware. [unless you have REALLY crappy stuff!]
the worst that can happen is smoke rolling out of the machine! And he wasn't talking about OC'n so that shouldn't happen either. He just wants to know where his hard earned cash went and feel "warm-n-fuzzy" inside!
Dude, it's late, put down the caffine and step away from the coffee pot!
gets sued for your former boss giving purposefully vendictive references. i.e. the company ACTUALLY lying in an offical capacity. Hence, simply state the facts ma'am!
It really is! True, you can Google for stuff all day, but you get so much info you still miss the best options, as well as people's comments about them.
I have a long list of bookmarks from AskSlashdots like these! I read thru and pick things for my own projects to come back to as needed. It saves time, and many/.ers are fairly high-up and have a great deal of experience to draw from. You'd be stupid NOT to look here first. If only/. comments were more easily searchable for such things...A little data mining action going on?
besides that, the admins thought it was interesting! That's a good enough reason.
After Prohibition was repealed, the amendment to repeal it left states with all sorts of extra power over sale of alchol. Many states [I live in Michigan] created state agencies to control liquor licenses, handle supply, set the prices, and collect taxes...making the state a monopoly on all alchol sales in it's boarders. Several years ago, Michigan disband their warehouses and went to an entirely paperwork based system...with several perfered wholesalers and no state "monopoly". Missisippi's system is fairly common.
That said, it's just plain slopply business...like what you get with a state-run scheme. No sane business would hold up shipments of product because the computers didn't work! You wouldn't be in business very long using MS products! This is typical state-agency lording it's power over "citizens" rather than doing what it takes to fix the problem...be cause they just don't care...
AS far as I can tell,.net [on linux mono] is in a far worse position than even PHP as far as useability! You can't use.net COM,.net DirectX hooks,.net visual studio, etc....they are all hooked into the MS implementation. If I want to use.net, I'll get Visual studio and program on windows...It's not like the REALLY COOL features will work the same on Linux mono anyway.
And that is my point! Granted, maybe PHP isn't a GOOD example, but it's the general idea I was after. Stuff like.net, and J2EE are nice for professional enterprises....but Linux WASN'T built by professional enterprises! It was built by little people. Enterpise apps are nice, but they are a really small section of USER programming--emphisis on USER. If you look at what HAS WORKED for Linux, it's the simple things that empower the most people. PHP may not be the end-all I made it out to be, but it's the idea I was after. Normal people can be clever and creative with such tools. Tools like.net cater to a small percent of the online population, many could care less about any "enterprise" features.
I just think that trying to play "keep-up" with MS is very bad in this instance. MS will always have the cooler tools, and the better implementation. Linux is at the point that nobody should bother with following MS anymore. Just make sure that any cool new stuff works on windows too [like apache, mysql, php, etc] Like various others have said, if MONO was ever REALLY popular, MS would yank the rug out [legally, technically] in a heartbeat. They are only working to further MS monopoly buy giving the illusion that Linux users care about.net..and most DON'T. Why not spend energy on tools that grow Linux & OSS streangths [openness, user-input, customization, modularity]...Those things are unique to the internet & OSS and if properly implemented, could turn the tide of casual users over to OSS from more "restricted" solutions!
Not that Mono is a bad project, but that's the danger of trying to follow Microsoft. They're leading you where they want to go!
Frankly, PHP right now is the.Net killer. Java is really cool, but it's still just as bad as C++ with it's flavor-of-the-week APIs. That leaves it with corperate clients, and limits exposure of the little people to the "good stuff" like EBJs. C++ will always be the standard for the pros, but again, it's too much for the "casual" programmer. Basic has too many incarnations. Perl is just a touch to high-up-there. but PHP seems "just right".
The real problem with OSS is that they have to keep the apperance of "doing" something to compete. One thing the "designers" of OSS seem to miss is that their "customers" will never be professionals. That requires a different set of rules to be effective. Look at the basic LAMP toolkit. Linux is typically pre-configured for most "normal" linux users. Apache has a few standard mods & changes are mostly config files. MySQL is fairly simple for an RDBS and most "users" use a GUI to access it. PHP [perl/python] is a simple one-page/ one-script language that lets "users" create complex projects from simple, easy to understand parts. Most common linux tools only deal with about a page or two of config/scripting at a time. That's completely different from any other computing "system" and the Pros at the top need to understand that and embrace it.
Things like Mono take away from growing the core Linux user base...most of which will either be forced into MS Mono at work, or be exploring other pure OSS solutions. I'd propose that OSS is big enough to stop following and travel it's own path. That may be out in front, or it may be in a more consumer/"little people" direction that the large companies have long forgotten about. OSS is at the point where "following" only DEGRADES it's reputation now!
It's really a part of the name. Somewhere in the depths of the PTO there's a company with OpenOffice trademark name. So, they keep the.org to stay out of trouble!
Correct, that would be the immediate backlash here as well. we don't have the ability to write such controls now...maybe never, we can't even control OURSELVES to the extent of the "Laws of Robots".
Gundam wing was sort of about that topic. After all, you could have giant robots that can kill any one and everyone while you sit back safe, but is that really what WAR is about? The end outcome there was that taking life without risking life was cowardice, and not honorable...[of course americans don't have issues with dishonor! look at lawyers.]
of course our current American govt is very close to that scenerio right now. we've got cruise missles and ICBMs soon to have automated defence and jetfighters...that we unleash on poor third-world HUMAN SOILDERS. But SHOULD WE! Kill soilders, by robot, who have no capacity to defend themselves against us? And if we can kill enemy soilders by robot, who is next! at some point, morality and law will have to dictate the rules of what techonlogy has opened up!
we don't have advanced enough programming skills to even remotly handle the "laws"
Deciding what would/would not hurt a person is vastly more complicated than building a robot to just hurt people! Look at the Tampa ID project for a vague attempt at the seed of such a system...we can't even get machines to "recognize" people in a crowd, let alone make moral judgements about them! Not to mention a robot that could "defend" itself from damage. Even the most advanced Ape's speech have a hard time with "self". In a thousand years, we'll get there, but not any time soon. We certiantly can't build robots now with any sense for the "laws".
That'd be cool! We could abolish wars and just let each countries giant robots duke it out! After all, if the giant robots could win, why would the other country bother to put up a fight.
Re:The humanoid robot w/regards to the East &
on
Martial Arts Robots
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· Score: 1
American culture also must allow everything in Excess. Look at computers. We have to have door openers, pda, cell phones, and all matter of other things for the sole purpose of doing basic living for us. Japaneese [and other asians] have no issue with having a robot and still tiling the rice patie. Unlike americans they understand that people must do WORK to live.
American's fear of robots comes from this....we expect robots to do all the things we don't like, whatever that may be. Bosses want robots so they don't have to pay workers, housewives want robots to sweep the floor and cook the meals...leaving no room in their lives for PEOPLE. It's a socital problem, not a tech problem. Much of america's "innovation" comes from this. So much effort is placed on either "freeing" the worker to "work" more [home care, child care, elder care], or freeing the employeer to pay less. It's a very narrow-minded, selfish view of both robots AND people!
The flip-side is that they "Just" changed over TO windows From Unices within the last 5-7 years for Hi-end industrial apps. It took windows a LONG time to gain industry acceptance [and the engineers with only MS experience to get to power!] So it's really hard to go back and say that the "Old Guys" [driven out of the companies by punk kids} were right! So now they have to stick with windows to save face...and prove to the customers that spent 10s of thousands of dollars on new software they were Right.
After all, they seem to have a facination with giant-robot-take-over-world anime! It's not like they don't already have weapons and tactics down [at least theoretically]! All they need are the bots to fight with. The key to giant robot battles was touched on in Gundam wing..the bots have to have enough "spirit" to essencially fight with human "guidance" not "control". Robot fighting would be similar to horseback riding, not piloting a jet fighter.
The real issue with controls is that Humans [whom we're trying to emmulate] balance things that are out-of-control. Most martial arts are about control before, and after an out-of-control attack. Attacks are controlled at the beginning and end, but the middle can only be controlled thru great practice of the motions. It can't be "canned" because there are too many variables. Most robot control systems cannot handle "free" motion actions. That's why walking is so hard. The Asimo doesn't really "walk", it "creeps" similar to a toddler. But like a toddler learning to walk, it must "free" motion to succede. A toddler doesn't learn to walk until it learns to fall just a bit first!
That said, it's not about CPU's or MHz. It's a fundamental understanding that needs to be reached. It's an understanding like atomic physics...Until the early 30's it was purly dreams, but as several people mastered it, they were able then to explain it to the rest of us.
There is fear, but no Uncertainty or Doubt here. The facts are the same as trying to pay your bills by credit card. You can get ahead for a while, but eventually it crashes...hard. Perhaps the best solution might be to accelerate the problem. Maybe the Govt should start allowing non-infrastructure corps to fail and fail hard. Let's start with the airlines. They're in the thick of the "Big Market" works....let 'um crash, even if it means all of 'um! Even at cut-throat rates now I can't afford to fly, neither can most of those unemployeed...THE PEOPLE don't really need airplanes right now, only the corps! Same with lots of other things, banks, mutual funds, etc. let 'um wipe out...do what it takes to accelerate the process. The only way to really make the point to the Coperate Masters is to get the situation bad enough to hurt THEM! Like I've posted elsewhere, AVERAGE americans only live on 30k's per year! that's only about 3x minimum (less if you work lots of OT) It really can't get that much worse for AVERAGE workers.
Also, if you let the big corps crumble, innovation may suffer, but smaller companies will startup to pickup the work. They won't be as ruthlessly efficent, or able to "bet the farm" and will benifit the economy MORE than before. Corperate profits are NOT the economy. The economy is THE PEOPLE working! Even if it's for less profit, if everyone works, you have a strong economy!
The real issue is that it's Forign companies reaping the profits...remember, what's happened before was American companies sacerficing american jobs by moving the components out of the country. Now those foreign manufactures are bypassing the American corps altogether! They have poached the American tech [that the companies willingly gave up for cheap labor] and now can actually compete on the merits rather than just price...Look at Honda, Sony, Via for examples...The american corps are just about to get a taste of their own medicine!!
But should it be at OUR expense, or should we try to put a stop to the slash-n-burn here before they sell-off the country back to the Great Depression.
Slashdot Mirror
It's really the lower courts that have to change things. MS ALWAYS wins in the lower courts out of "fairness" issues. Things like the OEM contracts have been tossed out so low down they can't set any prececent--or worse the WRONG precedent. MS has hid most of their monopolistic behavior behind "confidential contracts" that none of the lower courts will bust thru. No lower court or trade committee will prevent them from buying up patents, companies, etc...even though they are a monopoly in one area already! The Public and DOJ can't see the REAL issues...like the BootLoader rules!...that hose AltOS by making it impossible to install. Or even tell WHY you can't co-install!
The BootLoader rule is still in effect AFIK! That was the crux of the BeOS argument, and BeOS was the only company to have a legit claim for that little slice of monopoly pie! That means that you will NEVER see a commercial dual-boot system from a major vendor -- small shops that don't qualify for discounts & hence enforcement excluded...but only until MS decides to crack down to protect the Majors!
don't know about the rest, but the Mini-itx boards are a Unique niche VIA has carved for itself. Even though the ITX boards may suck for performance, there is no comparible intel or amd product out there....ESPECIALLY at the itx price points. For $150 you can't even touch intels mobile offerings which is why everbody is so goo-goo for them.
A truly "X" rated game would be cool... more so if it had "tasteful" "adventures". Done right such a game could actually be fun too. but they might have "regulatory" issues...release it as "R" rated then allow you to verify online that you are old enough to view the "good" stuff. Actually speaking of "online" it could bring a whole new dimension to MMORGs! combine Chat, Cybersex, and 3d realtime gameing and you'd have a Winner!
Of course this could have great system benchmarking purposes as well. The latest crop of test suites is pretty bo-ring...any benchmark involving ## of 3D jiggly boobies per second would be welcome!
Lets see, Airport [wireless + modem] iPod, apple cinema displays...all work with PCs too...but work even better with a mac. When apple REALLY figures this out [and they're starting to!] MS will finally have to pay the piper for abusing their market!
But, if you're serious about doing printing work, Laser printing proofs is the only way to go! even the best inkjest pale in comparison to Lasers...that's the standard for printwork. but your problem is most likely software and not hardware. [unless you have REALLY crappy stuff!]
Dude, it's late, put down the caffine and step away from the coffee pot!
gets sued for your former boss giving purposefully vendictive references. i.e. the company ACTUALLY lying in an offical capacity. Hence, simply state the facts ma'am!
I have a long list of bookmarks from AskSlashdots like these! I read thru and pick things for my own projects to come back to as needed. It saves time, and many /.ers are fairly high-up and have a great deal of experience to draw from. You'd be stupid NOT to look here first. If only /. comments were more easily searchable for such things...A little data mining action going on?
besides that, the admins thought it was interesting! That's a good enough reason.
bet there not running BSD...free-as-in-beer! other wise the beer would be free!
That said, it's just plain slopply business...like what you get with a state-run scheme. No sane business would hold up shipments of product because the computers didn't work! You wouldn't be in business very long using MS products! This is typical state-agency lording it's power over "citizens" rather than doing what it takes to fix the problem...be cause they just don't care...
And that is my point! Granted, maybe PHP isn't a GOOD example, but it's the general idea I was after. Stuff like
I just think that trying to play "keep-up" with MS is very bad in this instance. MS will always have the cooler tools, and the better implementation. Linux is at the point that nobody should bother with following MS anymore. Just make sure that any cool new stuff works on windows too [like apache, mysql, php, etc] Like various others have said, if MONO was ever REALLY popular, MS would yank the rug out [legally, technically] in a heartbeat. They are only working to further MS monopoly buy giving the illusion that Linux users care about
Frankly, PHP right now is the .Net killer. Java is really cool, but it's still just as bad as C++ with it's flavor-of-the-week APIs. That leaves it with corperate clients, and limits exposure of the little people to the "good stuff" like EBJs. C++ will always be the standard for the pros, but again, it's too much for the "casual" programmer. Basic has too many incarnations. Perl is just a touch to high-up-there. but PHP seems "just right".
The real problem with OSS is that they have to keep the apperance of "doing" something to compete. One thing the "designers" of OSS seem to miss is that their "customers" will never be professionals. That requires a different set of rules to be effective. Look at the basic LAMP toolkit. Linux is typically pre-configured for most "normal" linux users. Apache has a few standard mods & changes are mostly config files. MySQL is fairly simple for an RDBS and most "users" use a GUI to access it. PHP [perl/python] is a simple one-page/ one-script language that lets "users" create complex projects from simple, easy to understand parts. Most common linux tools only deal with about a page or two of config/scripting at a time. That's completely different from any other computing "system" and the Pros at the top need to understand that and embrace it.
Things like Mono take away from growing the core Linux user base...most of which will either be forced into MS Mono at work, or be exploring other pure OSS solutions. I'd propose that OSS is big enough to stop following and travel it's own path. That may be out in front, or it may be in a more consumer/"little people" direction that the large companies have long forgotten about. OSS is at the point where "following" only DEGRADES it's reputation now!
It's really a part of the name. Somewhere in the depths of the PTO there's a company with OpenOffice trademark name. So, they keep the .org to stay out of trouble!
Gundam wing was sort of about that topic. After all, you could have giant robots that can kill any one and everyone while you sit back safe, but is that really what WAR is about? The end outcome there was that taking life without risking life was cowardice, and not honorable...[of course americans don't have issues with dishonor! look at lawyers.]
of course our current American govt is very close to that scenerio right now. we've got cruise missles and ICBMs soon to have automated defence and jetfighters...that we unleash on poor third-world HUMAN SOILDERS. But SHOULD WE! Kill soilders, by robot, who have no capacity to defend themselves against us? And if we can kill enemy soilders by robot, who is next! at some point, morality and law will have to dictate the rules of what techonlogy has opened up!
Deciding what would/would not hurt a person is vastly more complicated than building a robot to just hurt people! Look at the Tampa ID project for a vague attempt at the seed of such a system...we can't even get machines to "recognize" people in a crowd, let alone make moral judgements about them! Not to mention a robot that could "defend" itself from damage. Even the most advanced Ape's speech have a hard time with "self". In a thousand years, we'll get there, but not any time soon. We certiantly can't build robots now with any sense for the "laws".
That'd be cool! We could abolish wars and just let each countries giant robots duke it out! After all, if the giant robots could win, why would the other country bother to put up a fight.
American's fear of robots comes from this....we expect robots to do all the things we don't like, whatever that may be. Bosses want robots so they don't have to pay workers, housewives want robots to sweep the floor and cook the meals...leaving no room in their lives for PEOPLE. It's a socital problem, not a tech problem. Much of america's "innovation" comes from this. So much effort is placed on either "freeing" the worker to "work" more [home care, child care, elder care], or freeing the employeer to pay less. It's a very narrow-minded, selfish view of both robots AND people!
The flip-side is that they "Just" changed over TO windows From Unices within the last 5-7 years for Hi-end industrial apps. It took windows a LONG time to gain industry acceptance [and the engineers with only MS experience to get to power!] So it's really hard to go back and say that the "Old Guys" [driven out of the companies by punk kids} were right! So now they have to stick with windows to save face...and prove to the customers that spent 10s of thousands of dollars on new software they were Right.
In addition to SCO, I'm waiting for the first robot to thrash a jock! Preferably with Divx Video an Ogg soundtrack!
The real issue with controls is that Humans [whom we're trying to emmulate] balance things that are out-of-control. Most martial arts are about control before, and after an out-of-control attack. Attacks are controlled at the beginning and end, but the middle can only be controlled thru great practice of the motions. It can't be "canned" because there are too many variables. Most robot control systems cannot handle "free" motion actions. That's why walking is so hard. The Asimo doesn't really "walk", it "creeps" similar to a toddler. But like a toddler learning to walk, it must "free" motion to succede. A toddler doesn't learn to walk until it learns to fall just a bit first!
That said, it's not about CPU's or MHz. It's a fundamental understanding that needs to be reached. It's an understanding like atomic physics...Until the early 30's it was purly dreams, but as several people mastered it, they were able then to explain it to the rest of us.
I don't think the problem is using perl.
Frick'n AC...that was a cute idea! Just add Knoppix to the box for a complete experience. It's only a matter of time!
That would kill it in a clock cyle!
Also, if you let the big corps crumble, innovation may suffer, but smaller companies will startup to pickup the work. They won't be as ruthlessly efficent, or able to "bet the farm" and will benifit the economy MORE than before. Corperate profits are NOT the economy. The economy is THE PEOPLE working! Even if it's for less profit, if everyone works, you have a strong economy!
But should it be at OUR expense, or should we try to put a stop to the slash-n-burn here before they sell-off the country back to the Great Depression.