I have built a machine in my back yard that harnesses this amazing, free source of energy. The government, however, wants to keep it under wraps, and the oil companies have a contract out on my head.
I can't show you how it works - that's a secret I want to keep until things cool off enough for me to patent it. But rest assured, it works. You can drop by and see the spinning plates attached to it. They've been spinning for eight months with no added power.
Yes, I did build it entirely on my own, using the vast knowledge I gleaned by sitting in on engineering classes two or three times a month.
"What's VISTA an acronym for?
I thought everybody knew this by now.
Viruses, Infections, Spyware, Trojans and Adware.
Given that four of your examples are specific forms of "Infections", I must conclude that you couldn't find a better choice for "I". Unfortunately that degrades the overall humorous effect. It is no longer "clever", and thus becomes just another failed attempt, filed along "Windoze" and 'Micro$oft".
how is opposition to free speech not trolling? are you some sort of hitler loving neo-nazi or a godless sodomite communist?
Was this a try for "funny"? If it was serious, I don't oppose free speech. Where it can work, I'm very much in favour of it. I questioned it's universal application. I happen to enjoy it, but even where I'm from freedom of speech isn't absolute. It's subject to a whole raft of government restrictions - and so is yours.
Sometimes you get an IP block just for having a contrary opinion to the majority of Slashdot viewers. I had the temerity to suggest that freedom of speech might not be a universally desirable thing, and was modded so far down - as "troll" no less - that nobody from my company could post for over a month.
Back in the old days I had to pay my dues running the tech support centre of a local computer store.
A guy came in with an ink-jet printer that was six months out of warranty, and purchased from one of our competitors.
He argued that it should be fixed by us for free. I said that unfortunately it was going to cost $x and we could not assist him with a free repair.
He paused for a couple of seconds, then he picked up the printer and threw it at me. I dodged and it hit the wall and more or less exploded. He then walked calmly out of the store and we never saw him again.
Near as I can figure the gist of the EU's complaint is that they can't take a monkey who can slap away at a typewriter and train him to work with network protocols using the Microsoft-provided documentation.
Microsoft has maintained the position that the documentation provided is sufficient if the reader is already familiar with general OS and network design principles. Is that really an unreasonable assumption?
Clearly that documentation IS usable - Microsoft has used it successfully for many years, through many generations of coders. The EU didn't "like" what they got - and made that decision within days of receiving an huge shipment of documentation. How could they evaluate it so quickly? Frankly, there's no way.
I don't defend Microsoft as a rule - I leave zealotry for those with more time on their hands - but I still say that in this case the EU's position is a load of horse crap.
"Why should a corporation as a whole be held to a lesser moral standard than an individual is?"
Because legality is not morality. You cannot hold a corporation to a moral standard any more than you can hold a person to one. Morality varies from person to person, country to country. Legality is defined rather more specifically. So specifically, in fact, that it takes lawyers, judges and a massive system to interpret it.
We don't hold companies to morals. And we shouldn't. A judge might be able to tell me what's illegal, but I'll be damned if I'll let one tell me what's wrong.
If Blue Ray takes if in a meaningful way between now and the PS3 launch date (and the implementation isn't somehow lacking), and one or more of the launch titles stronly appeals to me, I'll consider buying one. If some irresistable titles come out for the XBOX 360, then I'll buy one of those.
One of my favorite games was Rallisport Challenge II. Loved it. I also loved the S-controller on my XBOX - far and away the best controller for me, personally. In fact, there are about 12 XBOX games that I still love to play.
I never bought a PS2 because it was outdated before it hit the shelves. I had a 50" HDTV and a DTS receiver, so for me it was a complete no-brainer to pass by the ridiculously hobbled Sony hardware. The XBOX was ready for current technology - the PS2 wasn't. But I owe my allegiance to NO company, unlike the thousands of blinded fools I see posting their fanboyism online for all to see. I can't believe how strongly people feel about hardware that hasn't even hit the shelves.
And if neither produces something exceptional, or if the titles never come around to my tastes, I just won't buy one at all. I can always go back to RSCII and Sega NFL 2Kx on my "old" XBOX, and be perfectly happy.
Oh, and "Linux on PS/3"? Seriously, what kind of person would be impressed that Linux runs on a computer that costs $600+? Bet I can do it for under $300. What's the point? Some kind of "wow" factor is present here, but I just can't see it.
The American Dental Association has called upon the Canadian Government to put an end to the regrowth of teeth, claiming that the availability of cheap teeth from Canada makes American dentists less interested in improving their techniques.
Said an A.D.A. spokesperson, "We need prices to remain high so that we can afford to innovate. When people can just get new teeth cheaply by just crossing the border, our strangle-ho.... uh, revenue stream will be jeopardized. The U.S. government must act immediately!"
"Well, as someone already pointed out in another reply somewhere above, this is a FUCKING API. APIs should be designed NOT TO CHANGE when the internals change. So, either Microsoft still hasn't learned how to write a proper API, or they DELIBERATELY CHOSE to make it incompatible."
Actually, my understanding is that API's are supposed to be extensible. I don't think they're dropping support for pre-DirectX versions from DirectX 10. Your older games should run fine. The original API's are not broken. They're extending the API, providing additional functionality that can be called upon should the software developer choose to do so.
If they write the game to DirectX 9 standards, it'll run fine. And if the game companies want the widest possible adoption of their product, they'll do exactly that until such time as Vista is the prevalent OS.
They're breaking the law. The US convicted them of it. The EU did too. So did several other nations. They have failed to comply with their punishment. If the EU does not act, they are stating to the world that they won't or can't enforce their own laws.
What the rest of the world did or did not decide is irrelevant. What I disagree with is the "failed to comply" portion. After reading both sides (including those long-winded PDF submissions from both sides), I think the EU's original demands were unclear to the point of unusability, and that Microsoft, in this case, has actually strived to comply. I think the EU has made a game of making Microsoft "guess", and then saying, "BZZT! WRONG! We didn't mean that, but we're not going to clarify much either. Try again. Oh, and your time is up."
I said it makes economic sense to stay put. I said I would move Microsoft out of spite. By picking up stakes and limiting their presence, Microsoft would deprive the EU of a number of things, including a number of well-paying jobs.
It wouldn't be a smart move. Hence, "Out of spite".
I read a lot about this whole debacle - more than I normally read about anything legal - just because for some reason this process is interesting.
I guess I'm looking for trouble by saying this on Slashdot, but I think the EU's reasoning on this issue is faulty, and I think it's an old-fashioned money grab.
Economically, and for the purposes of retaining market share, it makes sense for Microsoft to stay and deal with this. Good thing I'm not in charge of Microsoft. Out of spite I'd have pulled up stakes of everything in the EU, save for a distribution warehouse.
"So, Microsoft dude, when, oh when, can the world's developers expect a joyous, fully IE-free existence?
I'll answer for him. Somewhere around, oh, 2020. Unless Firefox stops being an annoying, memory-leaking POS that hangs on me every half hour, or Opera actually gains some momentum, or Linux captures more than 50% of the market.... none of which I'm anticipating.
I say 2020 only because I think the browser concept will probably last about that long.
The earth is a lovely prison, but a prison nonetheless. We are trapped here.
Our lifespan as a species is limited. At the extreme end is the drop-dead date - the death of our sun.
That's pretty optimistic, though. Really, the planet likely puts a much greater restriction on our lifespan. After all, as a species we can exist in a pretty narrow set of conditions, ecologically speaking.
In order to survive as long as possible, we need a prison break. We have to be prepared to jump ship when things go south, and be enroute to other stars and other homes. Otherwise we'll blink out like a bad light bulb.
We have another limitation, however - and perhaps one that is far more threatening. We have to get off the planet while we still have the resources to accomplish it. We don't know what kind of demands we will have to place on the resources of the earth.
Environmentalism is a grand idea, but if it comes down to getting off the planet or saving the whales, well... screw the whales.
Strip mine the whole damn Earth, if that's what it takes. Decimate every ecosystem if need be. Dig out every scrap of fuel, every molecule of uranium, burn down every tree. There are bound to be more trees in the universe.
People cry bloody murder when a species goes extinct, but that's what species do, eventually. All of them. Sadly, that includes mankind. We, however, are in the unique position of being the one species on this planet that is aware of it, and we can try to extend our stay in the universe.
I love nature as much as the next guy, but sacrificing the collective life of mankind to save a few owls isn't smart.
In fact, if it turns out that to facilitate space travel we have to make bonfires of live baby otters, I'll chip in for the lighter fluid.
(Taken from my site, June 2005)
"When the big news is that, in some country, some leader only got 90% of the vote instead of the 97% expected, it may be significant, but you know that country is no democracy."
Actually that's when you know the country IS a democracy.
"WTF was a 14 year old doing looking to meet a guy for anyway?"
It's been a long, long time since you were that age, hasn't it? Me too. But the innocence of 14 ain't what it used to be, my friend. I'm 35.
I don't want to scare you if you have a daughter that age, but a great many girls at 14 are doing stuff that, until I was 20, I only saw in movies I rented at the local no-age-questions-asked video store.
"There's a difference between speech and active disruption of lawful activity; the first is protected and the second is not."
You could define any protest as an active disruption of SOME lawful activity. Once again the first amendment is subject to caveats that render it a polite, warm fiction.
Slashdot Mirror
Where does it say the list is staticaly typed? ;)
Well, it has to be! Anybody using non-static typing is just askin' for trouble.
Darned kids and their new-fangled constructs...
I have built a machine in my back yard that harnesses this amazing, free source of energy. The government, however, wants to keep it under wraps, and the oil companies have a contract out on my head.
I can't show you how it works - that's a secret I want to keep until things cool off enough for me to patent it. But rest assured, it works. You can drop by and see the spinning plates attached to it. They've been spinning for eight months with no added power.
Yes, I did build it entirely on my own, using the vast knowledge I gleaned by sitting in on engineering classes two or three times a month.
hmmm... viruses, something-beginning-with-I, spyware, trojans, adware... How about: instability, inanity, insanity, inexcusable, inexhaustable, indefensable, incompatibility, ignoble, irritation, idiotic, indefensible, imitative, imbecillic, inconvenient, illegitimate, immanent, immature, immoral and inevtiably illogical.
No, see, the other four are classifications of objects. You've merely swapped one incorrect term for another.
"What's VISTA an acronym for?
I thought everybody knew this by now.
Viruses, Infections, Spyware, Trojans and Adware.
Given that four of your examples are specific forms of "Infections", I must conclude that you couldn't find a better choice for "I". Unfortunately that degrades the overall humorous effect. It is no longer "clever", and thus becomes just another failed attempt, filed along "Windoze" and 'Micro$oft".
Strive to improve!
how is opposition to free speech not trolling? are you some sort of hitler loving neo-nazi or a godless sodomite communist?
Was this a try for "funny"? If it was serious, I don't oppose free speech. Where it can work, I'm very much in favour of it. I questioned it's universal application. I happen to enjoy it, but even where I'm from freedom of speech isn't absolute. It's subject to a whole raft of government restrictions - and so is yours.
Sometimes you get an IP block just for having a contrary opinion to the majority of Slashdot viewers. I had the temerity to suggest that freedom of speech might not be a universally desirable thing, and was modded so far down - as "troll" no less - that nobody from my company could post for over a month.
The irony was overwhelming.
Back in the old days I had to pay my dues running the tech support centre of a local computer store.
A guy came in with an ink-jet printer that was six months out of warranty, and purchased from one of our competitors.
He argued that it should be fixed by us for free. I said that unfortunately it was going to cost $x and we could not assist him with a free repair.
He paused for a couple of seconds, then he picked up the printer and threw it at me. I dodged and it hit the wall and more or less exploded. He then walked calmly out of the store and we never saw him again.
Near as I can figure the gist of the EU's complaint is that they can't take a monkey who can slap away at a typewriter and train him to work with network protocols using the Microsoft-provided documentation.
Microsoft has maintained the position that the documentation provided is sufficient if the reader is already familiar with general OS and network design principles. Is that really an unreasonable assumption?
Clearly that documentation IS usable - Microsoft has used it successfully for many years, through many generations of coders. The EU didn't "like" what they got - and made that decision within days of receiving an huge shipment of documentation. How could they evaluate it so quickly? Frankly, there's no way. I don't defend Microsoft as a rule - I leave zealotry for those with more time on their hands - but I still say that in this case the EU's position is a load of horse crap.
"Why should a corporation as a whole be held to a lesser moral standard than an individual is?"
Because legality is not morality. You cannot hold a corporation to a moral standard any more than you can hold a person to one. Morality varies from person to person, country to country. Legality is defined rather more specifically. So specifically, in fact, that it takes lawyers, judges and a massive system to interpret it.
We don't hold companies to morals. And we shouldn't. A judge might be able to tell me what's illegal, but I'll be damned if I'll let one tell me what's wrong.
If Blue Ray takes if in a meaningful way between now and the PS3 launch date (and the implementation isn't somehow lacking), and one or more of the launch titles stronly appeals to me, I'll consider buying one. If some irresistable titles come out for the XBOX 360, then I'll buy one of those.
One of my favorite games was Rallisport Challenge II. Loved it. I also loved the S-controller on my XBOX - far and away the best controller for me, personally. In fact, there are about 12 XBOX games that I still love to play.
I never bought a PS2 because it was outdated before it hit the shelves. I had a 50" HDTV and a DTS receiver, so for me it was a complete no-brainer to pass by the ridiculously hobbled Sony hardware. The XBOX was ready for current technology - the PS2 wasn't. But I owe my allegiance to NO company, unlike the thousands of blinded fools I see posting their fanboyism online for all to see. I can't believe how strongly people feel about hardware that hasn't even hit the shelves.
And if neither produces something exceptional, or if the titles never come around to my tastes, I just won't buy one at all. I can always go back to RSCII and Sega NFL 2Kx on my "old" XBOX, and be perfectly happy.
Oh, and "Linux on PS/3"? Seriously, what kind of person would be impressed that Linux runs on a computer that costs $600+? Bet I can do it for under $300. What's the point? Some kind of "wow" factor is present here, but I just can't see it.
"Oh, but you must be using the British spelling. Bugger."
:)
Yep. "Licence" is English. "License" is 'Murican.
Hey, Zeke... that horse we beat to death yesterday... I think it's still moving. I'll grab an axe, you grab a shovel.
The American Dental Association has called upon the Canadian Government to put an end to the regrowth of teeth, claiming that the availability of cheap teeth from Canada makes American dentists less interested in improving their techniques.
Said an A.D.A. spokesperson, "We need prices to remain high so that we can afford to innovate. When people can just get new teeth cheaply by just crossing the border, our strangle-ho.... uh, revenue stream will be jeopardized. The U.S. government must act immediately!"
"Well, as someone already pointed out in another reply somewhere above, this is a FUCKING API. APIs should be designed NOT TO CHANGE when the internals change. So, either Microsoft still hasn't learned how to write a proper API, or they DELIBERATELY CHOSE to make it incompatible."
Actually, my understanding is that API's are supposed to be extensible. I don't think they're dropping support for pre-DirectX versions from DirectX 10. Your older games should run fine. The original API's are not broken. They're extending the API, providing additional functionality that can be called upon should the software developer choose to do so.
If they write the game to DirectX 9 standards, it'll run fine. And if the game companies want the widest possible adoption of their product, they'll do exactly that until such time as Vista is the prevalent OS.
You're getting angry about the wrong thing.
Well if you can come up with a good reason why the current anti-trust laws are broken/stupid etc then you might be able to change people's minds.
I only think the EU is wrong on the "failure to comply" decision. I don't know one way or the other about the validity of their anti-trust laws.
They're breaking the law. The US convicted them of it. The EU did too. So did several other nations. They have failed to comply with their punishment. If the EU does not act, they are stating to the world that they won't or can't enforce their own laws.
What the rest of the world did or did not decide is irrelevant. What I disagree with is the "failed to comply" portion. After reading both sides (including those long-winded PDF submissions from both sides), I think the EU's original demands were unclear to the point of unusability, and that Microsoft, in this case, has actually strived to comply. I think the EU has made a game of making Microsoft "guess", and then saying, "BZZT! WRONG! We didn't mean that, but we're not going to clarify much either. Try again. Oh, and your time is up."
I said it makes economic sense to stay put. I said I would move Microsoft out of spite. By picking up stakes and limiting their presence, Microsoft would deprive the EU of a number of things, including a number of well-paying jobs.
It wouldn't be a smart move. Hence, "Out of spite".
I read a lot about this whole debacle - more than I normally read about anything legal - just because for some reason this process is interesting.
I guess I'm looking for trouble by saying this on Slashdot, but I think the EU's reasoning on this issue is faulty, and I think it's an old-fashioned money grab.
Economically, and for the purposes of retaining market share, it makes sense for Microsoft to stay and deal with this. Good thing I'm not in charge of Microsoft. Out of spite I'd have pulled up stakes of everything in the EU, save for a distribution warehouse.
"So, Microsoft dude, when, oh when, can the world's developers expect a joyous, fully IE-free existence?
I'll answer for him. Somewhere around, oh, 2020. Unless Firefox stops being an annoying, memory-leaking POS that hangs on me every half hour, or Opera actually gains some momentum, or Linux captures more than 50% of the market.... none of which I'm anticipating.
I say 2020 only because I think the browser concept will probably last about that long.
The earth is a lovely prison, but a prison nonetheless. We are trapped here.
Our lifespan as a species is limited. At the extreme end is the drop-dead date - the death of our sun.
That's pretty optimistic, though. Really, the planet likely puts a much greater restriction on our lifespan. After all, as a species we can exist in a pretty narrow set of conditions, ecologically speaking.
In order to survive as long as possible, we need a prison break. We have to be prepared to jump ship when things go south, and be enroute to other stars and other homes. Otherwise we'll blink out like a bad light bulb.
We have another limitation, however - and perhaps one that is far more threatening. We have to get off the planet while we still have the resources to accomplish it. We don't know what kind of demands we will have to place on the resources of the earth.
Environmentalism is a grand idea, but if it comes down to getting off the planet or saving the whales, well... screw the whales.
Strip mine the whole damn Earth, if that's what it takes. Decimate every ecosystem if need be. Dig out every scrap of fuel, every molecule of uranium, burn down every tree. There are bound to be more trees in the universe.
People cry bloody murder when a species goes extinct, but that's what species do, eventually. All of them. Sadly, that includes mankind. We, however, are in the unique position of being the one species on this planet that is aware of it, and we can try to extend our stay in the universe.
I love nature as much as the next guy, but sacrificing the collective life of mankind to save a few owls isn't smart.
In fact, if it turns out that to facilitate space travel we have to make bonfires of live baby otters, I'll chip in for the lighter fluid. (Taken from my site, June 2005)
"When the big news is that, in some country, some leader only got 90% of the vote instead of the 97% expected, it may be significant, but you know that country is no democracy."
Actually that's when you know the country IS a democracy.
"WTF was a 14 year old doing looking to meet a guy for anyway?"
It's been a long, long time since you were that age, hasn't it? Me too. But the innocence of 14 ain't what it used to be, my friend. I'm 35.
I don't want to scare you if you have a daughter that age, but a great many girls at 14 are doing stuff that, until I was 20, I only saw in movies I rented at the local no-age-questions-asked video store.
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler"
Wirth may have said it, but I think Einstein said it first.
"12:20pm up 714 day(s), 20:58"
We have quite a few servers with uptimes near or even greater than this. But then we expect it. We run many Solaris on SPARC servers.
Linux is present in our environment, but everything critical runs on Sun.
"There's a difference between speech and active disruption of lawful activity; the first is protected and the second is not."
You could define any protest as an active disruption of SOME lawful activity. Once again the first amendment is subject to caveats that render it a polite, warm fiction.