You make a good point. I currently enjoy a good ADSL2+ connection in Perth WA, but will be moving to (very) rural Tasmania (Liffey) at the end of the year. I'm going to have to choose between Telstra's Faudband and a satellite connection, because my house will be a long way away from the nearest Telstra pole.
In the past, I've had bad experiences with upstream latency on low-cost satellite connections (which becomes really obvious with one-way VOIP conversations) in rural WA, but I'm hoping that the next rung up the ladder might offer something usable.
If anyone has useful input to offer here, I would be very grateful.
I once had a(n Australian) lady write down her email address as "...@pigpond.com". I laughed, then checked whois. Turned out there is in fact a pigpond.com registered in Holland...:-}
Indeed. Internode is widely regarded as Australia's best ISP. (Disclosure here: I am not signed up with internode - I am still with iiNet, who were the first off the bat with ADSL2+ in my metro area, and I've been too lazy to change.)
I'm not sure what happens in other states, but here in Western Australia we have WAIX, a useful association of ISPs who charge either nothing or very little for traffic from their members. Needless to say, Telstra Small Puddle is not part of this association, nor Optus. But most of the other players are.
So there are plenty of other Linux mirrors to choose from.
Amazon's basic-cost shipment to Australia doesn't include confirmation of delivery, and I don't require it.
And, to Amazon's credit, if I do complain that a shipment hasn't arrived, they send off a duplicate straight away. (This once happened to me, only to find the original shipment arrived four days later.)
What I would like to know (and what most articles seem to gloss over) is: what form is this kill-switch meant to take?
Is it pulling the plug on the root DNSs? Or a simple requirement that local ISPs cease operations?
I can see a lot of ramifications here, not least the fact that the rest of the entire world will see the former as an act of war, and respond accordingly. Much of the pre-eminence of the US in world trade is based on the assumption that the US is (in most cases) a "friendly" partner. If the US behaves nastily to its partners, it can expect a frosty reception.
Given that the US is currently in deficit in terms of world trade, it really can't afford to be isolated in this way.
Most of the journalism that I've seen surrounding this kill-switch issue mentions the name "Obama".
Has anyone here seen any reference supporting a claim that Obama has sought such a measure? I ask because from my distant (non-US) viewpoint, this seems out of character for the man.
My only problem with Amazon is the outlandish amounts they charge for postage and packaging. Granted, I expect to pay a bit of money for freight to Australia, but packing a single DVD in a box designed to hold a semi-trailer and a couple of grizzly bears is a bit unnecessary.
Meanwhile, most of us in the world outside the US have never had Saturday postal delivery. Where I grew up in the Channel Islands, we got it over the Christmas period, but that was it. And here in Australia, you usually won't even get a courier delivery on a Saturday. I guess it's the unions' way of telling us to take time to sniff the roses.
The idea of a kill-switch has nothing to do with net neutrality. It's simply a way for the US to wave a big stick at other nations.
Pulling the plug on the root DNSs would be a pretty severe step to take, but it would hurt the US more than it would anyone else, so you would essentially be committing an act of terrorism against yourself.
One way or another, I doubt if Bil Gates really cares very much. I seem to remember him saying right at the beginning that if he made it big, he would end up giving his money away.
Well, kudos to him: he is actually doing that. I dislike Microsoft on many levels (but mostly technical, since I am well and truly old enough to have only a remnant of my ideological principles), but Gates is doing more good with his own money than most of our governments are doing with ours.
For the Australians, where I come from in America, ADSL-anything has not had good reputation of high bandwidth. We associate ADSL to 1.5 to 3Mbps
That explains a lot. I've been pretty happy with my ADSL2+ connection in Perth (WA), since I commonly get 20+ Mbps, and for the moment I don't need more.
In a few months, however, I'll be moving to rural Tasmania, and my house is (or will be) about 1.5km to the nearest Telstra pole.
I'm going to have to take whatever connection I can get: there's no way I can afford to lay that amount of cable, so my choice will be between satellite or Telstra's wireless fraudband connection. Probably the former. One way or another, my internet "lifestyle" is going to change, but I guess if it didn't, then I might as well stick to the city life.
If your ADSL modem/router fails, you can go to the store and get a replacement anyway.
I'm now on my fourth ADSL modem; my first two (Billion and D-Link) both crapped out just after the warranty expired. The third (also a D-Link) got retired when my Belkin WAP crapped out.
For a few years since then, I've had a Netcomm NB9W which has been 100% reliable, and has the convenience of an integrated ATA for a SIP phone. It isn't the fastest WAP (only 802.11g), but if I need fast transfers on my LAN, I still have plenty of ethernet sockets around the house. And needless to say, 802.11n is no faster on the internet, since ADSL2+ is still way slower than 802.11g.
It would be a perfect opportunity for Microsoft to sabotage Apple by breaking the iOS runtime with every service update or patch. After all that's what they used to do to Samba a few years back.
It might, but I would be curious to know whether there was any evidence for this beyond the reported opinion of a handful of third-party app developers. These guys are targeting their products towards Apple's little handheld media boxes (and good luck to them) but their opinion doesn't necessarily reflect reality.
Personally, I hope it doesn't. OS X is certainly not everything I would like it to be, but it is at least a unix-based platform that is useful for my purposes. I would be quite surprised if Apple were to actually dump OS X, given that maintenance and development of a "real" computer platform on established third-party chipsets must be a comparatively small drain on their resources by comparison with what they surely must devote to their phone and tablet devices.
Over the years, I have been told by any number of ISPs that "we don't support Linux". I've found it easiest to just not bother telling them what sort of machines I run. I pay good money for their bandwidth, but they don't need to know how I use it.
Yeah, I know they can check their logs, and that isn't really a problem for me. If it was, there are always VPNs offshore that I can use.
Slashdot Mirror
You insensitive clod. My man-boobs are really cute, and they are so soft and cuddly as to offer no resistance at all to electromagnetic radiation. :-D
You make a good point. I currently enjoy a good ADSL2+ connection in Perth WA, but will be moving to (very) rural Tasmania (Liffey) at the end of the year. I'm going to have to choose between Telstra's Faudband and a satellite connection, because my house will be a long way away from the nearest Telstra pole.
In the past, I've had bad experiences with upstream latency on low-cost satellite connections (which becomes really obvious with one-way VOIP conversations) in rural WA, but I'm hoping that the next rung up the ladder might offer something usable.
If anyone has useful input to offer here, I would be very grateful.
Dislexians untie!
:-}
I once had a(n Australian) lady write down her email address as "...@pigpond.com". I laughed, then checked whois. Turned out there is in fact a pigpond.com registered in Holland...
TPG != internode
Indeed. Internode is widely regarded as Australia's best ISP. (Disclosure here: I am not signed up with internode - I am still with iiNet, who were the first off the bat with ADSL2+ in my metro area, and I've been too lazy to change.)
I'm not sure what happens in other states, but here in Western Australia we have WAIX, a useful association of ISPs who charge either nothing or very little for traffic from their members. Needless to say, Telstra Small Puddle is not part of this association, nor Optus. But most of the other players are.
So there are plenty of other Linux mirrors to choose from.
FOSS FTW!!
Free The Wookies? Sure, where do I sign?
Amazon's basic-cost shipment to Australia doesn't include confirmation of delivery, and I don't require it.
And, to Amazon's credit, if I do complain that a shipment hasn't arrived, they send off a duplicate straight away. (This once happened to me, only to find the original shipment arrived four days later.)
What I would like to know (and what most articles seem to gloss over) is: what form is this kill-switch meant to take?
Is it pulling the plug on the root DNSs? Or a simple requirement that local ISPs cease operations?
I can see a lot of ramifications here, not least the fact that the rest of the entire world will see the former as an act of war, and respond accordingly. Much of the pre-eminence of the US in world trade is based on the assumption that the US is (in most cases) a "friendly" partner. If the US behaves nastily to its partners, it can expect a frosty reception.
Given that the US is currently in deficit in terms of world trade, it really can't afford to be isolated in this way.
Most of the journalism that I've seen surrounding this kill-switch issue mentions the name "Obama".
Has anyone here seen any reference supporting a claim that Obama has sought such a measure? I ask because from my distant (non-US) viewpoint, this seems out of character for the man.
Just asking...
There is no such thing as a capitalist fascist.
.
You obviously haven't seen The Young Ones
Letter to bank manager starts with:
Dear Fascist Bastard....
It is rare that my packages don't fit in my mailbox.
Same here. My mailbox is a 45-gallon steel drum. But then, my mailbox is 1km along a dirt road away from my house...
My only problem with Amazon is the outlandish amounts they charge for postage and packaging. Granted, I expect to pay a bit of money for freight to Australia, but packing a single DVD in a box designed to hold a semi-trailer and a couple of grizzly bears is a bit unnecessary.
Meanwhile, most of us in the world outside the US have never had Saturday postal delivery. Where I grew up in the Channel Islands, we got it over the Christmas period, but that was it. And here in Australia, you usually won't even get a courier delivery on a Saturday. I guess it's the unions' way of telling us to take time to sniff the roses.
I thought a voorwerp was a Klingon sex toy. My bad... :-}
The idea of a kill-switch has nothing to do with net neutrality. It's simply a way for the US to wave a big stick at other nations.
Pulling the plug on the root DNSs would be a pretty severe step to take, but it would hurt the US more than it would anyone else, so you would essentially be committing an act of terrorism against yourself.
If you can't be bothered reading the context, then don't bother posting.
There's a pretty heavy recession going on, there wasn't one when Bill was at MS.
Maybe you're living on a different planet to the one that some of us survived on in the '80s and '90s.
One way or another, I doubt if Bil Gates really cares very much. I seem to remember him saying right at the beginning that if he made it big, he would end up giving his money away.
Well, kudos to him: he is actually doing that. I dislike Microsoft on many levels (but mostly technical, since I am well and truly old enough to have only a remnant of my ideological principles), but Gates is doing more good with his own money than most of our governments are doing with ours.
For the Australians, where I come from in America, ADSL-anything has not had good reputation of high bandwidth. We associate ADSL to 1.5 to 3Mbps
That explains a lot. I've been pretty happy with my ADSL2+ connection in Perth (WA), since I commonly get 20+ Mbps, and for the moment I don't need more.
In a few months, however, I'll be moving to rural Tasmania, and my house is (or will be) about 1.5km to the nearest Telstra pole.
I'm going to have to take whatever connection I can get: there's no way I can afford to lay that amount of cable, so my choice will be between satellite or Telstra's wireless fraudband connection. Probably the former. One way or another, my internet "lifestyle" is going to change, but I guess if it didn't, then I might as well stick to the city life.
If your ADSL modem/router fails, you can go to the store and get a replacement anyway.
I'm now on my fourth ADSL modem; my first two (Billion and D-Link) both crapped out just after the warranty expired. The third (also a D-Link) got retired when my Belkin WAP crapped out.
For a few years since then, I've had a Netcomm NB9W which has been 100% reliable, and has the convenience of an integrated ATA for a SIP phone. It isn't the fastest WAP (only 802.11g), but if I need fast transfers on my LAN, I still have plenty of ethernet sockets around the house. And needless to say, 802.11n is no faster on the internet, since ADSL2+ is still way slower than 802.11g.
The iPad sold 3 million units in 80 days.
Yep. And I'd say that for a maxi-sized iPod Touch, that's doing pretty well. Apple's marketroids have certainly got it down.
Next: ice to the Eskimos, rice to Japan...
Why wouldn't they?
Well, why would they?
It would be a perfect opportunity for Microsoft to sabotage Apple by breaking the iOS runtime with every service update or patch. After all that's what they used to do to Samba a few years back.
Heh. I fart in the general direction of your abacus. I bought a slide-rule.
Apple wants to kill the Mac OS desktop.
It might, but I would be curious to know whether there was any evidence for this beyond the reported opinion of a handful of third-party app developers. These guys are targeting their products towards Apple's little handheld media boxes (and good luck to them) but their opinion doesn't necessarily reflect reality.
Personally, I hope it doesn't. OS X is certainly not everything I would like it to be, but it is at least a unix-based platform that is useful for my purposes. I would be quite surprised if Apple were to actually dump OS X, given that maintenance and development of a "real" computer platform on established third-party chipsets must be a comparatively small drain on their resources by comparison with what they surely must devote to their phone and tablet devices.
Maybe American ISPs just suck for support?
I have no first hand knowledge of them - I live in Australia.
Over the years, I have been told by any number of ISPs that "we don't support Linux". I've found it easiest to just not bother telling them what sort of machines I run. I pay good money for their bandwidth, but they don't need to know how I use it.
Yeah, I know they can check their logs, and that isn't really a problem for me. If it was, there are always VPNs offshore that I can use.